Seasonal

Valentine’s Day activities are such a great way to make students feel loved and appreciated by their teachers and classmates!  It is also a fitting time to have students reflect on all of the people and things they love in their own lives.  I love using holiday activities to build classroom community while giving students an opportunity to let their creativity shine.

This year, more than ever, it is important to have resources ready in both digital and printable formats.  The 5 activities described below are from the Valentine’s Day pack in my TpT shop!

1. VALENTINE’S DAY GLYPHS:

I constantly hear from teachers about how much their students love glyphs!  Digital or printable glyphs are great way to learn a little bit about your students while having them create an adorable craft to hang on a classroom bulletin board or take him to showcase on the fridge.  

The Valentine’s Day Activities pack comes with 2 glyphs – a Love Bug Glyph (digital and printable), and a Box of Chocolates Glyph (printable only).  

If you want to have students share their glyphs virtually, you can have students turn their cameras on that answered a question a specific way.  This is a fun, visual way for students to see how their classmates responded!

They also lend themselves perfectly to creating individual bar graphs (or one large classroom bar graph) and analyzing authentic classroom data.  

2. WHAT I LOVE ABOUT  ______ CRAFT:

I love this simple craft for building community. Rather than the typical Valentine’s Day cards, these mini hearts are little notes telling their classmates “What We Love About_____”!  They are a great, super low prep way to make your students feel loved and special.  

A digital version is also included where students fill in a chart with things they love about each classmate.  Teachers could use these to share some things that were said about each student orally.  They could also copy and paste each student’s page to create a shareable file for everyone to be able to see what was said about them. 

3. WRITING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:

Valentine’s Day graphic organizers are great to use on their own or for prewriting for a piece of writing.  They come in both digital and printable formats as well. 

Some of the topics include Valentine’s Day Favorites, What I Love About My Family, What I Love About…(family, friends, home, school), and Ways to Show Love.

4. HEART MAP WRITING:

“What Makes up the Pieces of My Heart” has students really think about ALL of the things that they love and are grateful for in their life.  Students love this activity!  It is a great way for students to express themselves, while teaching their classmates and teacher about everything they love.

 
A digital version is also included.  Students can fill in text boxes or insert pictures into each piece of their heart. 

5. VALENTINE’S DAY BINGO (FREE PRINTABLE):

This (free!) activity is a great way to get your kids up and moving around.  Students find classmates that fit the criteria for each square on their Bingo boards.  

All of the resources above can be found in the resources in our Valentine’s Day Activities Pack!

Thinking ahead for Spring? Check out this Spring Activities Blog post!

With the excitement of winter, the new year, and winter vacations, it can be hard to keep students focused and engaged in learning.  Winter themed academic activities motivate students by connecting what they are experiencing in real life to their school work.  

This year, more than ever, it is important to have both printable and digital winter activities ready to go.  The 5 activities described below are from paid and free winter resources in my TpT shop!

1. WINTER GLYPHS: PRINTABLE & DIGITAL WINTER ACTIVITIES

I constantly hear from teachers about how much their students love glyphs!  They are a great way to learn a little bit about your students while having them create an adorable craft to hang on a classroom bulletin board or take him to showcase on the fridge.  

This Winter Glyphs pack comes with 3 glyphs – a Penguin Glyph (digital and printable), Snowman Glyph (digital and printable) and a Snow Globe Glyph (printable only).

They also lend themselves perfectly to creating individual bar graphs, or one large classroom bar graph, and analyzing authentic classroom data.  

2. WINTER WRITING PROMPTS

With winter’s arrival comes lots of excitement in your growing writers.  This is a great way to motivate them with prompts that are applicable to what is currently happening around them.  

The 32 writing prompts come in different printable formats, but my favorite is the cut and paste journal option.  Providing choice is another way to encourage students to write, so with this activity they get to pick which prompt they want to use to guide their writing that day.     

