Activities to Use in January

January, the beginning of the second half of the school year, is upon us. Sometimes it can be hard to get back into the swing of things and start again with planning all the things. That's why I wanted to share a few activities that are easy to set up and use during the first part of the new year. 

New Year's Classroom Activities

I know that New Year's Day never happens while we are at school, but I always like finding a way to celebrate it anyway with my students. New Year's is a big deal. It is the perfect time to think about the goals students have had, see how they are going, and set new goals for the rest of the school year. 

Another way I love to get back in the swing of things is by learning about the holiday and the traditions that swirl around it. I enjoy teaching the history behind every holiday with reading passages and extension activities, and this one is no different. 

I created New Year Reading Comprehension Passages and Activities as a way to give my students a knowledge of why we celebrate in the way that we do. It is great to connect reading to social studies too! We read through these passages either as a whole group, or even in small reading groups. Each of the seven passages come with a comprehension worksheet with a few key questions (and there is a teacher's edition included for easy grading). Then, we extend our learning through the use of several activities. One of my favorites are the foldable New Year's ball goal setting craft. It is so cute and would make a great bulletin board display too. There are several other activities too like building a shoebox float. You should definitely check it out here. Of course, I update the dates each year. Although that is not reflected in the picture. (You can click on the picture or caption to be taken to the resource.)

This resource is updated to reflect
the date of each new year. 

Another fun way to start the new year is with a team building art challenge. I LOVE getting my students working creatively in teams. As one of my teachers always says, there's more cabbage in two heads, and that is certainly the case with getting the creative juices flowing. This art challenge is a spin off of the cooking show Chopped. Each group receives a bag of identical supplies. The groups then have a time limit in which to create a masterpiece based on a certain New Year's theme. Projects are then presented to the whole class and points can be awarded (if you want to add to the competition). There are three challenges in this resource. Use one, or use all three and make it like the show. You can use it all on one day, or I like using one challenge a day for three days. It is flexible, so use it however you like.

 Be sure to click the photo to be taken to this fun and engaging resource. 

Black History Month & MLK Jr. Day

Another huge thing to incorporate at this time of year is black history. This is, afterall, black history month, and while it can, and should, be included all year, this is a chance to focus in on the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is also this month, so it is always good to include him in your classroom studies and activities. 

With that in mind, I want my students to learn a little about many different African Americans, both well-known, and lesser-known. I created this resource to celebrate and bring knowledge to students about these important people in our history. Each of the nine people studied in this resource comes with a reading sheet, comprehension activity, and a writing book. Students can read about the individual, test their knowledge by answering some questions, and share their learning by creating a small booklet report to read to others. Each booklet comes with an "all about" section, early life, famous for, fun facts, and timeline. I suggest having different students studying different people and then share with the class. That allows students to learn about more than one student and gives each student the opportunity to become an expert and teach others. 

People included in this resource are:

        Bessie Colman

        Dr. Charles Drew

        Dr. Daniel Hale

        Martin Luther King Jr. 

        Lydia Newman

        Mary Jane Bethune

        Harriett Tubman

        Rosa Parks

        Garrett Morgan

Click either picture to be taken to this resource. 

I hope this helps you plan some exciting learning activities for the new year and month of January.

Be sure to check out these blog posts to find out more ways in incorporate these special holidays into your classroom. 

Black History

Underground Railroad PBL

New Year's Day

Christmas Reading Comprehension Activities

It's the most wonderful time of the year....and also one of the craziest. Can you really get any teaching done between Thanksgiving, Christmas breaks? My answer to you is yes, but you have to be strategic and play to the interests of the students....and what could be better than to using Christmas activities as the basis of your learning? I love to help my students learn about the traditions of the holidays. I find that sprinkling a bit of learning with a Christmas theme provides a bit of excitement and keeps them engaged in the crazy weeks leading into the holidays. 

Let me share with you what I mean. First, I think about different traditions for the holidays. I use those as the basis of learning activities. For example, I created a magazine-style reading booklet that covered different traditions surrounding Christmas trees. Inside I researched and wrote seven articles, enough for seven days of learning! Another booklet I created is all about gingerbread, a favorite around this time of year. With each set of reading articles, I included a set of comprehension worksheets. I also love to extend learning through additional fun activities. For the Christmas tree pack, we do a S.T.E.M. project where students build their own trees. We also do many other activities along the way. In the gingerbread activity pack, students create their own gingerbread houses using a template that looks like a gingerbread house and opens up to reveal a piece of writing about a Christmas memory or tradition. These are super cute for a bulletin board display too!

