1-2-3 Come Do Some New Year Craftivities With Me

When my students returned from their Christmas break, I always had a few activities that revolved around the New Year.  Calendar concepts was something we worked on every day, so discussing the changes in the New Year date, fit right in.  If you too are looking for some quick crafts that help reinforce standards, you'll hopefully find something you can use in today's blog, or click on the link to pop on over to my entire collection of New Year-themed FREEBIES.

The Place Value “Happy New Year!” craftivity can be done as a whole-group or independent center. Students trace and write the numbers, cut them out, arrange them in correct order to form the New Year and then glue them under the appropriate place value “door.”

The last door helps children practice subtraction as they subtract the year they were born, from the current year to get their age.  It’s self correcting, because they know how old they are! 

This is my sample from last year, but you can use this activity for years to come, because I've included templates through the year 2034.

Before hand, explain the project using your own sample, as a review of how things are done.  Even if you're in your 20’s, don't be surprised if your kiddos think you're really "old".  Click on the link to view/download the Place Value New Year craftivity.

Some of my Y5s had not yet mastered counting backwards from 10 to 0, so I designed the New Year’s Glitter Ball Slider to help them practice in a fun way.   Even little ones seemed to be familiar with the New York, Times Square countdown ball, so this was a great segway.  

I’ve also included a strip to countdown from 20.   Students trim their ball, trace the numbers on their "slider" and then insert the strip through the slits.  I had my kiddo’s crouch on the floor as we counted down.  When we got to zero, they jumped up and yelled “Happy New Year!”  

When you're done, for that finishing touch, allow children to add some silver or gold glitter.  Set aside to dry and then have them practice at home.  Click on the link to view/download the Happy New Year Countdown Slider.

Another way for students to practice counting backwards is with these 5  New Year puzzles.  You can laminate and use them as an independent center or run off copies for each child to take one home for more practice. 

They also make an interesting piece of art when the pieces are glued to a sheet of construction paper with a little space between each piece. Click on the link for the New Year Countdown puzzles. 

I always had some quick and easy activity on my students' desks in the morning.  They got right down to business, so I was able to take attendance and accomplish a few things before we began our day together. 

The "How many words can you make using the letters in Happy New Year?" worksheet is perfect for that.  It's a fun way to build vocabulary and reinforce spelling.  I've included my list of 627 words that you can share with your students after they finish their list.

Set a timer for however long you want students to work on this.  You can give a New Year bookmark as a prize for the child who has the most words, or give everyone a bookmark for staying on task.  I've designed several for them to choose from.

Finally, if you follow my blog, you know that I like to end with a quotation.  No matter what grade I taught, I always put one on the board each day.  I often used quotes as a "Do you agree or disagree?" writing prompt or discussion with my students.  

If you like doing things with quotes too, click on the link for 6-pages of my favorite New Year quotes.  It includes the one from Ophra below.

Well that's it for today.  I'm off to get some major wrapping done.   I like to wait 'til all of my shopping is complete before I start that job, so I can easily sort and then just have a marathon.  

Wishing you a productive day filled with tasks you enjoy, with enough time and energy to get them accomplished.  

 "Cheers for a New Year and another chance to get it right!" -Oprah Winfrey 

1 2 3 Come Do Some New Year Writing With Me

I realize people have been wishing each other a Happy New Year for a week now, but I thought a few more New Year-themed writing prompts would still be appropriate, since quite a few schools in the midwest have not gone back yet, because of all of the cancellations due to snow and below zero weather conditions. 

My home state of Michigan included, as we are enjoying another snow day with a -25 windchill as I blog.

This photo is of the St. Joseph Lighthouse on Lake Michigan. with the caption: "Today, it is encased in ice as the Midwest is hit with a "polar vortex", causing wind chills to reach -50 degrees! "  The waves froze as they crashed over the pier.

Inez, from equally cold Canada, requested some New Year puzzles that counted down from 10 to 0.  Great idea Inez!  I so enjoy hearing from other countries.  On any given day we have visitors from over 150. 

I'm always amazed at how the Internet makes everything so much cozier.  Click on the link to view/download 5 New Year counting puzzles.

When I'm designing within a theme, the ideas just keep coming, so I also made a pair of New Year spectacles. 

