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December through New Year's Day, including Hanukkah (dates vary with the Hebrew calendar), Christmas on December 25, Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1 and the winter solstice around December 21.
Plan across the first three weeks of December, giving each holiday accurate, equal-quality attention rather than centering one. Ask families early (opt-in) whether they would like to share traditions, and check the dates each year because Hanukkah moves with the Hebrew calendar. The winter solstice is a great secular anchor for science and math that every student can join.
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Checked, ready-to-teach Winter Holidays resources from the LessonHQ Library, including one free to try. Each one opens as your own editable copy, ready to export to PowerPoint, Google Slides, Word or PDF.
December brings several celebrations that matter to students and their families. Hanukkah, an eight-night Jewish festival, remembers the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees in the second century BCE and the story of oil that lasted eight days; families light the menorah one candle at a time. Christmas, on December 25, is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus and is also widely marked as a cultural holiday.
Kwanzaa, from December 26 to January 1, was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a celebration of African American culture and heritage. Each day honors one of seven principles, the Nguzo Saba, such as Umoja (unity) and Kuumba (creativity), and families light candles in a kinara. It is a cultural, not religious, holiday. Around December 21, the winter solstice brings the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, which many cultures have marked for thousands of years.
Teaching about these holidays helps students understand their classmates and the wider world. Public schools can teach about religion academically but should not promote any one faith or require participation in devotional activities. Done well, a winter holidays unit builds respect, curiosity and knowledge across science, math, social studies and the arts.
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Use senses, light and seasons: candles, lights, snow, sharing and family. Keep explanations short and accurate ("some families celebrate...") and make sure every child feels their home traditions, or lack of them, are fine.
Explore light and shadow with flashlights and talk about why many winter celebrations use lights when days are short.
Count candles on a paper menorah (one each night, plus the helper candle) and on a kinara (seven), building number sense to 9.
Fold and cut paper snowflakes and notice that real snowflakes have six sides. Display them as a class winter window.
Children draw something their family does in winter, from holidays to sledding or visiting relatives, and share if they want to.
Compare celebrations side by side with accurate basics: who celebrates, why, and one or two traditions. Avoid treating one holiday as the default and others as versions of it.
Learn about Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Las Posadas, then complete a chart showing who celebrates, when and one tradition for each.
Play dreidel with counters and learn the Hebrew letters, tallying which side lands most often and adding and subtracting counters.
Use a lamp and globe to show how Earth's tilt makes days shorter and colder in winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Read Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day and write sentences about what they would do on a snow day, using describing words.
Go deeper into the origins and meanings of each holiday, including the principles of Kwanzaa and the story of Hanukkah, and use the solstice for real science. Keep the approach academic and balanced.
Learn the Nguzo Saba, match each principle to its meaning and write how one principle could guide a class project.
Track sunrise and sunset times through December, calculate hours of daylight and graph how day length changes.
Read about the Maccabees and the rededication of the Temple, sequence the events and explain why the menorah has nine branches.
Plan a holiday donation drive with a budget, adding and subtracting decimals and comparing costs.
Middle schoolers can study how traditions spread and change, the history behind customs, and the science of winter. Keep comparisons respectful and academic, and include students who celebrate nothing at all.
Compare solstice traditions such as Yalda in Iran, Dongzhi in China and Newgrange in Ireland, and explain why ancient people tracked the sun.
Analyze how Christmas customs evolved in the US through immigration, Clement Clarke Moore's poem and commercial advertising in the 1800s and 1900s.
Investigate how salt lowers the freezing point of water, record temperatures and explain why roads are salted in winter.
Discuss giving traditions across holidays, such as tzedakah in Judaism and Ujima in Kwanzaa, and plan a class service project.
High school students can analyze religious freedom in public schools, consumer economics and the cultural history of holidays. Encourage critical, respectful discussion and protect students' right not to share their beliefs.
Examine the Establishment Clause and court guidance on holiday displays and music in public schools, and debate case scenarios.
Analyze retail sales data for November and December, calculate seasonal share of annual sales and discuss what it means for workers and businesses.
Analyze Dickens's A Christmas Carol as a critique of Victorian poverty and greed, connecting it to the social conditions of 1843.
Explore why Kwanzaa was created in 1966, its links to the Black Power movement and Pan-Africanism, and how it is celebrated today.
A few things worth thinking about before you plan, so every child in the room feels included and the facts stay accurate.
Yes. Public schools can teach about religion as part of history, culture and literature, as long as the approach is academic and balanced and does not promote or disparage any faith. Students should not be required to take part in devotional activities, and teachers should present several traditions fairly.
Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, which is lunisolar (based on the moon and adjusted to the sun), so its date on the regular calendar moves each year, usually falling between late November and late December. It lasts eight nights, beginning at sundown.
No. Kwanzaa is a cultural celebration of African American heritage created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga. It runs from December 26 to January 1, with each day dedicated to one of seven principles. People of any faith can celebrate it, often alongside other holidays.
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