google.com, pub-8985115814551729, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 Free Printable Lesson Plans: December 2011

Free Printable Winter Lessons, Activities


The winter season is a popular theme in preschool and early elementary school classrooms. Winter is a great time to explore science concepts of chemistry, physics, earth and life science. In social studies, students could learn winter-themed holidays and religious celebrations, like Yule, Saturnalia and the December solstice. Here are free printable winter-themed worksheets and lesson plans that are adaptable across different curricula: writing, math, reading, literature, art and crafts. Most are interactive, hands-on project-type activities.
ABC Teach has a plethora of free printable winter lesson plans for every content area. There are free printable worksheets, puzzles, coloring pages, writing prompts, mazes, crafts, connect the dots, reading and language lesson plans. Here is just a sampling of free printable activities:
Felt board letter shapes with winter
Winter season word wall lists (some also have picture cues)
Letter to Santa writing prompt (which teaches personal, informal letter-writing skills and creative writing)
Winter-themed borders, bulletin board trim, classroom newsletter paper
Printable mini-booklets with winter themes (snowman, snowflake, Christmas stocking, mitten)
Snow-themed cryptograms, glyphs, flashcards
Graphic organizers: Venn diagrams, KWL charts (Know-Want to Know-Learned)
Winter holiday dot-to-dot puzzles
Science report worksheets for ice, snow and snowflakes
Winter-themed math: word problems, skip counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, telling time
Winter poetry frames and templates
Preschool winter-themed worksheets for sequencing, sorting, organizing, matching
Language activities: alphabetical order activities, color and write prompts, winter solstice prompts, metaphors
Marcel's Kids Crafts features free printable cut-and-paste snowflake templates. To create the snowflake, click on the desired design, print and fold on the lines as shown. The design should be on top. Students should cut out the shaded areas, leaving the white areas. These activities make excellent math lesson plans. Students can practice hands-on geometry principles. Special needs students often need to practice perceptual integration. Folding and cutting snowflakes builds fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

Enchanted Learning has more free printable winter lesson plans than any one teacher could ever use! There are crafts, worksheets, mini booklets, science charts and graphs, animal activities, holiday activities to name just a few.

Free Printable Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico Lessons, Activities


Dec. 12 marks the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Catholic Church. It dates to 1531 when Catholics believe the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec peasant at Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City. Latinos venerate Bl. Juan Diego on Dec. 9 and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Their feast days are part of Catholic Advent celebrations. Here are free printable Our Lady of Guadalupe lesson plans. Lesson plans on Mexico are included.
Loyola Press tells of Juan Diego, who reported seeing a "lady clothed with the sun" who commanded him to build a church. To prove that she was the Blessed Virgin Mary she caused her image to be emblazoned on Diego's tilma (cactus fiber cloak). Loyola Press provides a printable image made from the icon that parents can have children color as they tell the story.
Mary our Mother describes many miracles associated with Our Lady of Guadalupe's image. It provides a Biblical analysis, dates, timeline, history and biographies. There is a cultural analysis on relations between Spanish explorers and missionaries and the native Aztec in Mexico in the 16th century. Many terms are Aztec or Spanish and this site provides translation. Parents can use these to explain the significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe for Catholics and Hispanics.
Mother of All Peoples tells how the Guadalupe apparition of Mary fits with other appearances of Our Lady. Tradition in Action offers slide shows about scientific aspects of Our Lady's image. Parents can use this to help children understand the image from a technological viewpoint.
Catholic Heritage Curricula has many free home-school activities. It offers a how-to-draw coloring page of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Catholic Mom has free printable Our Lady of Guadalupe lessons, games, puzzles, coloring sheets and activities. There are several printable crafts.

Sancta has printable prayers and holy cards. Sancta gives parents permission to print these images and use them for family devotions.
Children's author and illustrator Tomie de Paola wrote "The Lady of Guadalupe." Parents can use this version to tell the story to younger children. The book contains many helpful and references and some activities too.