Daily Assignment #96: December Holidays

It's that time of year... holidays.  It is also a very busy time of year, not only because of the holidays but they lead into the winter school break.

Here is a list of some of the holidays for December:

• December 1st  Rosa Park's Day 
•                  7th  Pearl Harbor Day
•                 13th  St. Lucia Day, Sweden
•                 20th- 28th  Chanukah, Jewish
•                 21st  First Day of Winter
•                 22nd Winter Solistice
•                 25th  Christmas. Christians, Roman Catholics, International
•                 26th  Boxing Day, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom
•                 26th- January 1st  Kwanzaa, African Americans
•                 28th  National Chocolate Day, Everyone I know
•                 31st  New Year's Eve   

Please refer to Daily Assignment #27 for ideas on how to handle the holidays. Keep in mind, if you are planning to teach certain holidays make sure you have a balance of customs from each one.  Don't just teach one holiday.  

This is also a time to bring closure to a semester and to units of study.  Knowing that this is a chaotic time, begin planning how you would like the last few days to look and feel like.  Some teachers plan class parties, a class breakfast with student exhibits/presentations, a special field trip, e.g. concert, play, movie.  Then there are other teachers that press on with learning and try to keep a low key tone because the students are already worked into a tizzy.  Having said all that, I recognize that some schools/districts have policies in regard to what should occur on those last few days.

Because this month is such a busy time my next blog will be posted on Sunday, January 8, 2012.
Have a wonderful, joyful, holiday, whatever it may be and see you in January.

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Best Effort,
Linda Fobes