These writing prompts also come in a digital, Google Slides™ version. 

3. “THROW SNOWBALLS LIKE KINDNESS” WINTER ACTIVITIES

This craft is such a great way to build classroom community among your students.  In the printable version, students create a printable bucket that students fill with kind words for each student written on “snow balls”.  

On the digital version, students can write 3 or 5 times they showed kindness this school year. 

4. WRITING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Winter graphic organizers are great to use on their own or for prewriting for a piece of writing.  A bunch of winter graphic organizers are available in our Winter Activities Pack that come in both digital and printable formats.  

Seasons are such a great way to bring writing to life using the five senses.  This Snowy Senses organizer can be found for free here.  

5. NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS & GOAL SETTING:

With the new year comes the perfect time to reflect on the year so far, and create new academic and personal goals.  

New Year’s Resolutions are a great way to greet your students after winter break.  Below is an example of a printable interactive graphic organizer and a digital organizer students can use to record their resolutions.

All of the resources above can be found in the resources in our Winter Activities Bundle!

Thinking ahead for Valentine’s Day? Check out this Valentine’s Day Activities Blog post!

Thanksgiving is so much fun to celebrate in the classroom!  I love using Thanksgiving activities that encourage students to reflect and appreciate all the things they are thankful for in their lives.  

Thanksgiving activities require students to really pause, block out all the other noise in their busy brains, and take time to focus on just being grateful.  

Below are a bunch of digital and printable activities that I include in my Thanksgiving Activities & Glyphs pack!    

“ I AM THANKFUL FOR…” TURKEY CRAFT

This thankful turkey craft always comes out so adorable!  The turkey feathers come either blank or with a category (i.e. at home, an object, etc.) for students to write and illustrate what they are thankful for on.

The digital version uses a Thankful Tree instead of a turkey.

THANKSGIVING WRITING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

These organizers are great for getting students thinking about what they are thankful for, as well as reasons why they are thankful for what they have in their lives.   

They can be used alone or as a pre-writing support for a piece of Thanksgiving writing.  

THANKSGIVING GLYPHS 

Students love glyphs! They are a no prep, fun way for students to get creative while learning about each other. They also make a great Thanksgiving bulletin board or wall display.  

This Thanksgiving Activities Pack includes a “Dress a Turkey” Glyph (printable) along with a Build a Turkey Glyph (digital).  A Thanksgiving Table Glyph is also included.

Students can compare responses to the rest of their class to fill out a bar graph.  

WRITING ABOUT SOMEONE THEY ARE THANKFUL FOR

This Thanksgiving writing activity always comes out so sweet! Students choose a person in their life that they are thankful for. Then, they reflect on 3 reasons why they are thankful for this person. You can also give students more than one copy if they want to write about more than one person.

This activity comes in both a printable, black and white version, as well as a digital version for Google Slides.

All of these activities and more can be found in my $5 Thanksgiving Pack in my TpT Shop!

Looking ahead for winter? Check out this blog post on low-prep Winter Activities for Elementary Students!

Halloween is such an exciting time for kids! When Halloween is constantly on your students’ brains, it is so helpful to have meaningful, low prep activities for them to put this energy into.

Halloween crafts and activities are the perfect creative outlet for students. Below are a bunch of digital and printable activities that I include in my $5 Halloween Activities Pack, plus a freebie!

HALLOWEEN GLYPHS (PAPER AND DIGITAL):

Students love glyphs! They are a no prep, fun way for students to get creative while learning about each other. They also make a great Halloween bulletin board or wall display.

Included in this pack are 2 printable glyphs and 1 digital Monster Glyph.

A printable or digital bar graph is a fun way to tie in some math as students char their answers as a class!

HALLOWEEN WRITING ORGANIZERS:

Halloween writing graphic organizers are great to use as is, or to use as prewriting for writing about Halloween. Some of the topics included are Halloween Favorites, My Perfect Halloween Night, My Halloween Movie Reel, and All About My Halloween Night.

