Six Ways to Use Seasonal and Holiday Printables

Seasonal and holiday printables are a real time saver! 

Plus, they bring valuable skills practice. 

Oh yes, and the children LOVE them!

Here are 6 ways I have used these in my classroom:

1.  Leave for a substitute teacher.

This is why I originally created seasonal printables. If I know I'm going to be out, I will make packets for my substitute to use for each of the subject areas. It's easy to differentiate both up and down. 

• For an extra challenge, write in an extra challenge. (Example: in math, you can ask these students to write story problems with 2-digit numbers, then solve them!) 
• To differentiate for more challenged students: give them fewer pages, or circle only some of the items for them to complete. (This is a trick I use all the time for both classwork and for homework. They know to only do the problems I have circled. If they finish early, they can attempt the other ones, but there's no "have to!" I am strategic when I circle the "have to")

2. Leave for when someone has to cover your class for a meeting.

You know those days: You'll have to leave your classroom with someone else. You don't want to leave complicated directions, especially if you don't even know who will be covering your class. But you want to leave meaningful skills practice that your students will enjoy. 

3. Use on a day you just don't have the time to prepare.

We all know these days as well! Perhaps you were at school late the night before with parent conferences. Perhaps you've put in lots of hours preparing report cards. Maybe your child was up sick last night. Maybe you were up sick last night. There are a million reasons for running out of time to plan ahead. Seasonal printables to the rescue! Kids love them, and they'll make your life so much easier!

4. Use for independent practice.

Sometimes they just need something quiet to work on while you're working with reading or math groups. Seasonal printables will give them extra practice with their literacy and/ or math skills while letting them have a little fun. They really do enjoy the work a bit more if it has an element of fun!

5. Use for guided practice.

Your lower-abled students don't want to miss out on the fun of these seasonal pages! I've been known to use some of these printables during reading and/ or math groups for skills that are just a little beyond the abilities of my cherubs. (It might be the same thing some of the others are working on independently!) With a little bit of help, they'll feel a great sense of pride!

6. Use as partner work.

There are a lot of ways to partner up the students and a lot of good reasons to do this! Sometimes the partners would be relatively equal in abilities. This is a great way to get them talking! Yes, sometimes that's a good thing, isn't it? When they're talking through how they get their answers, that discussion internalizes learning! That's a good thing!

Sometimes it's ok to partner a stronger student with a weaker student, but this must be done very carefully. There is never a reason for a student to feel inferior to another. But with the right combination of students, some great conversations could happen, and they can both could learn from each other!

Here is a collection of Printables that could help you through the whole year: No Prep Activities and Worksheets for the Whole Year

Looking for some Science and Social Studies Printables? Try these! Science and Social Studies Activities for the Year!

What are your ideas for using seasonal and holiday printables?

Paper Bag Dramatics: A Fun Activity for Team Building and Developing Community

Here's a fun activity that's easy to put together, gives the children a chance to be creative, and gives them a chance to work together. It's called Paper Bag Dramatics.

You'll need enough paper bags for as many groups you'll have. They can work in pairs or small groups, depending on your group.

In each paper bag, you'll put a few items.These can be any items you happen to have hanging around.You can make all the bags identical, or totally different, that's up to you!

You'll need 3 or 4 items per bag.

Here are some ideas:

If you want, you can have all the items in the bag follow a theme, possibly including areas of the curriculum!

This is the task: Create a skit that includes all the items in the bag. The group will need to write, practice, and perform the play for their classmates.

Some ideas about the process:

1. The time allowed really depends on your group. It's more likely that older groups will require more time than younger groups.

2. Make sure each group plans a beginning, middle, and especially an ending for their skit.

3. Make some ground rules before you begin: one person speaking at a time, someone to write down ideas, what to do if there is a disagreement, and, of course, using good manners.

4. Resist the urge to "help". This challenge is all about problem solving, so let them solve problems as much as they can. I can't help but remember the comments of one of my former students concerning problems in a group project: "We argued at first, then we started listening to each other, and we worked it out." It was one of those moments you really wish an administrator were there!

5. Don't forget to allow time for bows and lots of applause!

6. After all performances, debrief by having the children discuss questions such as: What did your group do well? What was tough for your group? What do you wish you had done differently? What do you want to remember next time you work with a group?

Enjoy your Paper Bag Dramatics!

If you need more ideas for team building, see here: 60 Team Building Games and Activities 

 

Looking for something that can be used for socially distant or remote learning? 20 Socially Distant Team Building Games

Tips for Keeping Creative Sub Plans

Did you ever notice it's easier to go to school sick rather than go through the trouble of writing up sub plans? 

I stayed ultra late at school last night making plans for today's sub. (I'm not known for leaving early anyway, but last night was totally ridiculous!)

 

I've learned to keep a tub of emergency plans. I have a folder for each day of the week, and detailed descriptions of my day inside each folder. I also have a binder that includes emergency information, procedures, and management ideas.  

I also keep folders for each subject that is filled with already run-off materials ready for an emergency day. After having subbed at every level, I know how important it is to have clear, easy-to-understand directions so the kids stay engaged and don't have any opportunities to make the sub crazy.

