Category: Teacher’s Pay Teachers

New Year’s is upon us! This is such a fun time of year. There’s so much joy, excitement, and possibility in the air about the coming year. If you are looking for some fun New Year’s activities for kids, you’re in the right place! 

As the new school year starts, I always loved to start the semester off with some New Year’s activities for students. This not only helps them get back in the swing of things after a long and exciting break from school, but it also helps them set goals and get excited about another fantastic year full of learning and fun with their classmates and friends. 

What are some New Years’ activities? 

New Year’s Resolution Writing Craftivity

Looking for an engaging writing craftivity to do with your class about New Year’s Resolutions? I have just what you need! Choose from a boy or girl to create an adorable craft to celebrate the new year with adjectives and resolution writing! Add a party horn to the craft for a 3D effect.

New Year’s Glasses Craft 

What better way to celebrate the New Year than with fun GLASSES? Students have a blast coloring and wearing their glasses! These are GREAT to help celebrate sporting events and graduation too! There are 4 types to choose from. (Years included: 2022 – 2050)

Directions: Copy on cardstock, color, and cut the glasses out. Cut out the arms and attach the arm sides to the back of the frame using tape to keep them in place. Place the arms as close as possible to the cutout eye holes for the best fit. It is helpful to have volunteers for the little ones if you are doing this with a whole group. I have used these to teach place value too. Easy and fun! 

New Year’s Hats

Try these Print and Go pages to make a New Year’s hat or tiara headband with your students and celebrate the NEW YEAR together. 5 hat choices and bonus writing prompts are included!

New Year’s Bulletin Board Pennants

Are you looking for an engaging way to have your students set some goals for the new year? Check out this resource! It’s the perfect PRINT AND GO writing activity with a bulletin board title to make displaying your student’s work a snap!

New Year’s Activities and Worksheets

Are you looking for printables to help teach about New Year’s traditions, resolutions, and vocabulary? I have you covered with these engaging activities and worksheets! UPDATED each year. 

So there you have it! Tons of fabulous New Year’s ideas for kicking the year off with your students. These resources are great New Year’s Eve activities for kids too! 

Want some more activities that can be done for New Year’s or winter? Check out these free winter activities! 

In elementary school, students are entering the world of writing and all the wonderful things that come with it. Writing is a great form of expression and communication so fostering a love of writing early on is essential. 

However, writing doesn’t exactly come naturally to most students. It takes a lot of practice and patience to hone that skill. By practicing each day (like with these engaging writing prompts for every day of the year!), they will be writing pros in no time! 

That being said, it’s not always easy to inspire students to write every day. Some days they are simply just tired of their standard writing activities and they become much less engaged. This is when it’s time to think outside the box and make it fun for them! If you’re looking for creative writing activities that will get students excited to pick up a pencil, you’re in the right place. 

How can I make writing fun for kids? 

My go-to way to make anything more engaging for elementary students is to turn it into a game! Games automatically increase interest because then it feels less like work and more like fun. 

What are some fun writing games? 

There are infinite ways that you can turn writing into a game, but one that I have found to be a huge hit is Would You Rather. If you don’t already know, this is when you ask students a question “Would you rather…” and give them two options to choose from. Students can write out their choice and why they chose that option and then share their opinions with the class. 

This was always such a hit with my students that I created a Would You Rather resource to make it easy and fun to incorporate this game into your lessons. 

Would you Rather Prompts are great conversation starters, ice breakers or writing prompts. Use these interactive, editable Google Slides to easily have students show one or two fingers to share their choice and then write down why they chose what they did. 

Here’s what’s included in this download

53 Google Slides with a moveable highlighter to share your favorite or the class’s most popular choice.

• 50 Colorful WOULD YOU RATHER winter-themed slides
• 1 Digital writing prompt paper
• 2 Black and white ink-saving slides for handwriting 

Want to use this writing game virtually? No problem! Students can share a 1 or a 2 in the chat box as you ask the questions. 

I love this resource because you can delete slides you don’t want to send to students and add your own directions or images to the sides. This makes it completely customizable. This resource is also versatile enough to be used in any grade! 

What are your favorite writing activities for students? Let me know in the comments!

The holidays are here and it’s time to start thinking about simple gift ideas for parents that your students can make right there in the classroom. When I was in the classroom, I loved this time of the year because the parents genuinely love the hand-made gifts and Christmas crafts that their children make for them in school. They are always a hit! 

What can my students make for their parents for Christmas? 

If you’re looking for easy homemade gift ideas for parents that your students can create easily in your classroom, you’re in the right place. Here are some of my favorite Christmas or holiday gift ideas for parents. 

Handprint art

Pretty much anything with a handprint or a fingerprint is sure to be a hit with parents! Plus, students enjoy getting their hands dirty with paint as they make their creations. You could make handprint Christmas trees, handprint reindeer, handprint Santa, and so much more! 

