Five Blissful, Low-Prep Classroom Ideas To Survive December

December doesn’t have to be a stress test. We unpack five blissful, low-prep strategies that keep kids learning and let you breathe, so you can walk into winter break proud, present, and not wiped out. We start with Elf Diaries, a creative writing approach that turns classroom elf hype into voice, perspective, and narrative skills without the daily setup grind. From there, we pivot to Holiday Would You Rather—fast, funny prompts that spark movement, debate, and opinion writing, with easy extensions like quick writes and class graphs that take minutes to run and deliver big engagement.

When the energy spikes, we lean into Christmas STEM story stations that transform chaos into purposeful collaboration. Pair a seasonal read-aloud with design challenges—free Santa from a chimney, build a sleigh that moves without reindeer—and watch force, motion, iteration, and teamwork click with cardboard, tape, and recyclables. For the days when your bandwidth is gone, we talk sub plans as self-care: printable, standards-based packets that cover you for a mental health day, a longer staff-lunch window, or a simplified week that still moves learning forward.

The heart of the conversation is permission to pause. You’re allowed to do less. Say no to extras that drain you, lean on backup plans, and trust that rest is a teaching strategy—one that helps you show up better for your students. As a bonus, we share why Readers Theater is December’s sweet spot: group rehearsals that build fluency and expression while giving you time to finish report cards, prep January, or finally clear that closet shelf. You’ll leave with practical, joyful ideas and the confidence to protect your energy when it matters most.

If this helped you feel lighter, subscribe, share with a teacher friend, and leave a quick review. Tell us: which idea will you try first?

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Elf Diaries 

Christmas Would You Rather

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And December Reality Check
• 2:08 Elf Diaries: Writing Without Stress
• 2:12 Five Blissful Ideas Framed
• 4:13 Holiday Would You Rather For Engagement
• 6:18 Christmas STEM Story Stations
• 9:13 Sub Plans For Peace Of Mind
• 11:37 Permission To Pause
• 13:16 Bonus: Readers Theater Sweet Spot
• 16:04 Recap, Encouragement, And Links

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to One Tired Teacher, episode 273. Five Blissful Holiday Ideas for Teachers who are just hanging on. Today we're talking about some simple things that you can do if you are just trying to make it until the last day before winter break. Hope you stick around.

SPEAKER_00: 0:26

Welcome to One Tired Teacher. And even though she may need a nap, this teacher is ready to wake up and speak her truth about the trials and treasures of teaching. Here she is, wide awake. Wait, she's not asleep right now, is she? She is awake, right? Okay. From Trina Debori Teaching and Learning, your host, Trina Debori.

SPEAKER_01: 0:49

Hey there, tired teacher. Oh my goodness. If you're listening to this episode, you are like in the middle of December, which means you're either elbow deep in like glitter or report cards or closing up the year or chugging your third glass of peppermint mocha, or you're wondering if time has actually stopped because this week feels like a month. It's a really long week. It feels like a super long week. I see you, I've been you, I get you, I feel for you. This isn't an episode that's meant to give you more to do. It's here to give you five blissful, realistic, and life-giving ideas to get through the holiday chaos without losing your mind or losing a little bit of that classroom magic. Let's be real. You're doing a lot. So let's find a way to make this the stretch just a little bit more doable and maybe even a little bit more joyful to get back to it. All right, so had a little bit of technical difficulty there. I don't know what was going on. Anyway, all right, so let's talk about, let's start with something easy and magical. It's called elf diaries. Instead of planning a whole elf schedule, trying to move the doll around your classroom every morning or worrying about who forgot to turn him around. Try this instead. Give your elf or give your students an elf of their own. My elf diary templates let students name, describe, and write an adventure from the elf's point of view. It's creative, it's standards aligned, it's a fantastic way to get them writing without a fight. In fact, there's a little scenario in each of the, in each of like a little prompt that kind of get lets kids know what the elf had has been doing or what the elf has been up to. And then they are kind of writing from that if they need it. Or you can totally have them just do it as like their own elf and like it comes up with different capers, and that's really fun as well. And you don't need my elf templates, that's just something you can get a piece of paper out and like start maybe brainstorming as a class or even with a partner and then letting them just go right at it gives you time to get work done at work. Um, if you want it done for you and you want cute paper and you want the little prompt and you know, little thing to color, then definitely grab my elf diaries. It's so fun. And also you can make an elf diary, which is really, I don't know why it keeps doing this. Um don't use like okay. Um, I don't know why. I don't know why it keeps trying to connect to my phone. Anyway, it gives you a little elf diary that you can make with an elf head and the elf fee, and you just put the paper inside the construction paper. It's so cute and so fun. It's like I made it and I was like, this is so cute. Anyway, all right. So it's um it gives it, like I said, it gives you a little bit of time to get some work done at work. So you're not taking everything home with you over the winter break. They're doing, they're doing narrative writing, they're doing voice, they're even doing perspective, and you didn't have to tape an elf to the ceiling.

unknown: 4:11

Blizz.

