I found this video on my phone. Pre-Covid times.
It was a video of my 4th grade class on the Friday before winter break.
The laughs and pure happiness from my students in this video reminded me why I became a teacher.
And it has to do with THIS Christmas student gift idea.
It’s a compliment ornament, which basically means it’s an ornament filled with compliments from each classmate. I wish you could have been a fly on the wall in my classroom when my students were reading all the compliments for their ornament.
It was the literal best! And just so much fun to see their reactions to the compliments from their classmates. Like I said above, it was pure joy.
Here’s how I did this, in case you want to do this for your class, too!
Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Students
The detailed instructions are listed below.
Type Each of Your Student’s Names in the PowerPoint Document
( Free Download Below)
Go ahead and click here to download the PowerPoint document that you see pictured below (this is the compliment writing page). Then you’re going to want to type your student’s names in each rectangular box. Once you’ve done this, print and copy (double sided) the document for each of your students.
Click here to download the PowerPoint.
Students Write Compliments on the Compliment Writing Page
I had my students write compliments about each of their classmates during their morning work time and during one of their reading workshop rotations.
Here’s an example of the compliment writing page in action:
Do you recognize the names I used for the purpose of this blog post? If you watch Selling Sunset on Netflix, you’ll recognize these names!
Type Up the Student Compliments
(Free Download)
Now, use this document here (it’s a free download) and type up the compliments. You’ll notice that I took Student A’s compliment sheet that she hand-wrote and typed up all her compliments. So the page shown below shows all of HER compliments for each of her classmates. Once I typed up her compliments, I printed it out on colored paper and gave it to her. So in her hand, she had all the compliments that she wrote. I hope that makes sense.
Click here for this free download.
Give Each Student Their Typed Up Compliment Sheet
Now that you’ve typed up all your student’s compliments (I typed mine at home while watching Netflix), you’re ready to hand back that particular student’s typed up sheet. So, if the page below was written by Heather, you would give this page to only Heather. Heather will then cut out each of the strips.
Each Student Will Cut Out Their Strips
You’re almost there! Each student will now cut out each of their strips.
I gave each student a plastic ball ornament that I bought on sale at Michaels. (Don’t forget to use your teacher discount). The Dollar Tree may have these plastic balls, so check there too!
Students Pass out the Compliment Strips!
During our holiday party, on the last day before winter break, I had the students pass out their compliment strips to their classmates. This was the BEST part.
They were so incredibly happy.
Meaningful Christmas Gift for Your Students and Yourself
Now your students have a meaningful gift that they’ll cherish forever. And I guarantee they’ll remember that moment in your classroom when they received all of these wonderful compliments from their classmates.
And you’ll have one, too! Here’s a picture of mine. 🙂
Another Christmas Gift Idea: Fun Christmas Math Activities
I also believe that engaging activities and fun in the classroom is also a gift that we give to our students each and every day. If you’re looking for some fun activities to bring to your students before winter break, simply click on the links below.
2nd Grade:
Word Problem Craft Activity – Build a Holiday Sweater and Reindeer by Solving Word Problems
December Themed Around the Room Math Hunt that Reveals a Silly Sentence (my favorite!)
Holidays Around the World Math Puzzles
3rd Grade:
Word Problem Craft Activity – Build a Holiday Sweater and Reindeer by Solving Word Problems
December Themed Around the Room Math Hunt that Reveals a Silly Sentence (my favorite!)
Holidays Around the World Math Puzzles
4th Grade:
Word Problem Craft Activity – Build a Holiday Sweater and Reindeer by Solving Word Problems
December Themed Around the Room Math Hunt that Reveals a Silly Sentence (my favorite!)
