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It's getting closer to the holiday season, and I'm sure all your students are getting excited. This is a good time of the year to find projects and activities that are related to the season. Doing so will help keep students engaged in learning. Here are a few activities that can be used over the next two weeks (week and a half) to help keep your students focused in class.
Online Thanksgiving Activities There are many sites that have online games for the holiday season. I like to preview sites to find ones where students are using some logical thinking and that are appropriate for a school environment. I also look to include sites that have minimal advertisement. For example, you can go directly to primarygames.com which compiles games onto their site, but each time a game is started, students must watch an advertisement for a video game. So, I bypassed this site where possible and used the game's direct site. Check out my Thanksgiving page formatted just for students, even kindergartners are able to navigate the site. You will find the site under my Student menu item at the top or click on the page image to the right. |
Thanksgiving Writing Activity
Students love to talk about what they do for the holidays. They are also interested in finding about how others celebrate the holidays. Here is a writing idea for this week:
Ask students research and write about how other countries celebrate Thanksgiving or what is commonly called in other countries a harvest festival. Here is a link to a site that provides information about other countries' fall celebrations.
Harvest Festivals
Add a little fun to this activity by requiring students to include pictures of their writing. Also, you can add a little more by having students complete a multimedia presentation of making a booklet in Publisher or Pages.
Thank You Cards
I try to find many opportunities for students to create cards using the Publisher program or a drawing program such as Kid Pix. Second graders can become very good at creating cards. This is a great activity for all because students like to take something with them and to then give things to others. It also gets students to write without thinking it's just another assignment. For Thanksgiving, provide time for students to write thank you notes to teachers, families and friends.
Finally, I want to mention the importance of providing time to make cards for those students in low income areas. When I first started doing this, many students came up to thank me for allowing the time to do this because they don't have the opportunity to purchase or make cards at home. These students often made many cards to give out.
Hint: When using a drawing program, divide the page in half. On the left side of the page, students write their message, and on the right side of the page, students decorate the page with a drawing. Fold the page in half. Students will need to decorate the outside by hand or just write the person's name on this side.
Students love to talk about what they do for the holidays. They are also interested in finding about how others celebrate the holidays. Here is a writing idea for this week:
Ask students research and write about how other countries celebrate Thanksgiving or what is commonly called in other countries a harvest festival. Here is a link to a site that provides information about other countries' fall celebrations.
Harvest Festivals
Add a little fun to this activity by requiring students to include pictures of their writing. Also, you can add a little more by having students complete a multimedia presentation of making a booklet in Publisher or Pages.
Thank You Cards
I try to find many opportunities for students to create cards using the Publisher program or a drawing program such as Kid Pix. Second graders can become very good at creating cards. This is a great activity for all because students like to take something with them and to then give things to others. It also gets students to write without thinking it's just another assignment. For Thanksgiving, provide time for students to write thank you notes to teachers, families and friends.
Finally, I want to mention the importance of providing time to make cards for those students in low income areas. When I first started doing this, many students came up to thank me for allowing the time to do this because they don't have the opportunity to purchase or make cards at home. These students often made many cards to give out.
Hint: When using a drawing program, divide the page in half. On the left side of the page, students write their message, and on the right side of the page, students decorate the page with a drawing. Fold the page in half. Students will need to decorate the outside by hand or just write the person's name on this side.