SPEAKER_01: 4:13

All right. Christmas, would you rather always equals laughter that sticks to standards? You know what's surprisingly powerful? A good would you rather question. It gets kids thinking, it gets kids comparing and debating. I have a holiday edition. Would you rather um it's Christmas, and they're doing it with questions like, would you rather live in a gingerbread house or ride in a Santa sleigh for a day? And that gets them thinking, what would I rather do? If you want to make this more like like movement oriented and that which involves you, you know, obviously, then you might want to do like two different sides of the room. So if you would rather make a gingerbread house, you come to this side. If you would rather ride on Santa Slate, you go to this side of the room. And then they get a chance to like turn and talk about why they would rather do what they choose. So they're like giving an explanation, they're giving a why behind their reason. And then maybe even one side of the room decides that they're gonna try to convince the other side of the room. So that can be a really fun thing way of doing it as well. And would like another example be like, would you rather have a candy cane finger or hot chocolate toes? So fun, little cute, silly little I would you rather's for kids. That's that's something so simple. I feel like it's under$3 and it's just easy that you can throw up on your Prometheum or in your smart TV, or there's actually the paper copy, also has a digital copy. It's just silly, it's fun. Um, you can turn it into opinion writing, you can turn it into speaking and listening skills, or even you can do, you know, a quick little graphing session of like which one they choose. That can be fun too. Low stress, high energy, another blissful moment. Number option number three. And also you can make up your own would you rather questions, or you could have students create their own would you rather questions. All right, so qu so idea number three. Christmas STEM equals controlled chaos with a purpose. If you're up for something hands-on, but still purposeful, Christmas STEM story stations are the way to go. Yes, it's a little bit of prep, but if you have a day when the energy is off the charts, I'm telling you, STEM saves the day. Give students a problem to solve. Like, how do we help Santa who's stuck in the chimney? Which was great to go with one of the books I recommended in episode 271, which is Santa Stuck. So you do a quick little read aloud, maybe you do some comprehension questions, and then they do a STEM challenge. Like, how are we going to unstick? You know, how are we gonna get Santa unstuck from the chimney? Another idea is can you design a sleigh that moves without a reindeer? I mean, hello. Um, and that's a good time to talk about gravity, or it's you know, if you want to add some academics in there, or even as far as like force and motion, that's a really good, a really good place to like kind of slip in some science while also having some holiday fun. And then you're gonna step back and let the magic happen. Now, I do have a 10 pack of STEM story stations, Christmas STEM story stations, which uses 10, like 10 books. If you don't want to, if you don't want all 10 of them, I have been posting like that some of the individual stories, so they're only$1.50. I do have um don't let the pigeon drive the sleigh. That's only$1.50 in my shop. Super easy. And you only need like simple materials like cardboard and tape and glue and scissors. I mean, if you don't have cardboard, then you're you can use construction paper or popsicle sticks or toothpicks or you know, play-doh, or you know, any Legos, anything that you already have, or it could be recyclable. Like kids have to figure out what they're gonna use in order to help, you know, pigeon drive the sleigh or not drive the sleigh, depending on how you want to frame the challenge. All right. And then you're just stepping back and you're letting the magic magic happen. This is a great time for kids to explore and collaborate, work as a team. It's they're thinking critically because they're coming up with their own solutions. It's not everybody's making the same thing. That's the beauty of it. Um, you're using teamwork, it's joyful. Plus, it feels festive. It gives kids something to remember and it gives you 45 minutes of commish engagement. Again, you're finishing report cards in the corner. You're packing, you're like doing lesson plans for the first week of back from school. Hello, you're ahead. Like, how blissful is that? So that's one idea. Another idea, number four. Idea number four. Sub plans equal peace in a packet. Oh my goodness, this might sound weird, but one of the kindest gifts that you can give yourself this season is a stack of sub plans. Seriously. You don't have to be, you don't have to be out to use them. You can use them for, you can just have that be the last week of school lessons that you use. And you're like, all right, I'm just gonna follow these. I'm just gonna follow these. It'll it's perfect. They're standards-based, and it still has some creative, you know, holiday theme. You can use them for a mental health day. You can use them to get some what is going on with Garage Band. It keeps trying to connect to my phone. Okay. Um, you can use them as a mental health day, is what I was saying. If that didn't get caught, you can use them to like to take a break. You can use them to go do some Christmas shopping. You can use them for a prep block breather. Like, maybe you don't even do the whole day. Maybe you're like, okay, this is just, these are just great for math. We're doing double-digit addition and subtraction right now. Let me just put these Christmas, this Christmas version, and let me just have a few minutes to myself. Um, you can use them so you can go to the holiday office lunch. You know, maybe the lunch in the office. We always had that. I love that. It wasn't