Pass out lined paper and pencils to each student. Explain that letters are written to communicate with another person, and that today they will be writing a letter to Santa. Show on the whiteboard how they will write the letter by writing along with them. Start at the upper right-hand corner for the heading, which needs to have the student's name and address, and the date. Then instruct the class to write the salutation "Dear Santa," on the left hand side, skipping a few lines. Another line must be skipped before beginning the body of the letter. They can communicate anything they want, including what they have been up to, things they want for the holidays or how they have been good. Have them skip a line and write that they will leave cookies and milk out on Christmas Eve. Next comes the closing. Have students skip another line and write "Sincerely" with their names below the closing.
Daily writing prompts will help your students with writing activities every day. Assign some yourself and have your students brainstorm some of their own for the rest of the days of the month of December. Writing prompts for your second grade class can include imagining certain scenarios (what it would be like to live somewhere that's cold all the time) and making lists of words (creating a list of words related to winter).
An acrostic poem is one that spells out a word or phrase with the first letter of each word or phrase in the poem. This writing activity for the month of December for second grade must be relevant to the time of year. Phrases to use can include "Happy holidays," "Thank you," "Season's greetings" or "Happy New Year." Using lined paper, have your students choose a phrase and write it down the left side of the page with one letter on each line. Next, they will need to come up with words or phrases that start with each letter and are related to the phrase. Here is an example of one for "Happy New Year":
Holidays
Apple pie
Party
Play
Year is over
New beginnings
Easy vacation
Weather is cold
Yummy food
End of vacation soon
Art for winter
Resolutions
Since the holidays are all about giving, have your students write an essay about this topic. Tell them they must choose something of their own to give away to someone who needs it. Ask them questions to help them get started. What would they give away and why? Who needs it and why? This assignment is interesting for kids, teachers and parents. It's amazing the way kids think about life, and this essay will teach you more about your students.