Month of Joy: Christmas Card Geography

Who doesn't love receiving Christmas cards in the mail at this time of year?  In an age of email, blogs, and Facebook it is refreshing to have a small little glimpse (on paper) into the life of a family or friend that lives miles away.  Use your Christmas cards as a teachable moment.  I like to have my students bring in a Christmas Card of their choosing and research where that person or family is from.  Students have made brochures about the city, written a letter to the family to compare and contrast our cities, given a short presentation about the chosen location (it's always fun to have them dress like they're visiting there too!), or simply marked the location on a classroom map. 

After the holidays I ask for families to send in any unwanted cards and we cut them up to use as mosaic tiles to frame our work.  Makes for a fun and festive board well into the new year! 

To make this snowman Christmas card holder I just tied three grapevine wreaths together (one in the garage happened to be a little bit smaller so I used it as the head) with grosgrain ribbon.  I added a remnant of black and white gingham fabric as the snowman's scarf.  Finally, I cut a nose and hat out of construction paper and added them onto the wreath with a dot of hot glue.  A cute space to hang our class collection of cards!