Winter Activities for Secondary ELA

Winter can be a challenging season to hold students' attention. They're looking forward to winter break and holidays, they are overwhelmed by family, and the weather can get crazy. Here are some engaging winter resources that are sure to hold your students' attention.

This Ugly Holiday Sweater Character Analysis activity can be used with any short story or novel. It’s versatile and can be used for any winter holiday the chosen story character would celebrate. Designing a sweater for a character is a fun, engaging way to approach analysis.

The last day before winter break can be a long one. Everyone is too excited to focus. This Winter Break Four Corners Game is a great way to hold students’ attention. It gets students up out of their seats and lets them share their opinions on all things winter.

This Letter to Santa Voice Activity can be used with any novel or story. It requires students to read closely and carefully choose their words as they write a letter as a chosen character. It’s a creative way for students to think about voice.

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a beautiful poem by Robert Frost. These activities break down the analysis of this poem into simple steps, and there is a creative sketching activity at the end. These activities are a great way to include the winter season into your lesson plans without including holidays that may alienate some students.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a classic Christmas tale about sacrifice and love. Students enjoy twist endings, and the irony in this story delivers. It's a great story to use to teach irony, theme, and allusions. This story unit for "The Gift of the Magi" has everything you need to teach the story. It has the full text with guided reading questions, analysis activities, writing prompts, and a quiz.

New Year’s Resolution Activities are a great way to get students excited about returning to school. This set of activities has eight different tasks that students will love, and they set a positive tone for the new semester.

Check out the resources!

Ugly Holiday Sweater Character Analysis (Digital and Printable)

Winter Break Four Corners Game

Letter to Santa Voice Activity (Digital and Printable)

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening Poem Analysis Activities (Digital and Printable)

The Gift of the Magi Short Story Unit

New Year’s resolution Activities (Digital and Printable)

Happy Holidays!

Laura