Three Ways to Celebrate the New Year in Your Classroom

With Christmas break ending, teachers everywhere are gearing up to go back to school. I personally have been thinking of ways to extend the holidays and bring them into the classroom for one or two more days. This year, as we always do, we will be celebrating the new year. I was thinking about how to make that happen since I have the same students for at least three years (I teach in a multi-grade classroom of 3rd-5th graders). 

1. New Year's Learning Fun

With that in mind, I decided to create new products that could help me bring the learning while sprinkling in some fun. One of my favorite things to do is to teach my students about the history behind holiday traditions and I have a line of products that helps me do this, but I did not have anything yet for New Year's. I sat down the past few days and focused on making that a reality. With a reading theme, I will be introducing my students to seven different traditions about the new year. Each of these topics has a non-fiction passage, comprehension sheet, and many also have an additional game or activity to go along with it. Check out the different topics we'll be studying as we return to school. 

The reading passages are all non-fiction and include topics that help students learn the history behind New Year’s traditions. Included in the pack is one about the first and last countries to welcome the new year and how they celebrate. Another article explores the different balls that have been used in New York’s Time Square on New Year’s Eve and how that tradition got started. Students can extend their learning by completing a STEM challenge based on the ball drop. The third article is about the famous song, Auld Lang Syne, and just what those words mean and how the song came to be one we that sing when the clock strikes midnight on January first each year. Next, there is an article about goals and new year’s resolutions. Students can extend what they learn by setting goals of their own in a cute New Year’s Eve ball card. Another article is about words and how words are added to our dictionary each and every year. The class will learn who chooses what words are added and where these words come from. To extend, they may even create a snack or something to play with, should you choose to do so. Up next, is an article about the Tournament of Roses parade. When students read this, they may be inspired to create models of their own. So to extend their learning, you can have them create small shoebox floats and host their own walk-thru parade. Lastly, students will learn about college football bowls and how they came to be.

Also included is a time capsule that students can create individually. And finally, there is a teambuilding game that is perfect for welcoming your students back into the classroom and get them talking and sharing about their break and also the new year. My students will not only get reading activities, but this crosses over to other subject areas as well including history, science, writing, and art.

2. New Year's Teambuilding 

I love teambuilding. It is essential throughout the year, but even more so at the beginning or after a long break. I have this line of teambuilding art challenges that go along with many different holidays, but did not have one completed for New Year's. So I dusted it off and got it finished and I can't wait to try this with my class. If you have seen the TV show Chopped, then you have an idea of what happens in this challenge. Groups of students are each given a bag of items that includes identical art supplies. With the art supplies, teams are given an art challenge that they must complete collaboratively in a certain amount of time. Teams are then judged based on creativity, teamwork, etc.  After three rounds, you can name a winner. It is a lot of fun and kids really get into it. 

3. New Year's Procedure Practice

After every break, it is VITAL to do some refreshing on rules and procedures. At 3rd-5th level, I would be lying if I said that kids do get tired of this, but it is so important that I push through anyway. So, if I can make it fun, I will. This year, as I was browsing, I came across an idea that I saw with procedures on sticky notes that cover a class prize...such as extra recess. After reviewing the rules and procedures, we will have them all written on sticky notes. I will be watching for students who are completing these throughout the day. If I see the class doing one, I will remove that sticky note. Once all the notes are removed, students will get to celebrate with the reward that was revealed. 

While going back to school may not be something your students (or maybe even you) are looking forward to, it is here and the transition can be fun while also being academic. I say we start out 2022 with a big bang and make it one of the best years ever!

If you are interested in either of the resources mentioned, you can check them out by clicking on the pictures below. 

Five Fun Ways to Teach Thanksgiving in the Classroom

I love teaching my class about the history behind the holidays, and I have so many resources to help my class learn about this. I love getting it in the hands of classrooms around the country or even the world as well. Finding ways to get kids excited about social studies excites me and learning about holidays is a very good way to get this done. This year, I created a couple of resources to help. I want to immerse my students in experiences and activities during the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Here's how I plan to get it done. 

