31 No Prep Activity Ideas for Teaching Upper Elementary in December

December is a CRAZY time for the upper elementary classroom. The kids are crazy as they look forward to the holiday season - whether they celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or nothing but the winter solstice and New Year's.

The 31 no prep activity ideas below can help you contain some of the crazy in your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. There are winter activity ideas for classrooms or schools that do not celebrate the holidays, Christmas ideas (and 1 activity for Hanukkah!), and some other no prep ideas that can be used any time of year.

Winter-Themed Activity Ideas

1. Graph Daily Temperatures

Combine math and science with this quick but relevant activity. Every day during the month of December, make a graph or table of the temperature in your area. This is an easy activity to adapt based on your students' abilities:

make a graph of both the daily highs and the daily lows
graph the temperature in Antarctica (or another location) in conjunction with the temperatures in your area
Graph other relevant weather - (rain, wind, etc).

2. Observe Penguins on a Web Cam

Have your students put their scientist hats on and carefully observe penguin behavior using a penguin webcam, like this African Penguin Webcam. Tell your students to look for common behaviors like tobagganing and preening.

3. Read and Illustrate a Winter Poem

Read students a winter-themed poem and have them illustrate it. This short poem by Elinor Wylie is a good introduction for students that are uncomfortable with poetry:

VELVET SHOES

Let us walk in the white snow

In a soundless space;

With footsteps quiet and slow,

At a tranquil pace,

Under veils of white lace.

You can also use this poem to review different types of figurative language - including alliteration ("soundless space") and metaphors ("veils of white lace").

4. Winter Snowman Freebie

Use this fun freebie to review fractions while integrating art - and drawing a snowman!

5. Winter Solstice Reading

If your school doesn't celebrate holidays, then this winter solstice reading passage is perfect for you. It is timely, winter-themed, and interesting while avoiding holiday talk. And of course, it is no prep.

6. Root Word "Frost"

See how many words upper elementary students can come up with that use the root word "frost." For example:

frosty
frosts
defrost
defrosting
frostbite
frostiness

Check out these other ideas for helping students become better decoders of multisyllabic words.

7. Winter Tongue Twister

Review alliteration by having students come up with an alliterative sentence that has a winter theme!

Provide this sentence as a model:

Frosty flakes fell fast, forming frozen fields.

8. Fireplace Reading

Pull up a video of a fireplace - like this one - and have students complete their work or silent read with a cozy backdrop!

Holiday-Themed Activities (Mainly Christmas)

9. 10 Acts of Kindness

The holiday season is a great time to think about kind things we can do for others. Have your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students to make a list of 10 kind things they could do for someone else in December - and then encourage them to complete the list!

These no prep kindness worksheets are also great to have on hand this time of year to keep students busy while also reflecting on kindness towards others!

10. Invent a New Holiday

Have students invent a new holiday, explaining the reason for the celebration and how the holiday will be celebrated. What traditions would be involved? Would certain foods be involved in the new holiday? Who would celebrate?

11. Read Hanukkah in Alaska

Read aloud Hanukkah in Alaska to your students - or have Storyline Online do it for you!

12. Read and Watch Polar Express - then Compare

Read the book Polar Express to the class, and then watch the movie version. Have students compare and contrast the two using these questions and activity ideas.

13. Sing Christmas Songs to Build Fluency

Sing Christmas songs together! Choose songs that have several verses that students might be familiar with, so they aren't simply singing memorized words.

Songs like:

Here Comes Santa Claus
Frosty the Snowman
Jingle Bells
Jingle Bell Rock
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Or, check out this no prep Christmas resource that has students answer comprehension questions about 3 popular Christmas songs!

A fun Christmas reading activity for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students is singing Christmas songs together and answering comprehension questions about those songs!

14. Write a Letter to Santa

Have 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students practice their letter writing skills this holiday season by writing a letter to Santa.

Consider nixing the typical "I want...for Christmas" letter and exchanging it with a letter that is more thoughtful and less greedy. For example, this Letter to Santa Template asks students to write a letter that tells Santa something he does well and something he can improve on.

15. Character Stockings

After reading a book, have students consider what gifts the main character might appreciate or find useful. Have students draw a large Christmas stocking on a blank sheet of paper or use this free template, and then draw 3 gifts inside that stocking for the main character.

16. Compare Holidays With a Partner

Have students compare and contrast how they spend Christmas with a partner! Everyone celebrates a little differently - and some don't celebrate at all - so spending time talking about it is a great way to help students learn to show kindness to those who do things a little differently from them!

17. Candy Cane Patterning

Use this blank candy cane template to have students create their own candy cane patterns. Encourage them to get creative and not stick to the typical red and white pattern.

18. Redesign Santa's Sleigh

Have students think about what improvements could be made to make Santa's sleigh better. Students can draw a picture of the new-and-improved sleigh, and then write a few paragraphs explaining the improvements and why they are beneficial.

You might also like these other Christmas themed writing prompts.

19. Christmas Around the World

Have students research how a different culture or country celebrates the holiday season and share what they learned with the class.

End of Year / New Year's Activities

20. Favorite Book of the Year

As the year comes to an end, have students reflect on all the books they have read throughout the year and decide on their favorite one. Have students write their favorite book on a sticky note and hang the sticky notes up so their classmates can check out these book recommendations.

21. End of Year Reflections

Have students reflect on how they have changed since the beginning of the year and then write about it. What new things have they learned? Have they gotten a haircut? Have they made new friends? Have they done something new?

22. New Year's Resolutions

Have students set at least one new goal for the New Year and then make a plan for how they will accomplish it. Writing down the goal and a plan makes them more likely to accomplish it!

Other No Prep Ideas for December

23. Math Maze Freebie

Review a variety of math skills in a fun way with this math maze freebie! Students have to demonstrate their knowledge of addition, skip counting, or comparing numbers in order to successfully complete the maze.

24. Read What Do You Think About Ocean Animals?

This interactive book introduces students to author bias while teaching fun facts about ocean animals! It is a great book to promote student discussion, because students are presented with two (biased) opinions and then have to decide what they think. Find out more about this fun book here.

25. Retell a Story Using Comic Strips

After reading a fiction text, have students retell the story in comic book form! You can find a free online comic book creator here, or use these free printable comic book templates.

26. Before, During, and After Questions

Use these questions before, during, and after reading to keep your students engaged the whole time! Having some questions you can pull out any time makes it easy to do a lesson on the fly.

27. Free POV Slideshow

Use this free point of view slideshow to review POV with your students!

28. Parts of Speech Sentences

Have students write sentences on any topic, then ask them to remove a specific part of speech from each sentence. Let them reread the sentences, noting how the meaning changes - and if it even makes sense with the word removed. This will help them better understand the purposes of each part of speech.

29. Expand a Sentence

Write a short, boring sentence for your students - for example, "The dog barked."

Ask them to expand the sentence by adding interesting details. Have students share their sentences with the class and vote on the most interesting one.

30. Online WordLibs

Have students complete one of these fun WordLibs activities (inspired by Madlibs).

31. Room Perimeter

As a class, work together to determine the perimeter of the classroom.