Fun Ways to Practise Spelling This Christmas: 8 Festive Lesson Plan Ideas
Christmas is a time of joy, celebration, and – most importantly – learning through fun and creativity! This festive season, why not combine holiday cheer with valuable spelling practice? These fun, classroom-friendly interactive lesson plan ideas are designed to engage students in spelling activities that are both educational and exciting. Get ready to bring the holiday spirit into your spelling lessons!
- Create a Christmas Crossword
A Christmas-themed crossword puzzle is an engaging way to reinforce spelling skills while students enjoy holiday fun. Create a mix of easy and challenging Christmas words like wreath, reindeer, snowflake, and tinsel. As students solve the puzzle, they'll practise spelling and learn about Christmas traditions.
How to Make It Fun:
- Add clues based on Christmas songs, stories, and traditions.
- Challenge students to complete the puzzle under time pressure.
- Offer small holiday prizes for those who solve it without errors!
- Decorate the Tree with Spelling Words
Turn decorating the Christmas tree into a spelling lesson! Write festive words on paper ornaments or cut them from felt and hang them on the tree. As students place each ornament, they must spell the word aloud before it’s added to the tree. Make it a competition by timing how quickly each student can spell their word correctly.
How to Make It Fun:
- Organise a ‘spelling bee’ where each student must spell the word before hanging it.
- Use pictures or colour codes to link words to festive objects.
- Offer small rewards for correct spelling or fastest spellers.
- Host a Festive Word Hunt
A holiday word hunt is a fantastic way to make spelling practice active and exciting. Hide Christmas-related words like carol, holly, gingerbread, and sleigh around the classroom. When students find a word, they must spell it correctly to earn points.
How to Make It Fun:
- Add festive clues to help guide students to the hidden words.
- Make it a challenge by having students use the word in a sentence after spelling it correctly.
- Create teams and see who can find and spell the most words!
- Write a Festive Story
Writing Christmas-themed stories is an excellent way to reinforce spelling, vocabulary, and creative thinking. Ask students to write short stories using a list of festive words. Try setting a theme, like ‘a Christmas adventure with Santa’s reindeer’ or ‘The magic of the first snowfall’, to guide their creativity.
How to Make It Fun:
- Encourage students to share their stories with the class and correct any spelling errors together.
- Create a class ‘Christmas Storybook’ and share it with family members.
- Challenge students with a word limit or to include specific vocabulary from the lesson.
- Play Anagrams with Christmas Words
Anagrams are a fun and effective way to practise spelling. Scramble the letters of Christmas-related words and ask students to unscramble them or turn them into new words. For example, tinsel becomes listen. Make it a timed game to see who can unscramble the most words in the shortest amount of time.
How to Make It Fun:
- Challenge students to form additional words from the scrambled letters (for examle silent from tinsel).
- Organise a competition where students race against the clock to unscramble words.
- Add a ‘bonus round’ where students create as many words as they can from the letters of a Christmas word.
- Write a Letter to Santa with Spelling Focus
Ask students to write a letter to Santa using a list of festive words such as wishlist, reindeer, elves, and chimney. This activity will enhance their creative writing while giving them a chance to practise spelling words they might not usually use.
How to Make It Fun:
- Encourage students to ask Santa questions like, ‘How do you spell reindeer?’ or ‘Can you tell me the secret to spelling snowflake?
- Set up a ‘Santa’s Mailbox’ where students can drop their letters for review and even receive feedback.
- For younger learners, work together to read and correct the spelling mistakes in their letters.
- Host a Christmas Spelling Bee
Organise a festive spelling bee where students can compete against each other or in teams to spell Christmas-themed words. Words like mistletoe, snowman, and chimney will challenge your students while keeping them engaged in a festive setting.
How to Make It Fun:
- Use Christmas-themed sound effects like jingle bells or sleigh bells to announce each round.
- Offer prizes like festive stickers or small toys for the winners.
- Have a final ‘championship round’ where students can compete for a special Christmas prize.
- Sing Christmas Carols and Spell the Lyrics
Incorporate singing into your spelling lesson by focusing on the lyrics of Christmas carols. Choose popular songs like Jingle Bells, and have students identify and spell tricky words like jingle, bells, and reindeer. Then, ask them to write the words down or spell them aloud.
How to Make It Fun:
- Sing along to the carols and have students spell the words out loud as they hear them.
- Focus on carols with plenty of spelling opportunities like The Twelve Days of Christmas or Jingle Bells.
- Quiz students after each verse of the song.
Christmas provides the perfect opportunity to combine festive fun with effective spelling practice. These creative and interactive activities will not only help reinforce spelling skills but also bring holiday joy into your classroom. Whether it's solving a Christmas crossword or singing carols while spelling, students will stay motivated to improve their spelling throughout the season.
For more ways to make spelling exciting year-round, Spellzone offers a variety of resources designed to support learners of all ages. Sign up for a free trial today.
11 Dec 2024
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