WITCH’S BREW RECIPE:

Students create the ingredients and recipe to make their very own witch’s brew! This writing activity really lets your students’ creative shine. It is so fun to see what students come up with!

For this activity, I do think it’s helpful to activate background knowledge. You can either come up with examples of some ingredients as a class, listen to Witches’ Brew by Hap & Martha Palmer, or read a book that includes examples of what could go into a witch’s brew, such as the book I am a Witch’s Cat.

HALLOWEEN CANDY CORN CRAFT:

This free, low prep Halloween craft is a great, easy way to celebrate Halloween in the classroom. It is a hands-on way to get students writing about their Halloween favorite!

INDEPENDENT ACTIVITIES:

Having activities students can do completely independently is perfect for early finishers or centers. Included in this pack are also Halloween Word Searches, Halloween Making Words and a Halloween Break the Code.

Click the cover below to be directed to the Halloween Activities in my TpT Shop!

 

Interested in Fall Activities as well? Read about Low Prep Fall Activities for Elementary Students!

Fall is hands down my favorite season for setting up crafts and activities in the elementary classroom!  Pumpkins, apples, changing leaves, and holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving provide so many ways to bring fall vibes into the classroom.  

I love having different formats and options of crafts and activities for students to choose from.  Below are a bunch of digital and printable activities that I include in my Fall Activities Pack (which is a total steal at only $5), and a freebie!  

Because of the huge number of activities included, it can work great for centers.  Centers are always fun and motivating for students since they get to choose what activity they complete.  

It can also work to assign some resources in a printable format and some in a digital format to switch things up.

PRINTABLE AND DIGITAL FALL GLYPHS:

Students love glyphs! They are a no prep, fun way for students to get creative while learning about each other. They also make a great fall bulletin board or wall display.  

Included in this pack are 2 printable glyphs and 1 digital cornucopia glyph.

FALL GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:

Fall themed writing graphic organizers are great to use as is, or to use as prewriting for writing about fall.  Some of the topics included are Fall Favorites, Fall Senses, “When I Think of Fall…”.

This “FALLing memories” has students write and illustrate 2 or 4 memories they have from either the current or previous falls.  It is also included in a digital format.

FALL INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC ORGANIZER:

This Fall Senses Craft comes in a 1-page option or 2-page interactive cut, fold, and glue option. Students write about how they use their five senses in fall on a leaf.  It is also included as a Google Slides™ organizer.

FALL WRITING JOURNAL:

With fall’s arrival comes lots of excitement in your growing writers.  This is a great way to motivate them with prompts that are applicable to what is currently happening around them.  

These writing prompts come in different formats, but my favorite is the cut and paste journal option.  

Student choice is another way to encourage them to write, so with this activity students get to pick which prompt they want to use to guide their writing that day.      

FALL VOCABULARY:

These free fall vocabulary cards are perfect for a fall writing center.  It is also available digitally as a fall vocabulary poster.  

These digital and printable word searches are a fun way to interact with the fall vocabulary words as well.  The printable version is available for free here.

Click on the covers below to check out some of my Fall Activity Packs:
    

Looking ahead? Read about No Prep Winter Activities for the Elementary Classroom.

With the holiday season and the first snow fall, comes lots of excitement in students. Having fun, hands on, educational winter activities available gives students an outlet for this excitement in a meaningful way.

I love having different formats and options for students to choose from. Setting up centers or stations gives students choice and ownership over their work, which always ends up pushing them to put in their best effort! Below are a mix of engaging winter activities, including some freebies!

WINTER GLYPHS:
I constantly hear from teachers about how much their students love glyphs! They are also great way to learn a little bit about your students while having them create an adorable craft to hang on a classroom bulletin board or take home to showcase on the fridge.
They also lend themselves perfectly to creating individual bar graphs (or one large classroom bar graph) and analyzing authentic classroom data. This winter glyphs pack includes a penguin glyph, snowman glyph, and a snow globe glyph.

