December has to be my favorite month in the computer lab because we have Computer Science Week and the Hour of Code! I do also have some other fun and engaging activities planned to work on our everyday tech skills too. Check them out.
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How to use this blog post:Â find the grade level you’re interested in and then read about the activities. Click on any images to go to the product description to learn more about it. You’ll see some activities in multiple grade levels. This either means that differentiation is provided to make the lesson appropriate for multiple grade levels, or it includes multiple grade levels of activities for the tech lab.
Kindergarten Activities for December
For Hour of Code, use these sorting matrix activities to teach the concept of conditionals. Both print and digital versions are provided, making it an excellent activity to fill a class period or two. This can be used with both Kindergarten and First Grade students.Â
For the rest of the month of December, Kindergarten students work on Timely Tech and December Mystery Picture Puzzles. I have them do the slides for letters, numbers, patterns, and word families as long as they have been introduced to it in class. The puzzles are fun and make great mouse practice.
If your school celebrates Christmas then I have some additional resources to consider for this month:
Both of these are a great mix of tech skills and academics!
First Grade Activities for December
For Computer Science Week, 1st graders can work on their if/then/else thinking with sorting mats on paper and digital. The paper ones take a bit of prep time so plan for that.Â
Next up for 1st grade is digital pixel art. Depending on whether or not students have done this type of activity before, 1st grade students can do either level 1 or 2 of Pixel art. The December themed designs are motivating for students to complete. They always beg for more!
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If there is time left, 1st graders can complete the rest of the Timely Tech slides. It works well as early finisher activities for the whole month.Â
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If you haven’t tried digital hundreds charts yet then this is the month to start! Students love filling in the cells and its great math and tech skills practice.Â
Second Grade Activities for December
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For Hour of Code, 2nd graders can master algorithms! This set is all about decomposing and understanding algorithms. Both paper and digital activities are included so you can set it up as stations for students to work through.Â
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 2nd graders love to make presentations. These presentation projects are perfect because they come with all of the facts already done for you, so all students have to do is turn it into a Google Slides or PowerPoint presentation. This set includes 10 different countries’ holiday traditions.Â
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If there is time, 2nd grade students do really well with coding robots. This holiday themed set of task cards for any moveable robot are great for this time of year.Â
If you’ve introduced your 2nd graders to spreadsheet software then consider trying the Christmas spreadsheet mystery pictures. It really helps students learn the toolbar in Excel or Sheets.
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Third Grade Activities for December
Starting with Hour of Code, 3rd grade students complete the first few slides from this set of digital activities. They will decode a Christmas message in binary code.Â
To help them really master binary code, they can complete these digital flash cards as early finisher activities all month long.Â
After Computer Science Week, 3rd graders can make their very own digital ugly Christmas sweaters! The skills they are working on by doing a digital glyph activity are important to practice all school year.Â
If you want a step up in challenge from the digital glyph, try this animation project:
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Fourth Grade Activities for December
4th grade students can complete the middle few activities from the Christmas Coding set during Hour of Code.Â
There are also coding puzzles in Timely Tech for December that would work great for Computer Science Week.Â
After that, it is always a good idea to review keyboarding. The text formatting activities here have a design for every month of the year, without holiday themes. The December design is an evergreen tree, to signify the beginning of winter.Â
A quick and easy option that students love are these Christmas themed keyboard shortcut interactive PDFs. No internet required after students have downloaded the PDF!Â
Fifth Grade Activities for December
5th grade students finish up this set of coding activities for the Hour of Code. Early finishers can do the same binary code digital flash cards as 3rd grade. They are great practice for grades 3-5+.Â
Speaking of early finishers, the classroom teachers really appreciate when we can integrate some math and ELA into the computer lab. Digital Mystery Pictures are a great way to do that. This set reviews multi-digital multiplication and long division, which makes it a great activity for 5th grade students.Â
January is the typical time of year to kick off a research project with 5th grade, but it can be done earlier with guided research projects. This one has students research Christmas traditions for an assigned country and then fill in a PowerPoint or Google Slides template with the information about their country.Â
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There you have it, activities for grades k-5 for the month of December. Be sure to pin this blog post to get back to later!
By embracing coding in the elementary classroom, educators foster critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills in students from an early age.