12 Days of Christmas in the Classroom

Here are some more details about an idea I posted about on Facebook... the 12 Days of Christmas in the Classroom. I mentioned before that I was subbing in a 4th grade classroom, and the teacher was giving her students a "gift" each day for 12 days. She started on Dec. 1 and gave one each school day.

The teacher had the gifts written on slips of paper in a Christmas container and drew one each day (although, I think she had it rigged about what she was going to give on each day). When I was there, I got to play Santa Says with the students for 15 minutes. Other suggestions I made were Holiday Hangman, free draw time, extra recess, etc. I got the list of what this teacher uses, and here it is:
          1. Snowball Fight (done with lightly crumpled white paper)
          2. Freeze (play Christmas music; students dance until you turn off the music;
                                           those who are still moving are out)
          3. Make ornaments for her small classroom tree
          4. Santa Says
          5. Extra recess
          6. Read for fun
          7. Teacher read aloud of a Christmas favorite
          8. Jingle Bell Rock (just play the song and have a dance party)
          9. Make snowflakes using coffee filters
          10. Make a greeting card
          11. Christmas Make-a-Word Competition (make as many words from CHRISTMAS as you can)
          12. Polar Express movie/PJ/Hot Chocolate Day

And again, each gift (except the last one) only takes 15 minutes out of the day.