Snow globes with baby food jars

This is a fun and creative way to use recycled materials! Grab some jars, small bottle brush trees (you can usually find them in a pack), and white glitter to create a simple and festive snow globe. 

Ornaments

There are endless ways to make ornaments and they always put a smile on parents’ faces. Bonus points if it has a picture of the student on it! These are sentimental gifts that parents will cherish for years to come. I love this Elf craft that includes an elf ornament with the child’s face on it. 

Beaded candy canes

Grab some pipe cleaners and red and white beads and make some adorable candy canes! 

Painted rocks

Grab some rocks and paint and put those students to work! They can paint Christmas trees, stars, candy canes, Santa, snowmen, and so much more. 

Paintings

With just a small canvas and paint, students can create their own festive masterpieces for their parents.  Or you can do a step-by-step painting activity with students where you help them paint something simple and festive like a snowflake, Christmas tree, or snowman. 

Fingerprint calendar art

This is hands down one of my favorite ways to incorporate fingerprints into a gift for parents. They take time to create but they are so worth it! Plus, it’s a gift parents can enjoy all year long. 

Coupon books

These are classic because they are so fun and unique! Allow your students to create coupons to give to their parents as a gift. They can get creative and think of things that their parents will love. This resource includes a bulletin board set for you, a waffle book that students can fill out what they want for Christmas, and coupon books that students can gift to their parents! 

Paper Plate Angels

This one is simple if you have just a few supplies! White paper plates, gold pipe cleaners to make a halo, markers for the face and wings, and construction paper or yarn for hair. 

Button snowflakes

All you need for this simple gift idea is some popsicle sticks painted or colored blue and some buttons to glue on. Glue on some string if you want to make it an ornament! 

Students can make so many things that their parents will love. Have fun with it! This makes the perfect activity to do while you have your holiday party. 

What are your favorite student gifts for parents? Let me know in the comments! 
Looking for more Christmas activities? Check out my post here to see my favorite Christmas worksheets!

Tis the season to pull out those fun and festive holiday resources in your elementary classroom! Having full-on festive fun is the best way to spend those last couple of weeks before winter break, and utilizing some fun Christmas worksheets or holiday worksheets for elementary students is one of the best ways to do that. 

If you are looking for the perfect Christmas worksheets for kids in early elementary, you’re in the right place! I created a resource full of all of the cheerful Christmas and winter-themed worksheets and activities you could possibly need for your kindergarten or first grade classroom. 

These Christmas math and literacy worksheets are the perfect addition to your classroom this holiday season.

It includes 100 math and literacy worksheets for kindergarten and first grade- all Christmas and winter themed! Various types of worksheets, games, and printables cover many common early elementary skills. 

I love these worksheets because they are perfect for those fast finishers who always run out of things to do. They are also great as morning work for a nice mental warm-up when students get to class. You can also assign them as homework all winter long! 

These Christmas worksheets for kindergarten or 1st grade are so versatile and timeless that you can honestly use them year after year. They can even be used as educational fun during your classroom holiday party! 

Here’s what’s included in this resource: 

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Trace and Write the Alphabet
• Trace and Write Numbers
• Real VS Make-Believe 
• Ask a friend about their favorite season, graph
• Winter Acrostic Poem (with sample)
• Christmas Coloring Sheet
• Letter, Sight Word, Math Review
• Letter Practice (cut and paste letter sounds)
• Syllables Game (spin)
• Blending Game
• CVS Isolation of middle sounds (cut and paste)
• Snowball Sight Words
• Write, Read and Draw
• ABC ORDER
• Fix the Sentences
• Verb or Noun
• Long and Short Vowels
• Adjectives (describe snow)
• OW word sound sort
• Snow Globe Writing
• How to Start a Snowball Fight (primary and Intermediate lines)
• Draw a Snowman Writing
• December Writing (and winter writing award)
• Writing (Christmas Sticker Story, Opinion Cookie Writing)
• Label the Penguin
• Addition and Subtraction Practice
• More or Less, Counting On, Fill in the 100s Chart
• Counting Pennies
• Length in Inches
• Number Sort
• Count and Write, Comparing Numbers, Drawing Sets
• Number Bonds
• Shapes (Graph)
• Roll and Color (Penguin)
• Roll and Rhyme
• Sorting candy
• Measuring
• Mental Math
• Addition Fluency
• Shape Symmetry
• Penguin Graph
• 100 Snowballs
• Counting Penguins
• Roll and Dot Numbers
• Building a Reindeer Home
• Elf Adjectives
• Holidays Around the World (Mini Book, Compare and Contrast)
• Christmas Journal (with prompts)
• Primary lined option for Journal Replacement Pages
• 3D Tree Printable (Craft)

For more Christmas activities for elementary, check out my post here! 

What is your favorite thing about holidays in the classroom? Let me know in the comments!