WINTER WRITING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS:
Graphic organizers are super helpful visual supports for growing writers. When made into fun, seasonal graphic organizers, students don’t even realize how much work and reflection they are doing.This five senses graphic organizer below can also be found free in my TpT shop! You can use it as a stand-alone activity, or for students to organize writing sensory details for a winter writing piece.

CLASSROOM KINDNESS CRAFT:
Seasonal activities bring a chance to go bit outside of the academic box and connect with your students personally and socially. This classroom community craft is a great way to build up your students’ confidence and spread kindness throughout your classroom. Students love going home with a bucket full of nice things that their teacher and classmates have to say about them!

NEW YEARS LIFT THE FLAP:
The fresh start of a new year is a perfect time for students to reflect and set new goals for themselves. One way to have students record these goals is in a super simple and low prep lift the flap organizer. It encourages students to set academic and personal goals.

WINTER POETRY:

This free “December is for Celebrating” poem is an adorable, original poem by LMB Literacy. She also includes an illustration activity for visualizing a rhyme in the poem.

 

 

WINTER WRITING JOURNAL:
With winter’s arrival comes lots of excitement in your growing writers. This is a great way to motivate them with prompts that are applicable to what is currently happening around them.

These writing prompts come in different formats, but my favorite is the cut and paste journal option. Student choice is another way to encourage them to write, so with this activity students get to pick which prompt they want to use to guide their writing that day.

To find the resources from this blog post in my TpT shop, click on the covers below:

   

Between testing, finishing up grades, field days, assemblies, and more, life can get quite hectic during the bustle of the end of the school year!  Having low-prep, meaningful end of year activities that students can work on at their own pace, completely independently is SO key during this time.  This unique, fun End of Year Backpack Book works perfectly for that.  It is a fresh twist on the End of Year Memory book that fosters student reflection on themselves academically as well as socially.

Included are pages for describing their favorite memories, topics, ways they improved and goal setting for next year in each of the major content areas (Science, Social Studies, Math, Reading, and Writing).  

These can work well for a teacher that has students for all subjects, or to split up amongst teachers that are departmentalized by content areas. 

Also included are pages that have students reflect on themselves as people, friends, and family members throughout the school year.  Students describe “snapshots” of the year, memories with friends and family, times they showed good character, and personal goal setting. 

It is super easy and low prep to assemble. Students simply cut out each page of their backpack, fill them in, and staple the pages along the left side.

WHAT’S INCLUDED:

• Memories I Take (Snapshots & Captions, open-ended)
• What I Take as a Mathematician
• What I Take as a Reader
• What I Take as a Scientist
• What I Take as a Writer
• What I Take from Social Studies
• Experiences I Take (With Friends and Family)
• What I Take as a Person (back page of backpack)
• A blank back page of backpack option

When putting the books together, I like to print the front and back covers on colored card stock to make the book a bit sturdier and to make the colors pop.  The inside pages I just print on regular white paper.  

This resource is also flexible in that you can feel free to use some or all of the pages with your students. 

These “What I Take from this Classroom” Backpack Books can also be purchased in a discounted bundle with the “What I Bring to this Classroom” books for a back to school all about me activity.

 

I want to share a few fun activities I love to use to celebrate Easter with my students.  With so many religions in one classroom, I keep all the activities that we do non-religious.  Instead, they focus on spreading kindness and reflecting on ourselves.  We also do some fun Easter-themed crafts! 

I love having different formats and options of crafts and activities for students to choose from.  Setting up centers or stations gives students choice and ownership over their work, which always ends up pushing them to put in their best effort!  Below are a few activities taken from my Easter pack (which is a total steal at $5 from my TpT shop)!

