Objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to create a Christmas countdown using handprints and engage in Christmas-themed activities for each day, while practicing basic arithmetic skills.

Materials and Prep

Materials needed: washable paint, construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, and a calendar. No prior knowledge required.

Activities

1. Create Handprint Christmas Tree: Use green paint to make a handprint on the construction paper, and then add a brown trunk and decorations with markers.

2. Counting Ornaments: Cut out different colored circles from construction paper and write numbers on them. Place the correct number of ornaments on the handprint tree each day.

3. Christmas Math Story: Write a short Christmas-themed story involving addition or subtraction and ask the student to solve the math problems within the story.

4. Christmas Shapes: Cut out various Christmas shapes (e.g. stars, candy canes) and ask the student to count the number of sides and corners on each shape.

First Grade Talking Points

• "Today we are going to create a special Christmas countdown using our handprints. We will use our fingers to represent the days until Christmas."
• "Let's count the number of ornaments we need to place on our handprint tree for each day. This will help us practice our counting skills."
• "We can also practice addition and subtraction by solving Christmas-themed math problems. It will be fun to use our imagination and math skills together!"
• "We will also learn about different shapes by cutting and counting the sides and corners of Christmas shapes. It's like a math treasure hunt!"