I love doing these for every holiday I can.  I these reading activity backs for many different holidays, not just Christmas. I have a set for New Year's that is updated with the new year each year. I have one for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, April Fool's Day, and Thanksgiving. They are so fun, and I love all the learning my students do. By the end of the holiday, they know why we have the traditions we do. 

If you are interested in checking any of theses out, you can find them by clicking on each picture below. 

12 Days of Christmas Day 2: Holiday Gift Guide for Teachers

Are you even a teacher if you are not buried under so much end of the year grading, crafting, projects, and programs? This time of the year is definitely crazy and busy. That's why I am putting together a holiday gift guide to help make every teacher's holidays a little easier, brighter, and definitely more fun. 

1. First up, keep student's learning with these print and go articles about Christmas trees and holiday decor from my History Behind the Holidays series. The seven articles can be stapled together and used as a magazine in reading groups for an entire week and beyond. Each article comes with a comprehension worksheet. There are several extension activities included and even a Christmas tree STEM. Everything is super easy to prep and will definitely give teachers an easy and engaging set of lessons to get you through till the holiday break.

You can check this resource out here.

2. Keeping your students going this year gets a little bit challenging....okay, a lot challenging! With thoughts of Christmas dancing in their heads, they have definitely started checking out. If you are trying to get some good work out of them in the last few days before break. Start noticing the good things you see them doing. Mention it, reward it. Send some positive notes their way. They will love to show these off and it will encourage good and focused behavior to the very end of the year. Here are some little Christmas-themed positive notes to send home with them. They will be proud to take them home to their favorite grown-up and the adult in their life will love to hear a positive comment about their child as well. These little notes come in 12 different designs that can be printed in color or blackline. If you use the blackline version, you can add a burst of color by printing on colored paper (red or green for Christmas would be nice), but you could also print on white paper as well. These super cute cards can be found right here. 

3. Extra special and fun activities make the Christmas season even more fun in the classroom. One of my favorites is this simple art challenge. Who doesn't like art? And making it into a game makes it even more fun! Try out this art teambuilding activity. If you have ever watched the food competition show called Chopped, you get the idea. Each group of students gets a bag of art supplies that are identical. They will work together with their group to create an art project that meets a certain challenge or theme using the items in their bag. The groups will have a certain amount of time to complete each challenge. Once the time is up, each group will present their project and be judged on it. There are three rounds with three different challenges before a winning team is named. 

All the supplies inside the bags are easy household/school classroom items. This is low-prep, but high on fun! Find this resource over here. 

4. Channel the chattiness of the class this time of year to do some mid-year teambuilding. Allow students to share their thoughts and ideas about the Christmas season with a simple Dice Conversation activity. In this Christmas Dice Convo teambuilding resource, students will practice listening and speaking skills within groups while building their team skills. It's a fun and easy way to fill in a few minutes here or there or start/end the day. Here's where you can find this activity. 

5. Unfortunately, it is also time to think about after the holiday. How do you celebrate the new year in your classroom? I love to use my History Behind the Holidays resource to ring in the new year by taking a look at New Year traditions. This resource includes seven articles that help students learn about favorite traditions here and around the world. The articles would be great to get your reading or history class started in the new year during the first week or more. Comprehension questions are included for every single article. A goal-setting craftivity is also included for the new year. Students will even create an envelope time capsule that you can put away till next year. Last year I did this and my students are already asking about the time capsule. They are anxious to see it again. Also included is a Tournament of Roses parade activity as well as a New Year themed STEM project. This will definitely make coming back to school after two weeks of glorious vacationing easier. You can check it out here. All activities in this pack has been completely updated to show the date for the new year. 

These are my five top recommendations for busy teachers this holiday season. Be sure to check them out!

5 Fun St. Patrick's Day Ideas for your Classroom

If you are a teacher like me, you are always looking for engaging ideas for every holiday. With St. Patrick's day coming up soon, I have started gathering ideas for what I can do across the content areas to bring in a spark of holiday fun while also keeping the learning going. St. Patrick's day was always a fun day for me in elementary school, even though we did nothing in our classes about the holiday. We all tried to wear green to avoid the dreaded pinches and looked for people who had forgotten so we could deliver those....in a gentle way, of course. 

