Elementary Matters

Elementary Matters is an educational blog focused on Elementary grades 1-3. These posts will make an elementary teacher's life easier by sharing information about how the brain learns best. It includes time savers, suggestions for classroom management, hints on effective teaching of reading, writing, and math, and several ideas for squeezing Science and Social Studies into daily instruction. These posts include links to several videos, articles, resources, and plenty of free materials.

January Resources

I'm dreading going back. I've enjoyed my morning ritual of having a cup of coffee, watching TV, and browsing Facebook and teacher blogs while in my jammies! I'll have to say good bye to all that when our vacation ends.

But the good news is: I get to see the kids again! Plus, there's a lot of fun stuff that can be done in January! (Well, besides testing and Progress Reports!)

First of all, it's winter. Now I've never been crazy about the snow or the cold, but the kiddos love playing in the snow, and I love their enthusiasm. Therefore, I look for opportunities to include winter themes in my classroom. Let's start with books! (Each is an affiliate link to Amazon for more information!)

Here are a couple of fun resources to help the kids practice the basics in a fun way.

HERE is a link to the winter video on Brain Pop Jr. Don't you love the way they put sophisticated concepts into language the children can understand?

Besides winter, there are a couple of days that are important. We have a day off for Martin Luther King Jr. in a couple of weeks. Besides making sure the kids know why we have the day off, I think Dr. King was an amazing man. I always spend some time talking about Dr. King, and love the innocent passion I always get from the kids each year. "They couldn't use the same bathroom? That's...just...so...wrong!" They are amazing!

HERE's a link to the Brain Pop Martin Luther King Free movie!

A lesser-known holiday: Friday January 9th is National Static Electricity Day. It's handy that it lands when the air is so dry, since it gives us plenty of opportunities to explore static electricity! (I suspect that was intentional, but I know nothing about how National Static Electricity Day came to be!)

Speaking of electricity, did you realize Ben Franklin's birthday is January 17th? Now he's an interesting guy!

I love all the little holidays. Brain research tells us that children need novelty to learn. Well, all these little days are a great way to bring novelty into the classroom! See this resource for more of these fun little holidays! Click here:

School Days are Fun Days Calendar of Fun 2024!

Don't forget...

If you enjoy celebrating individual days, you'll love January Morning Meeting Greeting Activities! I'm trying to make your life easier by writing your morning letters for you. Each day includes the full date, something to celebrate on that date, and questions designed to get the children thinking! These can be used for discussions or writing prompts, and can be used occasionally or as a daily morning routine. Plus, they will be updated each year!

Here's another look at the individual pages!

You may also be interested in this creation: Science and Social Studies Printables for January. There are activities for winter, Ben Franklin, static electricity, Martin Luther King Jr, mapping, and making timelines. See the image below for the link. (Be sure to download the preview for more details!)

I've also put several January items into a bundle that has pretty much everything you'll need for those first few weeks back!

This image gives you some ideas about what's in it, but if you want a closer look, check out my preview here: January Bundle or see the image below.

Enjoy your January!

Don't Blame Santa!

I've heard a lot of teachers blaming the holidays for the struggle many children have in school this time of year.

I suspect it's not the holidays that are making it tough for them to concentrate. I think it's a couple of other things.

1. These little guys have been pushing since August! They've had a couple of long weekends, but they really haven't had a real vacation! They're due for a break!

2. The days are short. They get up in the dark. By the time they get home from school, the sun is pretty much down. Not only are they not getting outside to let off steam, but so much darkness robs them of Vitamin D, and makes them sleepy!

Some of my little guys can barely hold their heads up during the day!

I had a little girl today looking lost, so I asked her what she was looking for. She said she couldn't remember. (I admit, I do that all the time: walk to the other side of the room, then can't remember why I walked over there, but I blame old age!)

Honestly, I think the holidays are the only thing that hold them together! The promise of fun activities, Santa's watching to see if they're good, seasonal literature and games... there's still some great learning happening, despite their low concentration.

They'll be back on track after a good rest. We have almost 2 weeks off coming up, if we can make it through 4 more school days!

