6 Easy (Low/No-Prep) Christmas ELA Activities for Middle School

Enjoy the Ho! Ho! Ho-lidays with these 6 easy Christmas ELA activities for middle school.

Whether you are one of the teachers who absolutely loves the holidays or… well, you’re not, you know the chaos that is the holiday season in middle school ELA.

Although the holidays are fun, we all know that the holidays and school don’t always go together as smoothly as peppermint sticks in cocoa.

It seems that no matter how much you have planned, during the winter holiday months your students are fidgety and fabulous. They are wearing their candy-cane striped socks, wearing sweaters that are really just blankets with arms, and somehow slipping PSLs past the admin on the daily.

They are not, however, ready to start anything new. 

Plan to Review!

Those weeks between Thanksgiving and the winter break are like the no-man’s land of the school year. It is an awkward time when students have learned a lot of new content, and you could really capitalize on their new knowledge. However, their attention spans and focus are 100% elsewhere. 

And who can blame them?!

You made it through the rough and tumble months of September and October, two very difficult months for middle school students. Now, you are gearing up for some longer breaks, New Year’s Resolutions, and the school year equivalent of a ‘fresh start’ that will begin after we return from break.

So… as much as it kills us to say it, this is not the time to start something new, or try to engage your student with a big project. 

Save that for January. 

Instead, let’s focus on reviewing some of the skills we’ve been working on in fun, festive, new ways.

Today, we’ve got 6 Easy Christmas ELA activities for middle school that won’t fill your prep time or require you to go buy a bunch of extra supplies, so let’s get to ‘em!

Pssst….if you are interested in doing a little decorating or getting your crafting gloves on this season, you should check out this post about boosting morale as you head into the holiday season.

Christmas ELA Activities for Middle School: Digital Escape Rooms

These Christmas Digital Escape Rooms are no-prep, holiday joy with the perfect combination of work and fun. These activities align with the standards, test students on ELA skills, and challenge them to ‘break the code’.

These Christmas Digital Escape Rooms will take one class period, and we absolutely love them for the last day before the holiday break.

Each escape room includes four ELA activities that perfectly align with middle school standards, and will allow your students to practice their skills, while also solving problems and celebrating the holiday season.

#1 | Figurative Language Escape Room

#2 | ELA Skills (Common Core Aligned)

Bonus Time: We also have a MATH Digital Escape Room for the holidays. You can gift it to a colleague or use it in your classroom. We are all about connecting with other subject areas!

Sign Up for a FREE plot structure digital escape room!

ELA Christmas Activities for Middle School: Prepositional Phrases

The holiday season is perfect for prepositional phrase practices. We are hanging stockings over fireplaces, gluing candy on top of gingerbread houses, and placing presents under trees. 

We can think of no better time of the year to practice our prepositional phrases, and these three prepositional phrase activities (which are also available in a bundle) are creative, artistic, and perfectly designed to give your students a chance to practice prepositional phrases in a whole new way.

Watch as your students create their own elves, design gingerbread houses, and decorate the Christmas tree. Will they put a star or an angel on top or maybe a wreath? We’ll have to wait and see.

These prepositional phrase activities are also a great way to get students to talk about their holiday traditions and what the holidays look like in their homes.

#3 | Gingerbread House Prepositional Phrases

#4 | Christmas Tree Prepositional Phrases

#5 | Elf Prepositional Phrases

ELA Christmas Activities for Middle School: Narrative Writing

This cute little narrative writing activity is all the things. It has non-fiction passages and narrative writing prompts. It even includes graphic organizers and checklists. Of course, we can’t leave out the reindeer coloring sheets!

One thing that makes this particular activity unique is the use of two different passages. One includes Santa, and one does not. These two different versions give you the ability to choose the best path for the needs of your specific students.

Holiday Activity #6 | Reindeer Narrative Writing

The holiday season is tough, and middle school minds are merry and bright and nowhere in sight.

But… that doesn’t mean that you can’t spread some Christmas cheer while also getting in some needed ELA skill review.

Keep these 6 EASY (low/no-prep) Christmas ELA activities for middle school students in mind as you begin planning for the holiday season!

Enjoy the season, Friends!

Happy Holidays!