The trick is to have the folders all updated to include materials that the children can do which isn't necessarily dependent on something the children are learning now.

Good ideas to have on hand:

1. Practice on a skill that needs frequent review, like math facts, sight words, or parts of speech.

2. Writing prompts.

3. Vocabulary builders.

4 . Mini units that can be done in a day.

Here are some examples of things I keep in my sub tub or leave for subs:

I always keep a supply of these letter writing pages. I usually make a set with one letter addressed to everyone in the class. Then they choose one and write to that person! This is a "win-win" activity. Everyone writes a letter, and everyone gets a letter! (Explore image for this resource.)

This number booklet to 1,000 can be used any time of year.  

Here's a math game the kiddos can play over and over, and all they need is a deck of playing cards! It practices addition skills, and gets them thinking about strategies! No, we don't do the gambling version! (Explore image for resource!)

There's always an opportunity for kids to come up with a themed ABC booklet.  This is a fun activity to start off by reading an ABC book or two. (Explore the image for examples and this resource!)

Here's a mini-unit that can be done any time of year: (Explore image for link!)

If you find a couple of books about camping, you've got yourself a mini-unit in a day! Fun activities that practice important skills!

I happen to have a number of "no prep" activities you can find HERE. Most of them are seasonal, which adds to the fun! (I go straight to these sets if I'm going to be out!)

Now I suppose you're wondering why I was at school so late last night if I have all these ideas...  Well, I just hadn't updated my files from last year, and my schedule is totally different!  Now that the files are updated for the year, next time I'm sick will be easy peasy!

How NOT to Read Fluently

Today, my students spent some of our reading time practicing fluency. Especially at this time of year, I go out of my way to make it fun. (Brain research shows us that "fun" is a big motivator, but I think teachers knew that before the research was done!)

There are 4 important parts to fluency:

1. automaticity in word recognition 
2. accurate word recognition
3. rate (speed) of reading
4. prosody, or expression

We started today with a demonstration of what NOT to do when reading. I demonstrated reading too fast, not stopping for punctuation, mispronouncing words without going back to fix it, and using a monotone- no expression at all. 

There were lots of giggles.

Then I modeled the proper way to read. I read smoothly and accurately. I kept an appropriate pace, and I gave it meaning as I read it. This time, instead of giggles, I got applause! (I admit, I have my class well trained!)

I thought this activity would be perfect to put into my emergency sub plans. It's got limited materials (just books for kids, which I'm sure you have!) and is a skill that needs to be practiced frequently. This is the type of activity that can be repeated several times during the year. I've typed up the directions for you to download and put into your own emergency plans. Just see here or the image below. How NOT to Read Fluently

For more ideas for substitute activities, see THIS POST

For more information about fluency, see THIS POST.

 Enjoy!

Classy Mail: Writing Friendly Letters

Ever have one of those days where you just can't come up with a writing mini-lesson, or just don't have the time to put it together? 

Try "Classy Mail!" 

Teach letter writing by having the class write to each other!

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Isn't writing a friendly letter becoming obsolete? Well, yes and no. I realize most letter writing is done electronically these days. But isn't getting a friendly letter in good old fashioned "snail mail" still a treat. It's becoming a lost skill, but it still has value.

Maybe it's near report card time, or you are pulled for a meeting and need to leave something easy for an Assistant. Or maybe you're going to be out and need something to leave for a substitute! 

This activity is one I always keep in my "sub tub"! Run off the letter and envelope back to back, and you'll have a letter on one side, and the other side can be folded into an envelope. (See HERE or see the image for the link to this resource.)

I like to start off by having each student fold and address an envelope to himself/ herself. We have the "Wee Deliver" program in my school, where children mail their letters in a "real" mailbox, and once a week, students work with a parent volunteer to process and deliver that mail. Everyone in the school has an "address" according to their classroom. (My street is "Broadway", as I'm a big musical theater fan!) Even if you don't have this program, you can assign a "class address" for each child, since using home addresses might not be recommended for privacy purposes.

For younger students, the envelopes can be pre-addressed. My second graders struggle to remember all the parts of an address, so I make several copies for each child and keep them for "those days". (Another advantage to this activity... it can be repeated over and over!)

Once the envelopes are addressed, the teacher collects them, and shuffles them. Then the children choose one of the envelopes (making sure they don't get their own) and write a letter to that person.

With younger students, I spend some time making sure the children have ideas for letter writing. We brainstorm a list, which I keep in the view of the children. I'll spell key words for them, and make sure they have plenty of ideas.

If someone is absent, I'll have early finishers write to them, or even better, I write to them myself. 

I find this activity to be rewarding for all involved: it's easy on the teacher's valuable planning time, the children enjoy interacting with each other, and it has "built-in feedback"! When the children get the letters, they respond! If they enjoy the letter, that's feedback! If they have trouble reading the letter, that's feedback, too. Honestly, when children have a captive audience of a classmate or friend, they tend to focus on writing so their audience will enjoy it!  

 

Brain research tells us that authentic feedback is the best feedback of all. It also tells us that interaction with others and activities with true meaning is motivating to children. What's more motivating than passing notes in class... writing letters to classmates?

What are your ideas for writing friendly letters?