Christmas Archives - Krejci Creations

'Tis the Season for Holiday Fun!

With December right around the corner, it’s time to prepare for a month of holiday festivities! Help spread Christmas cheer by incorporating these holiday-themed math activities into your classroom.

Let’s first acknowledge how CUTE this clipart is…I am obsessed! Your students will also be as they work through these Boom Cards on comparing fractions.

Boom Cards require NO PREP–just send students the link on Google Classroom, Schoology, Boom Learning, or whatever platform you use. Since they are self-checking, students receive immediate feedback after each question. They truly do learn from Boom Cards!

Another option is to use Boom Cards in your whole group lesson or display a few questions for a warm-up activity.

There are more holiday-themed math decks on factor pairs, simplest form, and converting improper fractions and mixed numbers.

Holiday-Themed Math Games

Another way to add a touch of holiday cheer to your classroom is with games. Games work well as a math station or choice board activity. Students love playing them, especially when they are decorated in all things Christmas.

Holiday-Themed Math Crafts

Think Christmas crafts are for primary students only? Think again! These Christmas factor trees reinforce prime and composite numbers and extend into prime factorization.

This festive craft even comes with its very own “O Factor Tree” lyrics! Read this blog post for more info!

Holiday-Themed Math Centers

Finally, incorporate holiday-themed resources into your math centers. Task cards, clip cards, and matching activities are my go-to resources for small group centers.

1. Task cards are extremely versatile, easy to differentiate, and provide meaningful practice for students. Since they only solve one card at a time, task cards don’t feel overwhelming like a worksheet sometimes does.

2. Clip cards are an effective resource because of their self-checking feature. Students can use paper clips, clothes pins, a dry-erase marker, or their fingers to clip and check their answers. They can also be used for quiz-quiz-trade, one of my favorite cooperative learning structures!

3. Matching activities have a game-like feel to them, which students love. This festive activity has students match the fractions on the colored ornaments to their simplest form on the tree.

The level of difficulty varies within the trees (tree #1 is the least difficult and tree #10 is the most challenging), therefore allowing students to work at different levels. For a lower prep activity, use the digital version instead!

Want to know more about these holiday-themed math activities? Shop the Christmas section within my TPT store for detailed descriptions, previews, and teacher testimonials.

Until next time,

Happy Holidays!

P.S. Need holiday party and gift ideas for your upper elementary students? I share all of that and more in Episode 21 of Elementary Math Chat! Episode 21: 10 Holiday Party and Gift Ideas for Upper Elementary Students

“O Factor Tree, O Factor Tree, your factor pairs are lovely.” I know those aren’t the traditional lyrics to the song, but they are the lyrics to my FAVORITE Christmas math song, “O Factor Tree”, by yours truly! More on the song later 🙂

A Holiday Tradition: Christmas math Ornaments

These Christmas factor tree ornaments are an annual tradition of mine. As a math teacher, I don’t get to incorporate crafts into my lessons very often–which is fine because I am the LEAST crafty person I know!

Regardless, I look forward to creating these every year with my students. It’s the perfect Christmas math craft for the not-so-crafty person.

If you’re looking for a low-maintenance, Christmas math craft that reinforces math concepts, you will LOVE these factor tree ornaments!

Getting Started with Christmas Factor Trees

First, I teach my students about prime factorization. Since they’ve already learned about prime and composite numbers, this is a fun extension for them. After modeling a few examples, I introduce the lyrics to “O Factor Tree”, and we sing the song to an instrumental version. It’s my favorite part of the whole activity!

Next, I give students the first page of factor trees which we complete together. I then allow them the option to choose their own numbers on the second page. It’s fun to see students challenge themselves with really large numbers! When finished, they glue these pages in their math journal for future reference.

Next, I go through the instructions on how to create their Christmas factor trees. I’ve learned it’s best to design and color the trees and ornaments before cutting everything out.

Finally, I assemble all of the materials on my teacher table and have students grab what they need. To save time, I copy the trees double-sided so one side is blank and one side includes the lyrics.

As a result, each student only needs one tree, 6-12 (two rows) of ornaments, and presents, which can be optional.

Another option is to copy the trees single-sided. In this case, each student needs 2 trees, one blank and one with lyrics that they will glue together. Either way works well!

Now they are ready to create their factor tree. During this time, I play festive music as it lessens the desire to talk and adds to the overall excitement of the activity.

How to Differentiate Christmas Factor Trees

There are several ways to differentiate this activity. Allow students to choose their own number. This is differentiation in itself! In addition, challenge your students to create presents under the tree showing the standard form of prime factorization, with or without exponents. Each tree will be unique, and students will take pride in their creations.

Want to cut down on materials and class time? Use the low-prep version where all student materials are on one page. I ended up using this version during my last few years.

Teacher Tips

It’s important that students tell you what number they are factoring before they begin. Some factor trees will be too large to fit on the tree, and some might look too small. Therefore, students should consider the number of ornaments they will need before beginning. Also, because the ornaments can be a challenge for some to cut out, I prepare a handful of them beforehand just in case.

Christmas math ornaments

Once students have cut, colored, and glued their factor trees together, the trees are ready to be made into ornaments. To do this, I hole-punch the star and tie a piece of string, yarn, or pipe cleaner around the hole.

I then display the finished products outside my classroom for the weeks leading up to Christmas Break. It’s so fun to see all of the unique and creative designs the students come up with!

On the day before break, they take them home to hang on their own Christmas trees for years to come.

Ready to start your own tradition of making Christmas factor trees? I hope the answer is YES!

For more holiday-themed ideas, check out Episode 21 of Elementary Math Chat where I share 10 holiday party and gift ideas for upper elementary students. Listen using the link below or through your favorite listening app!

Episode 21: 10 Holiday Party and Gift Ideas for Upper Elementary Students