oxford christmas activities

Christmas activitiesby Anna Musielak

1.

You are Santa Claus

You are a reindeer

You are a child excited that it is Christmas morning

You are an overworked and tired elf

You are a twirling snowflake

You are a grumpy Scrooge who hates Christmas

Christmas Activities 2013

Moves like… Santa

Say “Hi” as if:

2.

reindeerstarornamentsleighsnowman


Christmas and categories

Put the Christmas words into different categoriestreeChristmashotredclod

presentcocoasnowbrightbells

winterbrightwhitelightssilver

ADJECTIVES NOUNS VERBS

ONE SYLLABLE WORDS TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS THREE-SYLLABLE WORDS

3.

Create as many words as possible using the letters from the words


Christmas time.How many words can you find?

CHRISTMAS TIME

You can use each letter only as many times as it appears in the word (e.g. the letter “i” appears twice but the letter “a” only once).

The more syllables a word has, the more points it gets.

4.

Design your Ugly Christmas Sweater. First, match the descriptions to the objects. Then cut the objects out and glue them on your sweater.


Ugly Christmas Sweater design

DescriptionsA figure made of snow that looks like a man, has a carrot nose and eyes of coal.A tree that we decorate for Christmas. An animal that has antlers and pulls Santa’s sleigh.Something we find under the Christmas tree.A cookie in the shape of a person.An ornament that looks like a ball.

5.


Decode sentencesLook at the code below and use it to decode the sentences.

Code

C ◊ D * H↕L □ N ⌂ P¤R ▪ S↑ T∆V ←

Sentences

1. I like singing ◊ a ▪ o □ ↑ at Christmastime.

2. My favourite drink in winter is ↕ o ∆ ◊ o ◊ o a

3. ↑ a ⌂ ∆ a is a nice man who brings ¤ ▪ e ↑ e ⌂ t ↑

4. E □ ← e ↑ are Santa’s little helpers – they wear green clothes.

5. Rudolph is a ▪ e i ⌂ * e e ▪ and he’s got a red nose!

6.

Dear Santa

My name is _______ (name) and I am a _______ (noun). ______ (winter holiday) is in ______ (number) days and I can’t wait! I ______ (verb) winter and every day I ______ (verb) a _________ (noun), drink ____ (adjective) ______ (noun) and watch Christmas _____ (noun) . All I want for Christmas is a _______ (adjective) _________- (noun), __________ (number) ____________ (noun) and a bike. That’s all! Oh and I want snow for Christmas Eve. I want to build a snowman – I need _______ (noun) for his eyes, a _______ (noun) for his nose and a ________ (noun ). Be safe on Christmas Eve! I will prepare __________ (noun – food) and ____________ (noun – drink) for you and your reindeer.

Love ________ (name)


Mad libs – a letter to Santa

Mad lib letter

Fill in the information below. Pay attention to what part of speech you have to use.

7.


Mystery sentencesWho can say this? Match the sentences on the left with the characters on the right.

I like cookies and milk.

I love wearing my green uniform.

My nose is red and my antlers are brown.

I want a new car for Christmas!

My Christmas tree is pink and pretty.

Help me bake the cookies, Santa!

I have a black hat and an orange nose!

My wings are white and silver.

My nose and my eyes are sweets.

Mrs Claus

A little girl

Santa

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

Angel

Gingerbread man

Dad

Snowman

Elf

8.

On blank slips of paper write some questions associated with Christmas time.

(e.g. Do you eat carp for Christmas? What is your favourite Christmas song? What is the best present you have ever got? What is your dream present? Do you bake gingerbread cookies? When do you unwrap presents? How many reindeer does Santa have?).

Crumple the paper up and start a snowball fight.

When the teacher says freeze, stop “fighting” and pick up the snowball that is close to you, read and answer the questions noted down.

Answer any follow-up questions your friends might have.


Snowball fight

9.

• Have a look at your “find somebody who” cards. • Stand up and walk around the classroom asking questions

to match your friends to the information you have been given. • You can list each classmate only once.• Once you have finished go over your lists saying whom

you found for each item.


Find somebody who…

Find somebody who... Find somebody who...



loves singing carols

hates eating carp

decoratesthe Christmas tree

on the 1st December

gets socksfor every

Christmas

bakesgingerbread

cookiesvisits their family

on Christmas Day

10.


Winter Role Play

Role Cards

Read your role card carefully.

You are going to have a conversation with your partner staying true to your character (you might have to change the way you move/talk/gesture).

Report back about the results.

You are a 5-year-old child. You built a beautiful snowman and you spend most of your time playing with it outside. Persuade your snowman to stay for the spring season. Try to come up with as many reasons for him staying as possible

You are a snowman built by a little child. You became friends and spend most time playing games etc. The winter is about to finish and you have to leave but your friend wants you to stay for the coming spring. Persuade the child that this is not a good idea.

11.


Letter of applicationRead the job advert carefully.

You would like to work in Santa’s Workshop as The Manager of North Pole Elves (a.k.a Elf Executive).