1. Reading Comprehension Passages

One way to get in a lot of learning and content is through the use of reading passages that can be used in small groups or Close reading. In this pack, students will learn about many different aspects of thanksgiving. They will learn about if and how people around the world celebrate this holiday. Also, students will learn about the woman who gave us Thanksgiving. She is amazing! One of my favorite topics in this set is turkey pardoning. When you dig a little deeper, there is much more to learn about this fun tradition. Students get to learn about how some of the Thanksgiving staples came to the table. Another topic is pies and how they came to be. And the last topic is thankfulness and your brain. This set also includes comprehension and activities for each of the short reading passages. There are four extension activities, two for math and two for writing. The math activities include a pie graph and equivalent fraction pie matching. For writing, students will write an opinion piece about which pie is the best pie for Thanksgiving as well as a persuasive essay for a new holiday each student would like to create. Using this pack will bring a lot of unusual knowledge, about Thanksgiving, to your students. 

2. Art Fun

What student doesn't love art? I have art teambuilding challenges for many different holidays and Thanksgiving is no exception. These art challenges are such fun! Groups of students receive a bag of art items. Each group receives the same supplies as well as a topic for their project. They must then evaluate the supplies they have in their bag and come up with a way to complete the themed challenge using what they have. After time to create, students present their projects to the class and are evaluated based on teamwork, creativity, and originality. Students compete in three rounds before a winning team is named. 

3. Simulations:

I love a great simulation and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to create one. One simulation that I have done with second graders, third graders, and fourth graders was a definite classroom hit. Each student created a costume for a turkey that was on its way to the Thanksgiving table. The purpose was to find a way for their turkey to escape being eaten. Along with the craft project, each student creates a persuasive essay about why their turkey should not be eaten. 

Once the groundwork is laid, students meet before a "judge" (me dressed in a black graduation gown with a gavel in hand). They each bring their cases and try to defend their turkeys from certain death. The students eat it up. They always take it very seriously as they nervously present their appeals for the lives of their turkeys. It is a fun and amazing experience for them all. 

4. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:

I love watching the Thanksgiving parade each year, if I can. It is fun to see the balloons bouncing down the streets in NYC. I would love to be there in person some day. I ran across a book about the history behind the parade and it got me all excited! Tony Sarg, an immigrant  settled in NYC in the early 1900's. I love his passion for puppetry and how he turned that into something big...The Macy's Parade. Throughout the book Tony has to overcome obstacles and persevere. He sticks to his dreams and finds a way to reach them even when he has to tweak his ideas several times to make it happen. I decided to bring this story into my classroom and also his love of puppets. After reading his story, we work on our own puppets, parade balloons, and wonderland windows. It is really a lot of fun! 

  5. Books, Books, and more Books:

Can you ever have enough books? My husband seems to think so. In fact, he always teases me that I need to get rid of some, but parting with books is way too hard. Books are perfect for bringing history into the classroom and teaching students about many different topics. Thanksgiving is no different. There are so many great reads to learn from. Here are some of my Thanksgiving stand-bys. 

If you are interested in any of the resources for the activities I mentioned above, you can find the entire mega bundle here or you can purchase each set individually. 

Review of the Get Your Teach on National Conference: Day Two

The first full day of Get Your Teach On was everything I knew it would be and more! I loved the different themed rooms. I was in the fourth grade room and it was a super cute Angry Birds theme. Each table had a green box containing group supplies. We also had small decorations. My table had a slingshot and an Angry Bird plush along with pompoms. Some tables had TNT made from pool noodles. The stage had a backdrop with cut-out letters of GYTO. There were boxes scattered around and some other plush characters....very cute. 

This time this is what the notebook looked like I loved the muted tones. I like the retro color scheme. 

Here is a close up picture of the table.

A quick view of the front of the room, the stage area, but the speakers definitely did not stay up there, they had a few chairs scattered around for the speakers to stand on. 

This is the bag we got and it had a few freebies inside. We got a tie dye face mask, and a cute lanyard with oversized beads. I was thinking we would get a small notebook because last time we. did, but it was not included this time, so I thankfully had brought my teacher idea hard cover notebook and I used that. We also got a Seat Sack. The third day, we got a tiny sign from the Simply Stained Shop.

My first breakout session was Amelia Capatosta. She is one of my favorites. Her session was a Greatest Showman circus theme. It was absolutely amazing and filled with fun ideas for making reading class one that students will always love. 

This quote resonated with me. You don't have to give a grade for everything, some things can just be for practice and there is nothing wrong with that. Students need time to practice to get better and master a skill. 

