Using a Christmas around the world lesson plan in the days leading up to winter break is a fun way to keep students engaged while teaching them about holiday celebrations that take place in other countries.
If you’ve followed me for long, you know I love classroom escape rooms. Escape rooms are the perfect student activities because they get students up and moving while incorporating critical thinking skills. Students typically have so much fun with classroom escape rooms that they do not even realize they are learning.
So, it is no shock that my favorite Christmas around the world lesson plan involves a classroom escape room. This Christmas escape room for students incorporates a fun theme and standards-based skills to help students learn about Christmas traditions celebrated around the world.
Christmas Around the World Theme
An important aspect of any classroom escape room is having a fun theme!
This Christmas Around the World Escape Room incorporates an impactful, holiday theme to keep students engaged during the days leading up to winter break. At the beginning of the lesson, students are introduced to the theme—they are traveling to different countries on Santa’s sleigh to learn about holiday traditions around the world.
To complete the classroom escape room, they must complete six challenges that incorporate critical thinking, math, and ELA skills.
Christmas Around the World Reading Comprehension
If you’re looking for a Christmas Around the World lesson plan that incorporates ELA and math skills, look no further than this escape room!
For five out of six challenges, students read a short reading comprehension passage about holiday traditions that take place around the world. Throughout these passages, students will learn about food, events, and celebrations that are part of Christmas in Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, France, and Japan.
After reading each passage, students use the information from the passage to complete an activity. Activities include:
- answering multiple-choice questions to create a code
- identifying and using key vocabulary
- using context codes to decode information
- solving mathematical word problems
For the final challenge, students will use a key to decode different Santa Claus names that are used around the world.
Global flags are incorporated throughout this Christmas Around the World escape room so that students practice identifying the flags for different countries as they work.
Students are always interested and amazed at some of the different Christmas traditions and Santa names that they learn while completing each of the activities in the escape room.
Digital Christmas Escape Room
Are you in need of a Christmas Around the World lesson plan that can be used for virtual learning? This classroom escape room activity can be used with both in-person AND virtual learners!
My Christmas Around the World Escape Room comes with two versions: a PDF version and a digital version.
The PDF version can be set up at centers or stations around the classroom. Then, students can rotate through the stations in any order to complete the Christmas escape room classroom activity.
The digital version is completed through a self-checking Google Form. It can be completed in person and remotely. I especially love this option for hybrid and distance learning.
Conclusion
I use a wide variety of Christmas-themed activities throughout December including lots of holiday read alouds and virtual activities. But, of all my December games and activities, this Christmas Around the World lesson plan is my absolute favorite!
With this Christmas Around the World Escape Room, students will have fun practicing ELA and math skills as they learn about Christmas traditions from around the world.
Interested in grabbing this Christmas Around the World Escape Room for your classroom? You can purchase it in the Vestal’s 21st Century Classroom store or from my TPT store.