My love of holidays got me thinking about all the ways I could celebrate in my classroom on St. Patty's day. I wanted it to be something valuable though that could help the students continue to learn important skills, but I also knew that connecting it to St. Patrick's day could help it get more buy-in from the students and make it that much more fun.

Here are five ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your class this year.

1. Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Art

Virtually no kid...well, OK, there is that one in a million child...hates art. Kids are naturally creative and have vivid imaginations. They love to get their hands dirty and keep them busy. They enjoy making and doing things. Children are also social and enjoy interacting with others. So why not create a challenge for them that includes art. For this game, I love to create three bags of art supplies for each small group (about 4 students per group). With the students working together, they are also working on collaboration skills while being creative. They are building teamwork skills too. It is perfection. Each group will receive the same bag of supplies. Sometimes I keep the challenge completely open-ended or other times I will give the students a task or theme, such as, use your art supplies to create a rainbow with a pot of gold. The students will have a set time, usually 20-30 minutes works well. During that time, students work together to create a masterpiece that goes with the theme (or is their own idea). They are told at the beginning that their artwork will be judged and also teamwork will be factored into the score. 

Each group is competing for three rounds, or three different assignments (one new bag of supplies for each assignment). At the end of each round, students present their project to the class, practicing good speaking skills. I keep score through all three rounds. At the end of all rounds, a winning team is named. I like to play this game several times throughout the year. I usually launch it during back-to-school week and have several ideas for different holiday versions as well. 

It is a lot of fun and students always enjoy playing.  The competition keeps kids accountable to do their best work and they love the interaction they get with peers.

2. The History Behind the Holiday

If I am going to spend time focused on a holiday in my classroom, I want my students to know the ins-and-outs of that holiday. Where did it come from? Why do we celebrate? When did we start celebrating? Do other places around the world celebrate? If so, how? What are some traditions behind this holiday? It is the perfect link between social studies and reading. I like to use articles that answer these questions while I am in small groups. It is fun to hear the chatter from students about things they have learned that they did not know before. Sometimes I spend just one day on exanimating the holiday, while other years I spend the days before and after delving deep into it. Both work great, and it is really just personal preference that dictates how you approach this. 

I didn't really find much out there, as far as reading passages, so I have created some of my own for St. Patrick's Day and also other holidays. I like to link my passages to other content areas as well, if possible. It is easy to tie in writing, and sometimes even science or math. 

3. Center Games

It is easy to find center games for every holiday. Math is a great place to start. I enjoy making little games that practice important skills and are themed for the holiday. One of the most important skills that I teach is multiplication. If I can gamify it, the students are all over it. They love playing games that help them learn their facts vs. just sitting with a stack of multiplication cards. It just makes it more fun. 

So any time you can throw in some games to solidify those math skills, do it. You will not regret it. And your kids will thank you for it. 

4. Amazing Race Games

One idea that I LOVED a few years back was when I created an Amazing Race style game. It was so fun to watch the students race through different challenges, all themed around St. Patrick's day. My race included math and writing ideas. The race began with a fact sort. Students had to solve equations and sort them into St. Patrick's Day pots based on the answer to each equation. After that, each student received an envelope with directions for the next challenge. The next challenge was a game called Show Me the Money where each student had some coins with different amounts printed on them. They had to use coins to show the amounts in two different ways. Between each game, they received an envelope with instructions or special activities or treats. For activity number three, students were give a set of cards with different coins shown. They had to count each group of coins and organize them into a line showing the least to greatest amount, in order. Up next, we had a Punctuation Place activity where I gave students dry macaroni, dyed green and some strips with sentences that included dialogue written on them. Students had to use the macaroni and other pasta to correctly punctuate the sentences with commas, quotation marks, and periods. My final activity was for students to create a color poem. The poem used the five senses to talk about one certain color. I love how those turned out. 

5. Writing

Finally, it is always fun to include some writing in my holiday celebrations. I like to have students write in some way if I can find a way to tie it in. For St. Patrick's Day, it is fun to have students write a letter to someone telling them how lucky they feel to have them in their life. Then they actually deliver the letter to their friend or loved one. It makes their day.

Those are my five ideas for ways you can make the holiday special, while also keeping the learning level high. If you are interested in any of these activities, you can check out the resources I used below by clicking on the pictures.