Here is a fun craftivity we did with vocab/spelling words. Students would build these little circus tents, the lid removes and they sort the word by the featured sounds, in this case "ai".

This one, also very fun, was using different roots and students build a cute popcorn box to hold their popping' words for some vocal practice.

Who doesn't like cup stacking? This one includes the roots as well and also a ball to knock over the tower. Then students try to make words using the roots.

And of course, it wouldn't be GYTO without meeting my teacher heroes. 

Steve Spangler showed up and when he shows up, he shows up big. It is a lot of fun to watch his science show. He is amazing! Lots of quotes to think about, but one that sticks out is, "If it gets to the dinner table, you win." Create experiences over activities. He says that you want to get kids talking about what you are doing. If they talk about it at home, you have won. 

Chris Pombonyo and Josie Bensko presented a fun sports-themed Wide World of STEAM breakout session. We did some STEAM challenges and talked about what STEAM looks like in the classroom, including assigning roles to each student. 

1. Coach: Speaks to Teacher

2. Manager: Manages Materials

3. Reporter: Writes and Communicates

4. Player: The Tester

5. Referee: Makes Sure the Rules are Followed.

We also learned about the six steps to STEAM learning. It was a lot of much fun! These two have so much energy and it was contagious. 

We all got a sweatbands and jerseys to wear for the breakout session. I know students would love this! Who doesn't love a good theme?

A quick picture with two more of my teaching heroes. These two are awesome!

If you follow Shane Saeed from Fantastically Fourth, you know that anything she does is top-notch. This breakout was no different. It was called, Making Math Stick.  It was all about retrieval practice. My favorite highlight was using brain dumps before testing to increase scores. Basically you have the students write down everything they remember from the topics you have studied before doing the actual test. This helps them retrieve the information that they are about to be tested for. When you do this, it is proven to raise test scores. 

 

Of course I had to meet Shane, who I have been following for a while. 

One more up close picture of the stage area of the fourth grade breakout room. It was pretty cool in there. Loved the vibe.

 

They had the sweetest little VW bus it was basically there the entire four days and everyone could get pictures in it. 

So there you have it, day 2 was a hit! 

Review of the Get Your Teach on National Conference: Day One

The disappointment was palpable as 2020's GYTO, to which I had scored tickets, was cancelled in Orlando, due to Covi-19. I gave up on my dream of being able to attend the GYTO National Conference. Months later, I found out that once again they were going to be bringing the National Conference to Orlando. It was perfect, I would be able to go after all. I could not have been more thrilled. I had been to a regional conference a few years ago, but this was going to be longer and I was going to be staying at the hotel, even if I was going alone. 

I arrived early on the day of the conference with plenty of time to get checked in, visit the GYTO merch sale, and walk around looking at the amazingly beautiful displays while dreaming about what the next three days were going to hold. 

Capturing pictures of my experience was of number one importance. There was lots of eye candy everywhere you looked. To say that the team went all out would be a major understatement. 

 

Love this greenery wall and wish I could afford to put one up in my classroom. 

This was the entryway to the keynote presentations. 

I was more than ready for this day. I had been counting it down since purchasing my tickets and it was finally here!

Getting to go to the meet and greets was a huge thrill! Love talking with educators that I admire on the teacher gram. Babbling Abby and Maniacs in the Middle were kind enough to pose with me for a picture (if my smile looks weird in all these pics, it is because I was trying to cover up the entire row of stitches that were along the entire row of my top teeth due to oral surgery).

During the regionals, I was in this Toy Story themed room and got to see STEAM Mania, which I was dying to do in my own classroom. I also saw it in action when Hope King was at the Ron Clark Academy. I have since been able to make that dream come true a couple of different times. You can see more about this here, here, and here. 

I was super excited to finally get my Wild Card book signed by the amazing Hope and Wade King. Last time I was at GYTO, I had forgotten it. 

Hope King is one of the educators I admire most and I loved getting another picture with her. Check out those cute pants! The theme was 60's, so it was perfection!

One of my regrets was that I totally did not even think to bring the book Unpack your Impact that was cowritten by Aprons in Education. Day one was low key, but ended with a bang with the keynote presentations by Deanna Jump and Dave Hollis, followed by a concert by an Elton John impersonator. Amazing Day one and the conference had barely begun!