An advent calendar for the classroom,
on the board before register
One door every school morning: a riddle, a fact, a song to sing, a job for the class. Open it on the whiteboard, or send the link home. Free, no accounts for anyone, and nothing about a pupil is stored anywhere.
Why it works in a classroom
The doors open by date, so nobody can open Thursday on Tuesday however hard they try, and the routine does the work: the calendar goes up on the board, the class reads the door, five minutes later the day has started. The whole calendar travels inside its link, which means no logins to hand out, no app on the school devices, and no form for the office, because there is nothing on any server to fill a form in about.
Six doors that work before the bell
All twenty-four ideasA riddle
One line, hands up, answer behind tomorrow's door. It starts the day and it ends the shouting.
A fact about the season
Six-sided snowflakes, the shortest day, why the doors. One fact, then a two-minute task on it.
A song to sing
Paste a YouTube link to a sing-along with the words on screen. Everyone, including the teacher.
A job for the class
A thank-you note to someone in the school who is not a teacher. A tidy of something that is not yours.
Something to read
A page: where the advent calendar came from, what the solstice is, how far the North Pole is from here.
The last morning
Well done, all of you. Close the laptop. The door the whole month was counting down to.
On the board, or at home
On the whiteboard
One link, bookmarked on the class computer. The teacher opens the door with the class watching; the board remembers which doors are done.
Sent home
The same link in the newsletter to parents. Each family opens it on its own phone, one door a day, with the weekend doors as the homework nobody minds.
Weekends
Doors open by date, so Saturday and Sunday open too. Give those two a job for home, or open all three together on Monday. Any length from 1 to 31, from any start date.
Nothing to approve
No accounts, no app, no pupil data, no cost. The calendar is encoded in the link and never sent to a server, which is the whole of the privacy conversation.
Set it up in a free period
Count the days
The classic 24 from 1 December, or the days left in term from any Monday. Set the day the first door opens.
Fill the doors
Type a riddle, paste a sing-along, paste a page. Put the answer to each riddle behind the next door.
Preview it
See it exactly as the class will on the board, and as a parent will on a phone.
Copy the link
Bookmark it on the class computer, and paste it into the newsletter. That is the whole rollout.
Twenty-four mornings, one free period.
The builder is free and needs no account. Most teachers fill a calendar in the time it takes to mark a set of books.
Frequently asked questions
Do the children need accounts?
No, and neither do you. The calendar is a link; open it on the whiteboard each morning, or share it with parents to open at home. Nobody signs in, nothing is installed, and nothing about a pupil is stored anywhere, because the calendar never touches a server. There is no data to clear with the school before using it.
Can the doors follow school days only?
A door opens on its date, one a day, so on a Monday the weekend's doors are open too. Two ways round it: make a shorter calendar of the school days left in term and start it on the first Monday, or leave the weekend doors as something to do at home. Any length from 1 to 31 works, from any start date.
Can pupils open tomorrow's door early?
Not when the calendar is set to open by date, which is the default: a door stays shut until its day, wherever it is opened. Each device remembers only which doors it has opened itself, so a child opening the link at home does not open anything on the class board.
What can go behind a door?
A note you type, a photo, a YouTube or Vimeo video, a Spotify track, or a link to any page. For a class that is a riddle, a fact, a sing-along, a read-aloud, a map, a challenge. Nothing behind a door needs a login or a printout.
24 ideas, one per doorIs it free for schools?
Yes, all of it, for a class or a whole school, with no account and no paid tier. Advent Center's calendar maker is the free part of a site that reviews the calendars you buy.
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