Our youngest learners are so excited about the holiday season!
This time of year there are so many fun activities and ways to decorate our classroom to celebrate the season.
We talk about the different ways students celebrate the holidays and find ways to incorporate these into learning experiences.
So we make adorable Christmas trees with our thumbprint art. Our little scientists are able to do hands-on science experiments with a December theme. Students love showing off their math skills with our gingerbread addition mats, and sing “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” so many time’s I can’t get it out of my head!
These are the things that make the holiday season so enjoyable!
Christmas themed activities are a great way to get kids learning without realizing they’re learning.
I created another way to connect Christmas with literacy. Use this Christmas Blends Match-Up so students can practice blending together individual sounds within words in a hands-on way!
Want more Christmas learning activities? Be sure to take a look at all of our Christmas Learning Activities.
Christmas Blends Match-Up
This is an entertaining way to practice decoding unfamiliar words using letter patterns!
This resource is a great way to help your emerging readers build on their phonological awareness. This Christmas themed match-up is perfect for Preschool and Kindergarten classrooms.
It works well in literacy stations, independent work, or in small review groups. Depending on your students’ abilities, it can be used as a review or a challenge.
Inside You’ll Find:
- 20 sheets of Christmas trees covering common letter blends such as: cr, sp, fl, gr, bl, dr, etc.
- 20 sheets with bulbs, each with 6 different pictures in 3 different colors,
- Another set of 20 sheets with bulbs, with 6 different pictures on each sheet in the same color to make this less of a challenge.
- This resource also comes in black and white to save on ink, so it comes with 100 pages total.
Getting the Christmas Blends Match-Up Ready
This activity is easy to prep. After you purchase the match-up and download it, you’ll print (color or black and white) and cut using a paper trimmer. Gather all of the pieces and place in a plastic container. I love using plastic pencil cases to store centers like these. It keeps everything in one place and does not take up a ton of space.
Here’s how I keep my Language Arts materials organized throughout the year.
I recommend printing these out on cardstock and laminating them before you cut them so you can easily be used year after year.
Using the Christmas Blends Match-Up
Students will start the activity by choosing a Christmas tree with a blend on it. This student chose the tree with the blend “cr.”
They will then sort through all of the light bulbs with pictures looking for the ones that have the blend “cr.” You may want to have your students work in small groups the first time they try to complete the Christmas Blends Match-Up.
Once their Christmas tree is decorated with the light bulbs representing the corresponding blend, they can move on to a new blend and start again.
Another way this activity could be completed is to have all of the Christmas trees laid out on a table or the floor. Students will then sort through all of the light bulbs and place each one on the correct Christmas tree.
You can differentiate this activity for younger students or students who need extra review or practice. Use the light bulb sheets that come in only one color for their corresponding blend. This will help them to distinguish the corresponding blend easier.
Another way you can simplify the activity is to provide them with only two of the tree blends and the corresponding bulbs at one time.
Once they master those, you can slowly add in more trees and more light bulbs.
Whether students are working together as a group or showing off their mastery of words on their own, they will have a “merry” good time!
Download this Christmas Blends Match-Up Now!
Are you ready to implement this in your classroom or home?
Get it at our A Dab of Glue Will Do Store
Get it here in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store
Your kids can practice blends all year long with our Blends Mega Bundle. It has 12 themed blend activities! Plus, when you purchase them together, you’ll save yourself some money!
Have fun with your students in the classroom and at home with this Christmas Blends Match-Up Printable Activity.
Want More Christmas Match-Ups?
Don’t forget to check out our Christmas Match-Ups Bundle!
If you can’t find a resource that you would LOVE to have for your classroom, Contact me and I would be happy to make it for you.
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