Write a letter of application listing your experience and qualifications (such as toy designing and toy making, creativity, understanding children’s minds, team work abilities, working under the pressure of time, in low temperatures etc.).

Explain why you would be perfect for the job.

State your requirements as well (such as lunch time and snacks, sets of uniforms, duties that you are willing to perform besides your standard job description).

Use the provided letter template.

The best job in the world!North Pole, Santa’s WorkshopPosition vacant: Manager of North Pole Elves(also known as Elf Executive)Salary: Christmas cheer and extra perksResponsibilities: Managing a group of hard-working elves,dealing with team work issues, meeting production line deadlines, providing help with toy designing

Anyone can apply!

11.


Letter of application

Dear

I am writing to apply for

I have successfully

I have experience in

I think I would make a perfect Elf Executive because

I can be reached via

Yours sincerely

1. Moves like… Santa

• Explain to students that they are going to say “Hi” in a different way to as many friends as they can.

• It is important that students stay in their role and remember about the way those various characters move, gesture and talk.

• When they hear you say stop/freeze, they have to change the way they greet one another.

2. Christmas and categories

• Copy one worksheet for each child (optionally you can copy the words and tables on the white board and ask students to write them down in their notebooks).

• Divide students into pairs and ask them to decide to which categories each word belongs.

• Remind them what adjectives/nouns/verbs are. • Ask them to divide the words into syllables (by

clapping their hands/stomping their feet). • Check their work.• Ask them to write down one more word for each

category.

3. Christmas time. How many words can you find?

• Write the words CHRISTMAS TIME on the whiteboard.

• Divide students into teams. • Tell them that each team is supposed to create as

many words as possible using the letters from the words CHRISTMAS TIME.

• Each letter can be used only as many times as it appears in the word (e.g. the letter “I” appears twice but the letter “a” only once).

• There is a point system for each word. • Allow about 5-10 minutes and check the score. • The team with the highest score wins.

Points

• One syllable words – 1 point• Two-syllable words – 2 points• Three-syllable words – 3 points


Teacher’s notes4. Ugly Christmas Sweater design

• Students need to have scissors and glue. • Copy the blank sweater template for each student. • Copy the sentences and the cut out objects and

distribute to each student. • Ask them to match the objects with their

descriptions. • Then tell your students to cut out the objects and

glue them to the sweater template.

5. Decode the sentences

• Copy the worksheet for each student. • Explain to them that they are going to decipher

the sentences using a special code.

6. Mad libs – a letter to Santa

• Explain to your students that they are going to play a word game called mad lib.

• Copy the worksheet for each student. • Ask them to fill the gaps (paying attention to what

parts of speech they are supposed to use). • Students read their stories aloud and see how

much they differ.

7. Mystery sentences

• Copy the sentences for each student or pair of students.

• Tell them that they are supposed to match the sentences to the Christmas characters that might say this.

8. Snowball fight

• Distribute slips of blank paper. • Ask students to write down some questions

associated with Christmas time on this piece of paper. (e.g. Do you eat carp for Christmas? What is your favourite Christmas song? What is the best present you have ever got? What is your dream present? Do you bake gingerbread cookies? When do you unwrap presents? How many reindeer does Santa have?).

• Tell them to crumple the paper up and start a snowball fight.

• When they throw all the “balls”, ask students to pick up the ones close to them and answer the questions written on their snowball.

• They must also answear any additional questions that their friends might have, as long as they are connected with the original question on the snowball.

9. Find somebody who…

• Copy and distribute the “find somebody who” cards.

• Tell students that they are going to play a game to find out things they might not know about each other, and they are all connected with the topic of Christmas.

• They will have a few minutes to fill out the cards.• The task is to find as many different people as

possible.• Students who completed the cards go over their

lists, saying whom they found for each item.• Ask for more details (e.g., if Kate loves singing

carols what are her favourite ones?).


Teacher’s notes10. Winter Role Play

• Divide students into pairs. • Distribute the roles of boy/girl to student A and

snowman to student B. • One person is a child (A) the other a snowman (B). • Students have to read their role cards, and on your

mark they have a conversation staying true to their characters (explain that they might have to change the way they move/talk/gesture etc.).

• Allow up to 5 minutes. • Go over the final decisions – ask students what

influenced their choices. • Students report whether they managed to

persuade their snow friends to stay or not. If so, they have to say what the bait was; if not, the snowman has to report what points were made to justify their choices.

11. Letter of application

• Copy the job advert and letter template for each student.

• Explain that they have found an interesting job advert and that they need to write a letter of application using the template provided.

• They should list their experience and qualifications (such as toy designing and toy making, creativity, understanding children’s minds, team work abilities, working under the pressure of time, in low temperatures etc.).

• Students should explain why they would be perfect for the job.

• They should also state their requirements (such as lunch time and snacks, sets of uniforms, duties apart from the ones on the standard job description).

• Go over the vocabulary and expressions.

oxford christmas activities

Documents

christmas words

christmas tree

christmas eve

christmas morningyou

christmas timeyou

letter i

noun drink

noun food