I am SO excited for Groundhog Day this year! To be honest, I haven’t taught anything super fun or special on this holiday in the past, but this year is different. I have learned over the years that using kiddos excitement for special holidays or what naturally interests them is the best way to te
Looking for resources for your February lesson plans? Check out these February Preschool Themes - activities for the holidays & special days!
February is the perfect month to incorporate compound words with your lessons. "Groundhog" and "mailbox" are two seasonal words that students will see in February lessons. Do you incorporate inquiry activities with your lesson plans? If you have some stuffed animals like the ones in the picture, you could use them for an inquiry lesson. This is an activity for students with prior knowledge of compound words. Set the stuffed animals on a small table where you will teach the lesson later in the day. Stuffed animals are a kid magnet. Great tool for building interest and getting your students' interest. Your students will notice the stuffed animals as soon as they walk in the classroom. Tell your class that they can look but not touch your "little friends". If you save this lesson until the afternoon, your students will begin the inquiry process on their own. At recess and lunch, you may overhear your students trying to figure out how something that they play with could be used by a teacher for a lesson. What are they studying (skills) that is like the animals? How are the animals alike? Ask you students to jot down their ideas about how the animals are alike in their journals or a white board when you begin the lesson. Next, put your class in small groups and let them discuss their thoughts with each other. Let one person from each group share the findings of the group. Then write the names of the stuffed animals on your white board or a chart tablet. Tell them to LOOK at the words to see if the WORDS have something in common. Discuss with their group. Let one person from each group share the findings of the group again. TEACHER TIP: "Hummingbird" was not one of the first few words that I wrote on the list. Some of my classes in the past have confused a 2 syllable word with a compound word. With a lesson like this, some students will begin to count syllables when they see the list and assume syllables is how the words are alike. That works until they get to the word "hummingbird". Going through this process solves the syllable-compound word problem. After the lesson, you can continue using the stuffed animals: Team mascots Classroom management tool: pass out a stuffed animal who is working quietly, turned in high quality work, listening attentively during lessons, or any other behavior you want to reward. Tell your students that they will pretend to become one of the stuffed animal. Then your students will: Name the animal character - i.e. Bessie Bluebird, Gideon Groundhog, Buddy Bumblebee,Huxley Hummingbird, Sachi Seahorse, and Liona Ladybug Write pen pal letters to the animal characters If you don't have stuffed animals or have the time to gather them, you can do the same type of lesson with books. The following books have a compound word in the title: You can click on the (affiliate) link for more information Heartprints by P.K. Hallinan Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley Scooby-Doo! Valentine's Day Dognapping by Gail Herman Substitute Groundhog by Pat Miller Underground Homes by Jeff Bauer Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin Harriet Tubman by Susan Washburn Buckley Titus's Troublesome Tooth by Linda Jennings Uptown by Bryan Collier Barefoot: Escape on the Underground Railroad by Pamela Duncan Edwards The Runaway Wok by Ying Chang Compestine Give your students extra practice with compound words. Students can either look for compound words in books (like the books above) or you can give students a topic and see how many compound words they can make about the topic. The picture above are compound words about Valentine's Day. If you want to make the making words more hands on and engaging for your students, cut the cover of a folder in 3 parts. To do this flip folder activity: Students lift the first flap and write the first word of the compound word. Close the first flap. Lift the second flap and write the second word of the compound word. Close the second flap. Lift the third flap and write the compound word. Close the third flap. Go to the next line and continue making compound words. Write a sentence using at least one of the compound above. Let's Make Compound Words can be found here. Do your students need more practice? Let's Edit: Compound Words is an activity that students practice identifying compound words, grammar and writing skills. This is perfect for morning work or homework. You can get a free copy of a Valentine themed page in the preview file here. Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
These best podcasts for Black History Month are great whether you're looking for Black history program themes, Black History Month free resources, lessons ideas and Black History Month teacher resources, or great podcasts for Black youth. Add to your learning for honoring and celebrating Black culture and lives throughout history!
Teach K-2 students the history or Groundhog Day on February 2nd with fun Groundhog Day activities for writing, math skills & shadow play in science.
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Teaching feelings and emotions in English? Then check out this free feelings and emotions lesson plan. In this lesson, students will learn the names of feelings and emotions and how to ask and answer "How are you?". This lesson is suitable for teaching kids and beginner English language learners. All the materials you need for this lesson are included in the box below.
Happy Sunday! This has been the most unreal winter ever. I cannot remember the last February where it was 60 degrees outside on a consiste...
As we encourage diversity and community, this is the perfect children's book to add to your February lesson plan. Last Stop on Market Street Printables were created for children to do as you read this amazing story to them.
Looking for February lesson plans for autistic students? In this post I will share the themes and holidays in February, as well as activities, crafts, books, sensory boxes, communication activities fine motor activities, gross motor activities, movies, videos and more that you can share with your child or students this month. Have fun and build...
In 2 Nephi 6-10, Jacob is reading the words of Isaiah. Study these chapters before hand to better understand the verses and to teach what the spirit prompts you to. We hear the word harken a lot in these verses. Explain that harken means listen and give some real life examples. You can also count how many times you hear harken as you read.
Teach little ones how birds grow with these life cycle of a bird worksheets. Add this pack to your spring lesson plans.
Do you teach a Community Helpers Preschool or Kindergarten Unit? You will LOVE this fun set of pretend play learning centers and no prep worksheets.
A list of fun February themes and homeschool activities to do with your kiddos this month. Nature study, liturgical living, food, books, and learning activities.
In this post, I share seven different topics to bring meaning to February science and social studies standards.
If you need a nutrition lesson plan, this outline and fun ideas is perfect for kindergarten through 6th grade elementary kids. With nutrition activities, resources, food demo ideas and more. #education #teachers #nutritionlessons #healthyeating
