Whole-School Creative Maths, Science & Literacy Workshops for the festive season

We know that schools want their pupils to enjoy the festive season – but also to keep learning going right through to the end of the autumn term. Which is why our range of cross-curricular, School Christmas workshops always proves so popular! Once again, we’ve got workshops with a seasonal take on numeracy, literacy, science and history – with something for EYFS -  KS2 / P1 - P7!

"The children  used their imaginations and creativity to create the poem. The sessions helped the children learn about how to create their own poem and it promoted the children's vocabulary. All children were able to access the sessions, they were very inclusive ... and they really enjoyed performing their whole school poem in assembly at the end of the day." Holy Cross Catholic Primary, Liverpool

 

Christmas Crackers

Download our whole-school Christmas-themed Maths teaching resource and deliver your own festive Maths day!

"Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have had a wonderful poetry day where we have created our own verses with actions that we will combine to make one amazing collaborative poem. We have actions for Christmas trees, snowmen, excitement and flaming Christmas puddings!" St Wilfrids Primary 

Celebrations in Rhyme: Christmas (EYFS - KS2 / P1 - P7) 

Creating and performing a whole-school Seasonal Poem in just a single day!

From Jingle Bells to White Christmas, from Silent Night to The Night Before Christmas, the winter season has inspired some of the most loved and best remembered verses of all time. So what better time of year to write and perform (with actions!) your own whole-school poem?

A starting assembly will see a member of our team sharing their love of both poetry and the season of short days and long nights - and issuing the overall challenge. Working as a year group at a time, pupils will come to realise the power of “choice” in poetry writing, as they take part in our creatively collaborative workshops - with KS2 children benefiting from our unique “RunAround” methodology as they select the themes and content, building up the lines as they go, and EYFS/KS1 pupils using a drama-based game to create a “growing” chorus.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without gifts, though - so by the end of the day the gift you’ll give to yourselves will be a wonderfully crafted, seasonal poem, getting its very first performance at a second, celebratory assembly to end the day!

"The children thoroughly enjoyed their day and particularly loved performing at the beginning and end with the whole school. The students gained further understanding of how to use their ideas to write poetry, as well as a look at performing poetry. Some staff were surprised by how some more reluctant readers and writers in class were engaged with the poetry. It was great to be able to involve the whole school in a workshop day all the way from EYFS and bring the children together to work collaboratively." Northway Primary

 

 

"Y4 had a super poetry and drama workshop earlier this week with Jo. They shared what they knew about figurative language, did some choral performance and created a Christmas clerihew poem. Perhaps the favourite activity was the human sculpture game though." Hunts Cross Primary

 

Maths: The Santa Challenge (EYFS - KS2 / P1 - P7)

With the clock ticking away to Christmas Eve, Santa’s lost the combination to the key that unlocks his sleigh! So he’s going to arrive at your school in a muddle – and needing your children’s help if Christmas is to be saved. Working through a series of seasonal mathematical challenges, they’ll reveal the letters and numbers he needs, one by one – until, if all goes well, the precious vehicle is freed.

Exploring (according to age): additive reasoning, multiplicative reasoning, number patterns, 2D & 3D shapes, positional language.

Cross-Curricular Links: Literacy, Science, History, Geography, RE, Music

Duration: 1 – 2 hours, depending on how many classes.

"Thank you so much for our wonderful Christmas workshops that you did with the children at Aberdour. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I heard many of them talking about it with their parents after school." Maths Lead, Aberdour School

 

Maths: Christmas Crackers (EYFS - KS2 / P1 - P7) Teaching Resource Pack

With December being such a busy time, Christmas Crackers allows you to maintain a maths buzz around the school in the last weeks of term in a way that’s fun, seasonal and flexible enough to meet every teacher’s needs. Elton Elf is stranded in New York – and won’t be able to make his way around the globe and back to the North Pole in time for Christmas Eve without your pupils’ support. To succeed, the children will find themselves using a range of maths skills to crack five different Christmas codes, all differentiated for age from Nursery to Year 6. The challenges don’t need to be tackled all in one go, allowing individual teachers to slot them into their schedules however they please – and come with short opening and closing “video letters” from Elton himself! download the pack from www.ascreativesconnect.com/product/christmas-crackers/

 

Science: The Great Christmas Science Quiz (EYFS - KS2 / P1 - P7)

A great way for pupils to learn and remember some seasonal science - up to fourteen classes in a single day!