...but I'm not blaming Santa! He's the one who's helping them hold it together!

An Educational Winter Art Project

I love a craft that ties into something educational.

I also love a craft that allows room for individual creativity.

This time of year, we have to pull all the stops out to get them enthusiastic about learning, so we did this art project.

The kiddos made snow people with snowballs for each of the letters in their names. They made a math equation to represent their names, then decorated the snow people.

An Educational Art Project: turn a snow man art project into math problems! The best part? You can keep it up after the holidays!

Sorry, I had to cover the last names. Middle names were optional, but several wanted to include them.

Look closely at this one: the third snow person is sad because the wind blew away his hat! Don't you love their imaginations?

Here's another, aren't these adorable?

One thing I really like about these: I can hang them in the hallway now, and I can keep them up until January!

Thanksgiving Resources

Wow, Thanksgiving is practically upon us!

Can you believe it? After that, Christmas, then another year! Life, please slow down?

Thanksgiving Resources - books, videos, resources, a dollar deal, and a freebie, all with a Thanksgiving theme!

Well, I want to spend the next 7 school days celebrating Thanksgiving. It's a great opportunity to "throw in" a little history, as well as enjoy the things for which we are grateful!

How do I squeeze all this in? Well, I always start with loads of books. Here's a collection of books I've loved. Some are fun, some are informational. I like to have a lot of books for each interest and each reading level so they all can enjoy them at independent reading time!

Books are always a great start. Movies are another fun way to enjoy the holidays!

See the above image for a link to BrainPOP Jr's free Thanksgiving video! Don't you love BrainPOP?

Here are a couple of movies I've found on YouTube with a Thanksgiving theme. Feel free to preview them and choose what is right for your group!

HERE are some videos from Scholastic that have been filmed at Plimouth Plantation. These are definitely worth a watch!

I try to squeeze in the holidays in all the subjects. This resource has loads of math and literacy activities with the Thanksgiving theme I'll be using these all week!

Thanksgiving No Prep Activities

There are a few Thanksgiving-themed items in my November Science and Social Studies Printables!

There's an information mini-book about turkeys, complete with fun facts, vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and a reflection page. (My kiddos LOVED this, especially the fun facts!)

This resource is also available as a stand-alone resource here:

or as part of this bundle:

Plus, there's a sorting activity, where the children have to decide if facts might have happened back in 1621, or if it couldn't have happened back then. Be prepared for giggles!

Here's a math game with a Turkey theme to practice those +9 facts. My kids LOVE this one!

Turkey Nines!

Here's a simpler, freebie version of the above game:

Turkey Nines Freebie!

I can't let Thanksgiving go by without a reference to football! When I was a kid, we always had a football game in the morning, and a turkey in the afternoon. (My dad was a football coach!)

Here are links to a couple of football games my kids love!

Football Game Board and Cards

Counting to 1,000, plus short and long vowels:

Here's a simpler, Dollar Deal version of the above set:

Football Game Board and Counting to 1,000 Cards

Here's is a favorite with my boys: Football Past and Present Verbs! Yes, all these verbs have something to do with football!

Want still more football learning? Try this bundle!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Batty Art Project

I'm sure you know some children that are fascinated by bats!

After reading a great information book by one of my favorite non-fiction authors, I wanted to do a fun art project to help the children remember what they learned!

A Batty Art Project: Here are step by step direction a fun bat art project to integrate literacy with the arts. Plus, the kids love it!

I'm not a fan of "cookie cutter" art projects that all look alike. I like to give the children an opportunity to be creative and make something unique.

We started by making a night scene with crayons.

Then we added a watercolor wash.

The kids loved how the crayons came through the watercolor!

It's amazing the effect paint has on a class of kids. Suddenly all chatting stops and they are totally engrossed in what they're doing.

Of course, some classical music in the background inspires the creativity!

Now, please tell me why aren't I bring out the paints more often?

I was tempted to give them a pattern to follow for the bats, but when I looked at photos of bats in the night sky, you really couldn't make out a specific shape. I gave each child a piece of black construction paper and they developed their own technique for making the bats.