Teacher’s Brain

Star Wars Day School Activities Students Will Love

May 4th will now forever be known as Star Wars Day! This is a day where we all happily showcase our love for the beloved franchise by greeting everyone around us with a happy “May the 4th Be With You” and participating in some fun and stellar Star Wars activities! 

This day is particularly fun with kids. If you are an elementary teacher looking for ways to celebrate, you’re in the right place! You may be wondering- how do people celebrate May 4th? Or what can kids do on Star Wars Day? 

Don’t worry, I have you covered! I knew students would love the galactic theme so of course, I came up with some super fun, low-prep activities that you can use to get your students engaged in Star Wars-themed activities. 

Star Wars day Activities for school pin image

Check out these Star Wars Day school activities!

My May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Themed Day Plan is full of Star Wars Day printables that will get students engaged in their lessons all day long. 

Star Wars day activities for kids

This resource includes a full day of fun with training, activities for finding planets, instructions for cool intergalactic treats, and activities to learn force and motion. These activities are perfect for pre-k, kindergarten, first, or second grade students. 

Here’s what’s included

Donations Please Page for Parents, Create a Space Creature activity, Give you space creature a personality activity, Sweet Fighter Treats instructions (EASY to Make), Venn diagram of Earth vs any other planet you choose, Venn diagram of Earth vs a star, Venn Diagram answer key, I SPY Planets activity, ODA SODA (ingredients and directions to make punch, galactic water labels for water bottles, fight training code of conduct poster, training laser directions, Training Academy certificate, Push, Pull, Force, and Motion Posters. 

Star Wars day printables for kids

Check it out here! 

Another one of my favorite May the 4th activities is this Star Wars Day digital escape room!

Star Wars Day online games

This space escape activity will help students to review planets, and practice problem-solving. Digital Escapes™ is a fun way to get students to learn without even realizing it. No printing and no prep needed for this digital escape! Students will love these Star Wars-inspired challenges! 

To play, students will click an audio button for directions and watch a short video with a problem to solve to help with their first clue. During the escape, students will be tasked with solving 4 lock clues to escape the room.

Star Wars day online games preview

There is a pdf included in this download with directions, the link to the site, an answer key, and an optional note-taking worksheet for students. This activity takes about 30 to 40 minutes to complete but students will remember it for years! 

Check out the video preview!

Check it out here! 

I hope these Star Wars Day ideas inspired you to have an out-of-this-world celebration with your elementary students! What’s your favorite May the 4th activity? Let me know in the comments!

For more themed day fun, check out my post here! 

 

Host A Book Tasting With A Fun Twist

Have you ever done a book tasting with your students? 

Book tastings are a unique way to learn about different books, genres, and authors. It introduces students to a variety of books so that they can sample them and discover new interests. 

What Is A Book Tasting? 

Generally, you’ll set up “tables” or centers with a menu and you’ll “serve” your students different stacks of books to choose from. After they get some time exploring the books they were served, you rotate them out for a second stack of books. 

You can organize your books by genres, topics, authors, styles, etc. It is so fun to see the students branch out and check out books they wouldn’t normally look twice at. I have found this to be a great way to encourage a love of reading in my students. Even the students who claim not to enjoy reading get engaged in book tastings! 

This reading activity would be a great addition to your Read Across America Day celebrations! I love that it can be done with students no matter their age. So literally any teacher can host a book tasting. 

Take Your Book Tasting To The Next Level

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good book tasting. But sometimes, you just want to add a little extra something to get students really excited about reading. 

Cue escape rooms! 

Escape rooms are all the rage because they are so engaging for students. They make such a big impact on students that they often remember doing these activities long after they leave your classroom. How cool is that? 

Given my love of book tastings and escape rooms, I had to create a resource that is the best of both worlds. 

I created this Book Tasting Escape Room activity so that you can add it into your lessons too!

book tasting preview

This resource includes step-by-step instructions that guarantee student engagement while they learn how to work as a team and help the store owner discover new book genres and escape the room with a book tasting! 

Sounds fun, right? 

book tasting preview

With just a little prep, this activity will have your students teaming up to break into the box to escape the room. The best part? You can use any books you want to with this activity!

You’ll get everything you need including directions, menus, place settings, paper keys, signs, help cards, homework passes and bookmarks, banner pennants, and more! 

book tasting preview

Check it out here!

