Winter Break – the thought that my kiddos might go 2 or 3 FULL weeks without picking up a book breaks my heart. Knowing that many of my kids might revert back to their non-reader habits, I created this Winter Break Challenge for ALL elementary students {primary and intermediate}.
Flexibility is Key
This challenge is not meant to be daunting, serious, or involve a lot of rules. Rather, the goal is to keep students reading and writing in FUN ways ! From reading in your PJs to sending an email to your teacher, I have included oodles of opportunities for families to ‘sneak’ in some literacy moments.
In My Classroom
Out of my 90 friends around 40 participated in at least some of the challenge…which I consider a huge win! The class with the highest participation??? My struggling group of readers! Waahhhoooo! I was one proud teacher and was so glad that
my kids found some time to read during their ‘off’ time. 🙂
Celebrating Participants
To celebrate students who accepted the Winter Break Challenge, I raffled off a $15 Scholastic Books gift certificate
{I’ll use my bonus points}, a $5 Orange Leaf gift card, and 3 homework passes for each class! Students received one raffle ticket for each day of the challenge they completed.
Looking at the packets this weekend, it’s been fun to see what words my kids think are cool and how many books they have in their own homes. As a teacher it gives me such insight to see the number of books – ranging from 31 to 879.
Author Letters
My favorite part of the challenge was reading the letters that student wrote to their favorite authors. From J.K. Rowling to
Jeff Kiney, it was so neat to see what questions students have about their
favorite books. Here are a few of my favorite letters. 🙂
Overall, I would consider the Winter Break Challenge a success. From precious emails from my kids to great pictures
from parents, my kids enjoyed having small tasks each day, and I loved that my friends stayed involved with words over the break-that-never-ended. 🙂
For other December and Winter activities, check out these….
I loved this and sent it home with my students. I only had 8 complete it out of 40 though…but that's just a testament to the area I teach in. It was cute and I'll use it again.
I absolutely LOVE this idea! What an amazing way to motivate those kiddos! Especially love that your lowest readers were the greatest participators. Fantastic! I've never thought of raffling off Scholastic Book certs. or froyo gift cards….I must rethink this. : )
Love this idea! This is such a great way to keep kids motivated during Winter Break 🙂 It turned out to be so successful – congrats! I love those letters! I will definitely be using this next year!
Thanks for sharing your great ideas and an update! Have a great week, Amanda My Shoe String Life
That's such a great idea, and it's awesome how well it turned out! I think I will have to try it next year. Will you do one over Spring Break?
This is fantastic! What fun! I am super impressed with your blog and ideas. Hats off to you my dear for being a first year teacher and having wonderful successes. I agree with Liz S, I would love to do this during spring break! Courtney [email protected]
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10 Responses
I loved this and sent it home with my students. I only had 8 complete it out of 40 though…but that's just a testament to the area I teach in. It was cute and I'll use it again.
Jessica
Literacy Spark
I'd say it was totally successful!! I LOVE their letters! They seem so genuine. I'll have to try this next year!!
Kelli
I love this! I will definitely do this next year. We get three weeks off for winter break and this would be the perfect activity. Thanks for sharing!
Chelsea
Fifth Grade Wit and
Whimsy
I am glad so many of your students participated! Those letters to the authors are really great. Sounds like a really great activity!
Amy
Eclectic Educating
I love this idea! Wish I would have seen it before break, but I will definitely be using it next year!
Stephanie
Forever in Fifth Grade
I absolutely LOVE this idea! What an amazing way to motivate those kiddos! Especially love that your lowest readers were the greatest participators. Fantastic! I've never thought of raffling off Scholastic Book certs. or froyo gift cards….I must rethink this. : )
Ali
Teaching Powered by Caffeine
Love this idea! This is such a great way to keep kids motivated during Winter Break 🙂 It turned out to be so successful – congrats! I love those letters! I will definitely be using this next year!
Thanks for sharing your great ideas and an update!
Have a great week,
Amanda
My Shoe String Life
That's such a great idea, and it's awesome how well it turned out! I think I will have to try it next year. Will you do one over Spring Break?
Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late
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This is great! I would love to try it over Spring Break too!
Liz
Beach Teach
This is fantastic! What fun! I am super impressed with your blog and ideas. Hats off to you my dear for being a first year teacher and having wonderful successes. I agree with Liz S, I would love to do this during spring break!
Courtney
[email protected]