I enjoyed seeing these goofy glasses being worn by a lot of New Yorkers as they watched the ball drop.  I thought it would make a cute writing prompt "craftivity." 

Students can write what they "see" in their future for the New Year, or write things they are hoping and wishing for. i.e. health, happiness, success etc.  

After I finished my sample, the only "person" I could find to model them, was our poodle Chloe.  She'll do just about anything for a treat, and kept the glasses on long enough for me to take a picture. 

I've included a set of numbers so that you can make future years.  Click on the link to view/download the New Year Writing Prompt Glasses.

I really liked that chunky number font and thought it would make a nice writing prompt as well, so I designed a New Year craftivity entitled "Past and Present."

Students reflect on the prior year, jotting down memorable moments from that year, as well as their activities, goals and hopes for the New Year.  My sample is from a high school student's perspective. 

I've also included templates through 2024 so you can reuse this idea for awhile. Who knows where we'll all be in 10 years.  Completed reflections make a sweet January bulletin board. Mount them on a variety of colors of construction paper, scatter on a few snowflakes and you're set.  Click on the link for the New Year Past & Future writing prompt.

While doing research I came across a cute poster over at Dimple Prints.  Show the poster to jumpstart your students' creative minds, and have them design their own word poster.

Finally, my personal favorite, is a January writing prompt that I call "More or Less."  It's a nice way to toss in a little math as well. 

Have students brainstorm a list of things that they think they should do less of (watching TV, playing computer games, fighting with siblings ...) as well as a list of things that they think they should do more of (studying, reading, exercising etc.). 

Write these on the board to help with spelling.  Students return to their desk and write their own list on the pre-writing paper. 

When they are happy with their lists, they write complete sentences on the greater than and less than symbol pages.  Have students color the symbols their favorite colors. 

When they are done, students trim their papers.  To turn this into a really interesting January bulletin board, have students trace their foot (with their shoe on).  Offer a variety of colors for students to choose from. 

They cut out their foot, glue on the "More or less I will try to put my best foot forward in the New Year" square, add a photo, name and the year.  Click on the link to view/download the More or Less New Year Writing Prompt packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I try to design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to check out the newest FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.

"While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best." -Tom Allen       

1-2-3 Come Do Some New Year "Craftivities" With Me!

One of my favorite childhood memories  was going over to my Grandma Lydia's house for a sleepover with my twin sister Kathie.  "Grama" was one of the most influential people in my life and a big reason I enjoy art and reading so much. 

She was a teacher too, back in the day when "rules for teachers" included not wearing a dress that showed your ankles and lighting the pot-bellied stove in the classroom, so she ragaled us with all sorts of wonderful stories, and always had and endless supply of craft ideas to amuse us.  

On one particular Saturday morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it was pouring the proverbial cats and dogs.  Grama decided it was a great day to make something, so she hauled out a roll of "butcher block" paper. 

I laid very still on the long sheet of white paper as grama traced the outline of my entire body.  Then she did the same thing for my sister. 

Even though we were barely 6-years-old, I still vividly remember designing a lovely "frock" for my "shadow" to wear, complete with rings on all of my fingers that sported hot-pink nail polish. 

As the rain pelted against the windows and thunder boomed, we happily colored away.  I highly recommend this activity.  I know it's a lot of bulletin board paper, but the memory will be lasting. Just think of the cuteness of your paper "students" lining the hallway walls too! 

For writing practice, have students label the parts of their body picture.  Before hand, have children help you make a list of all the parts of their body that can be seen on their picture.  Write them on the board, to help them with spelling.

If you're not up for a full-body experience, how about just your kiddo's hand.  Have them choose a partner to trace each other's, and then fill in the details. 

I've included a template, so these can become your first writing prompt for January.  Have students include the year as well as their school picture. 

This makes an interesting and fun Daily 5 activity.  Click on the link to view/download the High Five's For A Happy New Year "craftivity."

Be sure and make a sample to show your kiddo's.  My Y5's always enjoyed learning about me.  I added a bit more pizzazz by gluing on flat-backed rhinestones to my "rings."

