That first day back from winter break is always a doozy!! Students have been off the school routine and had lots of stimulus taking place. They may come in exhausted, they may come in pumped up or they may come in disappointed. Take that first day and reset. Do something enjoyable and yet still embraces all the curriculum areas. This New Year Resource is perfect!!
Have streamers hanging on the doorway with welcome 2023 on it. Students come through the doorway to see … New Year Vocabulary Posted, Literature Suggestions for the New Year in a visible spot and maybe even inexpensive party hat or headbands at their desk. (Check the dollar store or any store the day before or after New Year’s Eve for great prices.) On the whiteboard have welcome back to a new year! Lets make it a good one!
1. I like to have the word search laying on their desk for them to complete as a morning opener waiting for everyone to arrive and settle. 2. Next we talk about what they did to bring in the New Year (Share with person next to you. Ask a few people what they discovered their partner did) or what would you have liked to do. 3. Students fill in two boxes on the Celebrating the New Year with their ideas. 4. We read informational text about the New Year. There are three selections for you to use. (Mini book, fold and read, individual poster) 5. After reading we go back and highlight some of the key words in the text that they found in the word search. 6. After some discussion about what we read students are asked to fill in the remaining boxes with facts on the Celebrating the New Year that were in the text. 7. Discussion now takes place about what is a resolution. 8. Students are asked to complete one of the two selections given for what their resolution is. 9. As they finish they create the New Year kiddo. Hair can be the color of their choice. I put these on a bulletin board with a copy of each of their resolutions. 10. For writing we use the paragraph graphic organizer and write about our resolutions. They then take those ideas and put them on a final copy page (could be a second day depending on attention span) 11. We start the afternoon with Making Words. I like to divide the class into small groups and have them work together. Explain to them they need to be extra quiet so others don’t hear the wonderful words they are making. Have a recorder for each group that writes the words down. At the end of time (decided by you) We make a list of all the words the groups made. 12. I like to read one of the suggested literature selections. There are three. My favorite is Squirrel’s New Year Resolution. We gather together and listen to the story which is followed by discussion. 13. We then look at the story events which I have showing on the board and students have at their desk. Together we put the events in the correct order. Students write the order on each strip. Now independently they put the story details together in order. 14. I like to end the lesson with Tradition/Not Tradition or Reading for Detail as an assessment of what they learned and recall from the day’s lesson.
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