“WE THINK YOU’RE EGG-CELLENT” CLASS CRAFT
This is a fun whole class activity for students to create and decorate their own Easter baskets to carry home.  Students write what makes each student “EGG-cellent” on eggs and places them into each of their classmates’ baskets.  It is such a great activity to build classroom community while making each student feel special and loved.   

EASTER GLYPHS
I constantly hear from teachers about how much their students love glyphs!  They are also great way to learn a little bit about your students while having them create an adorable craft to hang on a classroom bulletin board or take home to showcase on Easter bunny and Easter basket glyphs.
They also lend themselves perfectly to creating individual bar graphs (or one large classroom bar graph) and analyzing authentic classroom data.

EASTER “FIND SOMEONE WHO…” BINGO
This activity is a great way to get your kids up and moving around.  Students find classmates that fit the criteria for each square on their Bingo boards.

“WHAT MAKES ME EGG-CELLENT” LIFT THE FLAP
With this simple lift the flap activity, students fill in what makes them “egg-cellent” as a student, as a family member, or as a person on an egg shaped organizer.  

ALL ABOUT MY EASTER/ OTHER CELEBRATION
Students fill in what they eat, their feelings, a tradition, and their favorite part of Easter.  Another option is included for students that do not celebrate Easter to write about any of their own celebrations.

All of the activities described above can be found in my $5 Easter Pack.  Click the cover below to view the pack in my TpT shop!

Looking for more spring and seasonal resources?
Click on the covers below!

I don’t know about you, but I am SO ready for spring!  With any change in seasons, I love giving elementary students opportunities to describe and write about the new season they are experiencing. 

Below are a bunch of spring activities for elementary students, crafts, and writing that work great to bring some spring into your classroom.  Most are included in my Spring Activities Pack (which is a total steal at only $5), but I have also included some great freebies!  Because of the huge number of activities included, it can work great for centers. Centers are always fun and motivating for students since they get to choose what activity they complete.  

SPRING SENSES FLOWER:

This is a fun, visual craft for students to show how they use their five senses in spring.  You can differentiate by having students draw a picture or write about how they use their senses on each petal.  These flower crafts make a great spring bulletin board, door, or wall display as well!

SPRING GLYPHS:

I constantly hear from teachers about how much their students love glyphs!  They are also a great way to learn a little bit about your students while having them create an adorable craft to hang on a classroom bulletin board or take home to showcase on the fridge.  Below are adorable butterfly and flower glyphs.
These spring glyphs also lend themselves perfectly to creating individual bar graphs (or one large classroom bar graph) and analyzing authentic classroom data.

SPRING BINGO:

Bingo is always a fun activity for students of all levels in any classroom, but particularly helpful for a classroom with English language learners (ELL).  It is a great way to practice basic spring vocabulary words with visuals. 

SPRING WRITING JOURNAL:

With spring’s arrival comes lots of excitement in your growing writers.  This is a great way to motivate them with prompts that are applicable to what is currently happening around them.  These writing prompts come in different formats, but my favorite is the cut and paste journal option.  Student choice is another way to encourage them to write, so with this activity students get to pick which prompt they want to use to guide their writing that day.      

SPRING POETRY:

This free spring poem from LMB Literacy is perfect to use as a read aloud to students, in a fluency center, or to hang up on the wall.  Included with the poem freebie are a word search and a page for students to create an illustration.

MORE SPRING FREEBIES:

• Spring vocabulary cards (used as calling cards for the Bingo game above) are great to use for a word ring in a spring writing center, to print 2 copies to make a matching game, or to hang on the wall in a writing center display.
• Spring word search using spring vocabulary words (1 of 2 levels in the full pack).
  
• A “Rainy Day” graphic organizer for students to fill in, illustrate, and write about their feelings about rainy spring days.
  

Click the covers below for a closer look at the spring activities for elementary students in the Spring Activities Pack, discounted Spring Bundle, hugely discounted Seasonal Resources Bundle, and free  Spring Activities.

  

Looking ahead? Take a look at this blog post for low prep End of Year Activities!