Have you ever hosting a book tasting for your students? Let me know in the comments!

Book Tasting Escape Room pin image


 

How To Celebrate Valentine’s Day In Your Classroom Online or In Person

Valentine’s Day is just a couple of weeks away! February is such a jam-packed month with lots of things to learn about. We get to celebrate Valentine’s Day (of course), Chinese New Year, and this year, the Winter Olympics! 

Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite Valentine’s Day traditions from when I was in the classroom. Valentine’s is one of my favorite days to celebrate because it’s so fun to show our love and appreciation for each other. I love seeing the little cards that students bring in for their friends and their teachers. 

Here are some fun ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in your elementary classroom

  1. Decorate your classroom. This one goes without saying but decorating your classroom or even just your classroom door for Valentine’s Day is so fun! A great place to find cute and festive decor on a budget is Dollar Tree. They have tons of heart-shaped banners and other decorations. 
  2. Have a Valentine’s Day party. This is a great time to break out the Valentine’s Day candy and activities. I love doing this escape room with my students. It is an activity that is guaranteed to get their engagement. Another very popular activity is the Love Monster Writing activity! 
  3. Exchange Valentine’s Day Cards. You can have your students decorate a paper bag or a shoebox with Valentine’s Day-themed supplies to collect their cards! This is such a fun way to get creative in the classroom and it’s so exciting to see what students come up with. 

If you are teaching online this year, don’t worry! You can still have tons of fun with your students, even digitally. 

Just host an online Valentine’s Day party! You can decorate your Google Slides with cute Valentine’s Day clip art. I created a digital Valentine’s Day escape room activity for teachers who need virtual activities that you can check out here.  

As for exchanging Valentine’s cards, I have you covered there too! 

This digital Valentine’s Day card resource was created with the needs of teachers who are doing virtual lessons in mind. 

celebrate Valentine's Day

These digital google slides make it easy for your students to personalize and move editable conversational hearts to give virtually or in person. There is even a name grid provided so students can keep track of who got one and how to spell classmates’ names!

celebrate Valentine's Day

Included with this resource you’ll get 27 Colorful Google Slides with premade titles, editable text boxes, directions, movable conversational heart parts, and a video tutorial that you can check out below.

You can delete slides you don’t want to send to students, add your own directions or images to the sides of the slides to personalize.

celebrate Valentine's Day

Are you celebrating in person or online this year? Let me know in the comments!

 


 

Valentine’s Day Escape Room Students Will Love

One of the latest trends making waves in the education world (and in the outside world too), is escape rooms. If you don’t already know, escape rooms are a game where people (or in our case students) work together to solve clues, puzzles, or complete designated tasks in order to “escape the room” in a set amount of time. Sounds fun, right?!

These games are so exciting because they are very immersive. The interactive aspect really makes you feel like you are living the story of the escape room! 

In the classroom, escape rooms can include puzzles or tasks related to the skills you are working on in your lessons. This makes it an educational activity for students that feels like fun, not work! 

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I wanted an escape room that had a fun and festive Valentine’s Day theme while still being an engaging way to work on skills in the classroom. 

So, I created this Valentine’s Day Escape Room! 

Valentine's Day escape room activity

This Valentine’s Day mystery requires little prep and includes detailed directions, 3 clues to solve, a video hook, and set-up photos to help you put it all together. The set-up checklist will help you ensure that everything runs smoothly for the activity. 

To start, students will watch the video hook or introduction to learn about their mission. Then they will be tasked with solving 3 clues using comprehension skills. If you find that any of the activities are too easy for your students, there are additional activities included to differentiate. Students will practice teamwork skills while solving clues to help learn about holiday vocabulary and number patterns. 

Valentine's Day escape room activity

The clues will help them unlock the box and claim their prize. For prizes, you can use candy, homework passes, or bookmarks. Whatever you choose! 

The supplies needed are simple. You’ll need a box , some surprises to put inside the box (homework passes and bookmarks are provided), pencils, 6 large file folders (or regular folders), candy hearts (paper ones are provided if you don’t want to use real candy) and magnifying glasses (2 or more). 

Valentine's Day escape room

This activity is so engaging! It’s so fun to see how excited students get to put their detective skills to work so they can solve the clues. 

What are your favorite Valentine’s Day activities for elementary? Let me know in the comments!

Valentine's Day escape room