Heading back to school after Winter Break is one of the hardest transitions of the school year. Going from sweatpants and sleeping-in to early mornings and professional dress is not for the faint of heart! But, there is good news: celebrating New Years in the classroom can help ease students (and yourself) back into the rhythm of the school day. Read below for some easy and fun ways to celebrate New Years during your first week back:
1.Ring in the New Year Treat
First up, a simple idea that will brighten your students’ day the moment they step in the room! Pair these cute “Let’s Ring in the New Year” treat tags with a Ring Pop and place one on each student desk. You’ll be surprised how something so little can bring such a big smile to your students’ faces!
Want this printable template for FREE?! Click the image below to gain access!
2. Celebrate New Years Crafts
Next, let your students get crafty by creating New Years themed art!
Use the coloring page above as station work, morning work, or an early finisher option. Not only is this enjoyable for students, but further, it is also calming to create and makes a great hallway display! Personally, I plan to have this page and the Ring Pop treat out on student desks when they arrive in the morning. Both will be a great way to begin the day!
Another option is using the darling coloring page above that turns into a crown! In this case, prep long pieces of construction paper in advance so students can easily cut and glue (or bring to you to staple) their masterpiece. Naturally, not all students love wearing crowns. Thus, I will make this an optional craft for my students after they finish coloring the first page. Undoubtedly, some of them will love parading around the school in their crown for the day. This craft can be downloaded for free from Kinder Shenanigans on TPT!
3. Celebrate New Years by Setting Goals
Additionally, New Years activities wouldn’t be complete without asking students to set goals for the year! Use morning meeting time to discuss setting goals. Model examples for students by making a goal of your own. For example, try asking students to set a school related goal you can help them track.
Of course, setting goals can be done in a myriad of ways. Typically I find students do best talking about goals first and writing them at a separate time (this allows more time for them to marinate on their idea and gives them a break from work pages.)
Make your life easy by using my 2 Week Goal Setting Morning Meeting Unit to accomplish this with your students! Slides to use with the class are provided for each day along with printables to go with the unit!
4. New Year Song
As mentioned in previous posts, Class Songs are a daily highlight in my classroom. We start off each day with a song that builds our classroom community and reminds us of character traits we want to exhibit. The New Year song is a well loved tune that always gets introduced on the first day back from break.
Thus, I thought you may want to give it a listen by clicking below:
5. Cheers to the New Year
Following these activities comes my overall favorite; the New Years cheers! After students have finished their morning work, we gather together and begin learning the New Years song mentioned above. From there, we discuss highlights of our Winter Break and goals for the new year.
And then comes the fun. A countdown slide appears on the screen, confetti poppers are passed out, and Kool Aid Bursts are placed nearby. At this time we countdown from 10 and pop the confetti as we say altogether “Happy New Year!” After this we all clink our Kool Aid and enjoy it as we move on with the day.
6. Review your Routines
Though this is not an “activity” per say, it is an important thing to do as you go into the new year with your students.
Help everyone succeed by going over ALLL your classroom routines again. Pretend its the first week of school, but on steroids. You won’t need to spend as long explaining and modeling the routines because your students have heard them before.
Consider making a “Routines Chart” the class can help you check off as you go over things during your first return week back. You might even ask for volunteers to teach the routine instead of saying them yourself! It might sound like this:
- It’s time to line up! Now it’s been awhile since we did this…who could remind us of the first step?
- Who could show us what this routine looks like?
- Could everyone show me at the same time and with a level zero voice?
- Now you might not remember because its been while…
- Tell your partner how this routine works and let’s see if we’ve got it
Error on the side of “More Review is More” than “Less Review is More.” Assume that all the little details you fine tuned have relaxed. Students are less concerned with performing the routine to perfection because they are more comfortable in the new environment. Remind them of the standard and hold them to it-this will help your classroom run MUCH more smoothly the rest of the year!
7. Add in a Game
Finally, its time to get on with academics for the day. Adding in New Years themed games that incorporate learning concepts help students transition back with ease. Therefore, below are themed games your students may enjoy:
- Save New Years Math Escape Game
- CVC New Year Memory Game
- PreK-1st Escape Game
- Reading and Writing Stations
- STEM Challenges (build something you did over break, build a snowman, etc.)
Tell me your traditions!
To conclude, Happy New Year to you and your students! Likewise, if you have a fun New Years activity I should hear about, please let me know in the comments below!
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