Christmas Music Lesson Plans

The Christmas season is a joyful time of the year when singing, eating, and relaxing with friends and family becomes our priority.  We gather together to have fun, and to share in the festive spirit.  Singing is one of the most powerful ways of expressing our joy and excitement.  Christmas music can be categorized into Christmas carols, which are usually based on our faith, and Christmas songs, which are more common in schools because they are usually about the things we do to celebrate the winter season and Santa Claus. There are many musical and educational activities to choose from, but do not wait too long because Christmas always seems to come quickly.

The lyrics in traditional songs, such as "Deck the Halls," give us a great opportunity to discuss the evolution of the English language and the opportunity to learn new vocabulary words.  Along with the fun of singing it, for some, it will be the first time the song makes any sense.

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" is a great song for younger children. Your students will love to read a book about Rudolph and then sing the song.  The song demonstrates a perfect summation of the story. For an additional activity you could read another book to students, and have the class create a summary of the story, and put it to the same music. 

"Jingle Bell Rock" is one of the most advanced Christmas songs, as far as the degree of difficulty to execute.  It has a great jazzy swing to it and challenging melodic twists.  Singing this song a cappella would be great ear training in itself. Below you will find Lesson Plans to create holiday spunk in your classroom.

Christmas Music Lesson Plans:

On The First Day Of Christmas: Students listen to a recording of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and work on their own versions, in small groups, or as a class.

Christmas Around The World: In this lesson students sing Christmas songs from other countries, and discuss similarities and differences.

Mystery Christmas Carols:  Students research the history of Christmas carols and find out where the practice of caroling originated. They copy the words to and then illustrate a Christmas song. Afterwards, they identify each other's favorite songs from their drawings.

Caroling Fun!  Elementary students visit another class, and sing a Christmas song. As they sing, teachers, or a willing parent, can video tape  their performance. Students return, enjoy hot apple cider and watch their performance.