Even though January is coming to an end, I still feel the need to share our awesome holiday party. The kids had such a blast and I’m always looking for new activities/crafts/games for the students.
Some teachers at my school do an ornament exchange or cookie exchange, but gor the past couple of years, I have conducted a Holiday Book Exchange. A letter goes home asking parents for permission to bring one, wrapped book to participate. Of course, I always have extra wrapped books for the students who are unable to bring one. It’s important that no on misses out. And, I must admit, I have some wonderful parents each year. It never fails that students that are able to bring a wrapped book bring extras for those who cannot. It’s a beautiful thing.
As far as the actual exchange activity, I put all the books in the center of my circle of students. My students (34) all pick a number out of a hat to determine what order they will select books. This is the fun part! We run this with the same rules as the always-entertaining-White Elephant. For me, this is a classic Christmas. *Helpful Hint: The first year I did this, I allowed a book to be stolen three times. This made the game last forever, and for me, it was too long. So my rule is a book can only be stolen twice and it’s “dead”–meaning belongs to the person that stole it for a second time.
What kinds of activities do you have for your class parties??
Cortez Corner 