It can be hard to keep third-graders focused on learning during the festive Christmas season. It's hard to pay attention to schoolwork when thoughts of cookies, snow and presents under the tree are running through your mind. One way to keep them on task is to build lessons around Christmas.

Math
Third-graders can make simple factor trees. Use green marker for your work, and then draw bright ornaments around the edges. To make a factor tree, start with a large number like 100. Write it at the top of the paper, then draw two short diagonal lines from the number, going down and toward the edge of the paper. Under each line, write two numbers that can be added to make 100, like 50 and 50. Write two more diagonal lines from each of those numbers, and write two numbers that add up to 50 under each. Keep going in this fashion until you get to the bottom, a row of prime numbers.

Word problems can easily be written to incorporate Christmas fun: "Madison had $20. She donated $10 to charity, spent $5 on a gift for her brother, and spent $2 on a box of candy canes. How much did she have left?" You can easily make up an entire page of these problems, personalized for the students in your class.

Writing
Allow third-graders to do their daily writing practice about Christmas. You can offer prompts such as "If I found one of Santa's reindeer...," or simply tell them to write a few paragraphs about their favorite Christmas food or tradition.

Have the students write poetry that has to do with Christmas. One popular type of poetry for children is acrostic, in which each line begins with a letter in the subject word. For example, an acrostic poem about snow might read "Softly falling/Night is white/Over everything/Winter wonderland." Acrostic poems do not have to rhyme.

Social Studies
Teach your third-graders about Christmas traditions around the world. They can learn to say "Merry Christmas" in different languages, sing traditional carols from other countries, and sample foods found at Christmas feasts all over the globe. Make posters illustrating the unique cultural traditions and display them around the classroom.

There are several different religious and cultural observances in December, and children can learn about all of them: research St. Lucia Day, Hannukah, St. Nicholas Day, Diwali, Yule and Kwanzaa. You might be surprised to see how much the other holidays have in common with Christmas. Students can make venn diagrams: choose two celebrations to compare and contrast. Draw two large circles on a sheet of paper, overlapping them so that there are three sections with room to write. In the overlapping part, write things the two celebrations have in common. In the outer parts of the circles, write things that are unique to each.