After students share, mount their work on a variety of colors of construction paper and sprinkle over a wintery-printed bulletin board. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin it" button is on the menu bar.

I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by again tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES that will hopefully be memory making!

"Wiggle fast; now wiggle slow; let's learn about our body from head to toe." -Unknown

2 pages.

Looking for a quick and easy bulletin board for January, or need an interesting winter writing prompt?  Run off copies of the New Year's resolutions template on white construction paper.  Students complete the writing prompt, then trace their hand, color it, and add some rings decorated with flat-backed rhinestones.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, glue their photo somewhere on their work, and mount on their favorite color of construction paper.

1-2-3 Come Frolic With Me: Winter Craftivities, Bulletin Boards and Games

I was really on a creative roll yesterday.  All one needs to do is spend a little time on Pinterest and your brain will shoot into over drive!  So many ideas and not enough time in my life to do everything I'd like to.  Sound familiar?

While browsing, I found a wooden snowman used as a countdown to Christmas.  I found versions of this idea all over, so not sure who was the originator, but I thought the moveable carrot nose would be perfect for the classroom. 

It was fun designing a paper snowman face that can review upper and lowercase letters and numbers to 20.  I've included a face for skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's or 10's.  

You can also simply make one for your calendar center and countdown the days in January.  

These make a quick and easy way to whole-group assess too. 

Call out a number/letter and have students move their snowman's nose to that position or... move your teacher sample to an uppercase letter, and have students find the matching lowercase letter on theirs. 

For added pizzazz I ran the carrot noses through my crinkle machine.  My Y5's called this the "Cruncher Muncher."  It provided great fine motor practice as students turned the crank to get the paper through the rollers. 

Poke a hole at the end of the carrot and use a brass brad to fasten the nose to the snowman.   Click on the link to view/download the Snowman's Nose packet.

For more letter and number practice, have your students put together these winter pine tree puzzles.  They can be done as an independent center activity, or you can make copies for your students. 

Children cut the green number/letter tiles and then glue them in appropriate order on the boxed grid.  For that extra bit of pizzazz, run the template off on blue construction paper and have students dot on "snowflakes" with a Q-tip. 

If you celebrate 100 Day in January, this is a wonderful "craftivity" that makes a cool bulletin board.  Caption:  Mrs. Henderson's Kinders Are Doing Tree-mendous Work!  Click on the link to view/download the Pine Tree Puzzles

Another awesome bulletin board for January, features a New Year's writing prompt. 

Basketball, soccer and football are all sports where players score goals, so I thought it would be fun to have students write what their goals were for the New Year on the ball of their choice.  

I've included a poster that you can put in the center of your bulletin board as a caption. 

Besides the balls, there are also 2 writing prompt pages for journal writing, which includes one with a hockey theme.   Click on the link to grab the New Year Goals Packet. 

Another New Year's activity you can have your kiddo's do, is see how many words they can come up with, using the letters in Happy New Year.   I've included a list of 267 words. 

When students are done, share your list to see if there are any words that they aren't familiar with; have them write them on their paper and look them up.   Click on the link to check out the How Many New Year activity.

Since the fact family houses have been such popular downloads, I designed an igloo "Frosty Fact Family Fun" packet.  Choose whatever number you want your students to work on. 

They write it in the center of the snowflake and then write all of the equations that they can think of, on the outer sections of their snowflake, to show that number.  

Do one each day; to make their booklet, have students glue their snowflake to an igloo-shaped page.  Add their photo for that finishing touch.  Click on the link to view/downlaod the Frosty Fact Family Fun packet.

For More number fun, I think you'll enjoy the snowflake number cards.  Use these for your word wall, a bulletin board, flashcards, games, or an independent center. 

Print; laminate and cut into puzzles for even more ideas.   I've also included 3 sets of snowflake tiles so students can sort, pattern and make groups/sets to match the number on the cards.  Click on the link to grab the Snowflake Number cards.

Finally, I had a request from Karla out in Vermont, for penguin alphabet and number cards. 

She wanted something small that her pre-schoolers could manipulate.  She only needed numbers to 10, but I included a blank template for you to program with more. 

There's also a list of ideas you can use the cards for, including games like "Kaboom!"  Click on the link if you'd like a set of these mini-penguins.   