in the office. Ours is in the teacher's lounge. And um we the teacher's lounge, which is was in the area with the office, so that's why I said office. But um the teacher's lounge was, it doesn't matter. Anyway, we would have the greatest like dinner that was made from the PTO. And I love when they had the homemade cooking because that was my favorite, rather than like catering it with Chick-fil-A or something. And then we it would always have the best desserts, and we would go and we would have our regular lunch, but we always, you know, wanted to stay a little bit longer. So, you know, maybe you figure out how to like share. Like, I'm gonna stay a little bit longer, I'll take your class. You stay a little bit longer, I'll take your class, and whatever. Um, all right. So, okay, so my 10-day sub-plan packet is themed, it's ready to print, it's totally usable, even if you're not absent. It's my teacher version of a cozy blanket and a cup of warm apple cider, and you know it's there if you need it. All right, and last but not least, blissful idea number five permission to pause. But finally, and most importantly, let yourself pause. The kids will be fine, the standards will wait, and you, dear teacher, deserve to walk into the break without it being completely broken. Let me say that again. You deserve to walk into Christmas break without it being totally broken, without being so overwhelmed and exhausted from the last few weeks of December. So here's a little permission slip from me to you. This week I'm allowed to do less. This is what you're telling yourself. This week, I'm allowed to do less. Make space for joy, use the backup plans, even if no one's sick, and say no to one more fun thing that doesn't feel fun. Sometimes the most joyful, blissful thing you can do is to give yourself margin, to give yourself permission. Here's a bonus idea, which is something that if you don't it doesn't sound fun, don't do it. But if it does sound fun and it sounds like, oh my gosh, my kids will love this, and I will get more time to finish doing work at work, then this is another really fun way to do that. And it's Christmas plays, which I think are the December sweet spot. So let me let me just let me just share what it is. So Christmas plays and readers theater scripts. Here's why they work like holiday gold. It gives your kids something to practice over time. So you assign the parts, you give kids the opportunity to read it, and then you have them highlight their parts, and then they are in a group practicing, and they're gonna practice over and over and over again. And that's what you want them to do. You might even set a timer or a place from Christmas music and let them practice. So that's when you get to go get some work done. It means they're engaged, they're rehearsing, they're rereading, they're working on fluency, and they're learning without needing you every second. Seriously, while we're building fluency, expression, and confidence. You can clean your closet, you can finish parent gifts, you can organize the classroom, you can just breathe for a second. That is the rare December sweet spot. The kids are joyful and on task. You get a window to catch up or wind down. And the outcome? A class full of proud readers performing like prose. It's a total win. I created a Christmas Readers Theater bundle. It's three short scripts, and they're fun, they're festive, and they're built for second and third graders. There are 21 roles, so everyone gets a part. Actually, I don't know if that's true. I do not think that's true. There's not 21 roles. There's like a certain amount of roles, that's why I did three different ones so that you could do three different groups. I'm pretty sure it's not 21 roles for every script. But now I now I'm not sure. I don't remember. But it's definitely you might, you know, if if you're just going to use one script and not use all three of them and you want the whole class to do it, then you can just again break them up into groups. Um, and that will allow you to practice more and also perform. Then they get to perform for one another. And then group number one goes, and then group number two goes, and then group number three goes. All this time you're getting things done for yourself. Hallelujah. Um, they also have character necklaces and picture-prompted scripts so that students can follow along with them independently so they know when their character is speaking. You also get Christmas bookmarks to color. Hello, that's another bonus. And as a bonus, it's kind of like a bonus craft or an early finisher station. They make great early finisher stations, the bookmarks. It's joyful, it's structured, and doesn't require a full-blown sugar production. Just print, assign the parts, and let the fluency magic unfold. So let's recap. Five blissful holiday ideas. Actually, I added a six one. So we've got the elf diaries for easy writing. We've got Christmas Would You Rather for quick engagement can also lead to writing or discussion, or you can even do a you know, a two corners instead of four corners, but two sides. Um, Christmas stem lets kid think, feels like play, but it's collaborative, it's create critical thinking. We've got Christmas subplans for a back up back pocket peace of mind. You've got permission to pause, which is the real MVP of this list, and you've got a bonus Christmas play, the December sweet spot. You're doing an amazing job, even if no one has told that to you already. You don't have to earn your rest, you just have to know that you're worthy of it. Hang in there, teacher. And if you need something to lighten your load, I've got links in the show notes for everything that I mentioned. And ready to go goodies, that'll save your sanity. I'll see you next week when we talk about how to gently reset for January without the pressure. Take care. And maybe, just maybe, slip skip the glitter this year. Until next time, sweet dreams and sleep tight.