As you welcome your students back from winter break, you might not be ready to jump right back into curriculum. Here are 10 fun New Year’s activities to ease your students back into learning.
Top 10 New Year’s Activities for Your Classroom
Even though winter break only lasts a few weeks, it’s just enough time to get your students out of their normal school routine. They forget the classroom rules and need some reminders when they return to your classroom. The days after winter break are the perfect time for a reset.
Use these 10 activities to welcome your students back to school and to reestablish your classroom routines and expectations.
#1 – New Year’s Escape Room
Your students will love doing an escape room on the first day back from winter break! It will allow them to interact with their classmates and get up and moving.
In this New Year’s Escape Room, your students will work in teams to solve four clues related to the new year. When they solve the last clue, they will get the code to unlock a number lock and open a box to get a surprise.
Learn more about how to set up this activity in this blog post.
#2 – January Reading Challenge
The day after winter break is the perfect time to introduce a reading challenge to your students. Encourage them to set a goal and read lots of books this month with the “Curl Up with a Good Book” reading challenge.
Work with your students to set a class goal for the number of books they’ll read during January. Then, each time your students read a book, they will create a quilt square to show their favorite part of it, and they’ll add it to a class quilt.
At the end of the month, celebrate if your class met the goal. You could have your students bring blankets and pillows to school for a cozy reading party.
#3 – Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Winter Math Performance Task
Not ready to jump right back into your math curriculum? This math performance task will help your students review important math skills in a fun way.
They will :
- Review addition and subtraction of money by “buying” parts to build a snowman.
- Practice dividing by sharing supplies with their friends.
- Review the names of geometric shapes by drawing and decorating their snowmen.
There are 3 different levels of activities in the Do You Want to Build a Snowman? Performance Task, so you can meet the needs of all your students.
#4 – January Early Finisher Activities
Get ready for students who finish activities before the rest of the class with these January Early Finisher Activities. End the days of being asked, “What should I do now?” Your students will just pull out these activities, and they’ll be engaged and learning while you help other students.
The early finisher choice board is filled with 24 winter-themed activities that will help your students practice important reading, writing, and math skills. The students will love choosing the activities they want to complete!
#5 – New Year’s Goal Setting
Rather than having your students make New Year’s Resolutions that they probably won’t keep, teach them to set goals that are achievable.
This freebie walks you through the steps to help your students set reading goals for themselves. They will think about what they already do well as readers and what they want to improve.
By setting goals, making a plan to achieve them, and tracking their progress, your students will grow their reading skills in the new year.
#6 – New Year’s Vision Board
After your students have written their goals from #5, you can take it a step further and have them create a whole vision board for the year. They can use words and pictures to show the things they want to accomplish in the new year.
#7 – New Year’s Scavenger Hunt Activity
Read the book Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas and talk about traditions for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Allow the students to share any traditions their families have. Then, have them complete a New Year’s scavenger hunt to learn about different New Year’s traditions around the world.
They will use the included websites to read about different New Year’s traditions. Then, they will count down from 10 to 1 by matching the countries with their special ways to celebrate.
#8 – New Year’s Writing Activity
This writing activity builds off of number 8. After your students research the New Year’s traditions, have them either write about their family’s traditions for celebrating the New Year or choose one of the traditions from another country and write a story about celebrating the New Year with that tradition.
All the prewriting, drafting, and publishing materials are included in this resource. Your students can complete the writing activity on paper or on the computer.
#9 – Rules and Routines Kahoot
Review your classroom rules and routines with a fun game of Kahoot. Make up questions related to the expectations in your classroom and school. Then, challenge your students to play the game to see what they remember.
Spend some time practicing procedures and routines, like bathroom expectations, transitions, and center procedures. Make sure everything is running smoothly before jumping back into curriculum.
#10 – New Year’s Make the Year Math Activity
Have your students write the new year at the top of a piece of paper. Then, have them write ten different number sentences that equal that number. Challenge them to use the skills you’re learning in math class right now and include as many different operations as they can.
What Do You Think?
What are your favorite New Year’s activities to do with your students?
Let us know in the comments.
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