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  My "Pin It!" button is at the top.  As you can see I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow to see all the newest FREEBIES, created by this brain that needs a shut-off button!

"Celebrate what you want to see more of." -Tom Peters

1-2-3 Come Do Some Fun New Year Activities With Me

Each month I tried to introduce more vocabulary words to my students.  It was always amazing to me, that my Y5's had no clue what some of the simple seasonal words meant and some of my kiddo's had never even heard the words before.

With that in mind, I designed this ABC New Year booklet.  It was fun and challenging to think of words with a New Year-theme that started with each letter.  

You can make one for each student so they can trace and write the words, or you can simply make a teacher's copy and share a page a day for the first week back after break. 

As you read the booklet, have students shoot up their hand if you come to a word they are unfamiliar with, and take a moment to define it. Discuss the words and what they mean.  See if they can come up with anymore and add them to the list.

For individual practice have children write that day's words in their writing journals or student-made dictionaries. This makes a wonderful Daily 5 word work activity too.  Click on the link to view/download the New Year's Alphabet Booklet.

Since the New Year revolves around time, I thought it would be interesting to design a New Year easy reader, that takes a child from noon, on New Year's Eve, to ringing in the New Year at Midnight. 

You can send the booklet home to be completed with their family, and then returned, or have this ready to go on students' desks for their first day back after break.  Children trace and write the digital time to the hour + draw the appropriate hands on the analog clock. 

The story ends with a writing prompt about what children did on New Year's Day and how they celebrated.   Click on the link Happy New Year Telling Time Booklet.

I've made 3 matching Happy New Year cards to go with this booklet.  They make a nice little surprise tucked on or in their desk when they return from break.  Click on the link to grab them.

Venn diagrams are an easy and fun way to help students understand the concepts of comparison and contrast.  They are a great precursor to help students write that type of paper, and are extremely helpful for the visual learner.  Click on the link to take a look at 7 Venn diagrams with a New Year's theme.

Finally, my first graders especially enjoyed making class books. 

Students complete the writing prompt and share their page with the class; collect, collate add a cover and you have a student-made book for your classroom library. 

I had a special book basket for these.  My students enjoyed looking at their endeavors.  You could really see the improvement that happened as the months flew by and the basket filled up. They are great to share during parent visits and conferences too.

 Click on the link to view/download the 3 writing prompt pages for a New Year's class book.

For 16 more writing prompts for January, click on the link. These are great for the writing portion of your Daily 5, or interesting ideas for your students' writing journals.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.  If you'd like to see all of the creative educational things I spend way too much time pinning, click on the big heart to the right of the blog. 

I hope you can pop back tomorrow for the newest FREEBIE. Wishing you a blessed New Year!

"I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the years'." -Henry Moore 

1-2-3 Come Blast Off With Me!

Are you looking for a fun new way to review counting backwards from 10 to 0 or 20 to 0?    

I’ve got just the thing!  As I was watching the glittering ball drop in Times Square, I thought what a fun slider to make for “blasting off.”  

I just finished designing the Happy New Year Glitter Ball and hope your students enjoy the new way of reviewing this standard. 

Run off the ball templates.  Rough cut them apart so that students can practice cutting out the circle.  You might want to pre-slit the lines so that students can easily insert their number strip.

Run off the number strips and cut them out on the paper cutter so that all students have to do is cut on the lines to separate them.  

Students glue the strips together and then trace the numbers and insert their strip into the ball.  Demonstrate how this is done, or some students will have difficulty.

Make sure to remind them to write their name on the back of their ball.

When everyone has completed their ball, have them crouch down, read the numbers together slowly, as students slide their strip through their balls counting  backwards with you.

When students have reached 0 they pull their strip 1 last time to reveal the words.  Children jump into the air and yell “Happy New Year!”

Afterwards, you can have them play “I Spy” with a partner or as a whole group.  Call on a child to spy a number.  They call out a number and everyone slides to reveal it.

Students hold up their ball so that you can whole-group assess to make sure everyone has the correct number. Click on the link to view/download New Year Countdown Glitter Ball

Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find useful.  For a snowman and penguin alphabet and number slider, scroll down to checkout the next article. 

“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” -Unknown