Christmas is one of the most interesting times of year for a scientist - why do holly, mistletoe and fir trees all stay green, for example? How can rain, slush, hail and snow all be made from the same thing? What do the reindeer eat in the depths of winter - and why exactly did Santa choose the North Pole as his headquarters? A whole-day, whole-school programme for up to 420 pupils, The Great Christmas Science Quiz will answer all these questions - and many more! Following a quick and interactive assembly using the Pole Star to tell the story of some of the science of Christmas, classes will take part in a series of high-energy, active quizzes (with not a desk in sight!) designed to both anchor the science they’re learning in an enjoyable context and introduce new content. And the day will end with a celebratory, closing assembly at which the winners of the Christmas Science Quiz will be revealed ...

Suitable for: EYFS - Year 6 / P1 - P7 (up to 420 pupils in a single day)

Exploring (according to age): seasonal aspects of plants, animals (including humans), habitats, rocks, forces, light, sound, electricity, Earth and space, pollution/conservation, weather

 

Maths: CSI: Christmas Bake Off! (Years 3 – 6 / P4 - P7)

The seasonal Bake Off organised by Celebrity Chef Noel Joy ended in tears, not happiness – because he was nearly poisoned by his own Christmas Pudding! But this was no accident: one of the finalists had deliberately set out to get revenge … After being introduced to the crime, Noel himself and the suspects, pupils will need to use their understanding of fractions, percentages and measurements to help him catch the criminal. So who was it? Holly Sprig, the gardener? Jack Frost, the teenage prodigy? Miss L. Tow, the Queen of the Bakers? Chris Tingle, the dancer? Carol Singer, the soprano? Or Father Chris Mass, the chaplain?

Exploring (according to age): fractions, ratios, proportions, percentages, measurements, additive reasoning, multiplicative reasoning, multi-stage problem solving.

Cross-Curricular Links: Science, History, RE

Duration: 1½ – 2 hours, depending on how many classes.

 

Maths: CSI: Christmas Storyland (EYFS, KS1 / P1 - P3)

There’s chaos in Christmas Storyland – because someone has stolen the Magic Ointment that makes Rudolph’s nose shine so brightly! Which of his neighbours could have taken it? After using storytelling techniques to introduce pupils to the crime and the suspects, we’ll share with them a range of clues left at the scene. They’ll then use their sorting and numeracy skills to reveal the identity of the miscreant!

Was it Goldilocks, the Billy Goats Gruff, Little Miss Muffet, the Little Pigs or Red Riding Hood? It’s up to you to find out!

Exploring (according to age): data handling, additive reasoning, multiplicative reasoning, fractions, sequencing.

Cross-Curricular Links: Literacy, History, RE

Duration: 45 minutes – 1 hour, depending on how many classes.

“Using a story as a stimulus to base a maths lesson on was a fantastic idea. The children were engaged and excited throughout – including the ones who usually struggle with the subject!” (Class Teacher, Arnot St Mary’s)

 

History: A Victorian Christmas (EYFS, KS1, KS2 / P1 - P7)

The roots of Christmas as we know it today stretch less than 200 years into the past – because Christmas cards, Christmas trees, Christmas crackers and the traditional Christmas dinner only came about through the inventiveness of the Victorians! Guided through all this by none other than the author of “A Christmas Carol”, Mr Charles Dickens himself, children will explore the history of the season – and make some startling discoveries!

Exploring (according to age and time): Christmas timelines, contrasting experiences of rich and poor people, Victorian impacts on the 21st century.

Cross-Curricular Links: Art, DT, Geography, History, Literacy, Music, Numeracy, RE, Science

Duration: 1 - 2 hours, depending on how many classes we work with.

“The children got some really great ideas to help them scaffold their own poetry – I loved the use of the senses and soundscapes to help them discover their ideas!” (Class Teacher, Crumpsall Lane Primary)

 

 

See our workshops in action!

 

 

 

 

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