Activity Overview
There are a lot of stories surrounding the winter holidays, both familiar and obscure. After reading stories or articles in the classroom, have your students create a summary or retelling of the story. Use a traditional or a timeline storyboard to lay out the events.
- Origins of the Holiday
- Notable Occurrences on the Anniversary of the Holiday
- wartime battle
- wartime cease-fire
- natural disaster
- social issues
- Favorite Characters
- Santa Claus
- Mrs. Claus
- elves
- Frosty the Snowman
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen
- Books
- Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel
- Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
An extension of this activity could be for students to write their own holiday story using a traditional storyboard, preferably a story on a holiday they do not celebrate.