61 Activities for January, by Elizabeth Swartz
61 Skill-Building Activities You Can Use Right Now!
Calendar Collage
Math Supply each child with a piece of poster board and several pages from an old calendar. Invite the children to create a collage of numbers using numbers cut from the calendar pages. Have some of the students make collages of odd numbers, others can do even numbers, greater than or less than, etc.Oh No! Not Glasses!
Reading Read aloud Junie B., First Grader At Last by Barbara Park (Random House, 2001). Make eyeglasses out of construction paper and declare an "Eyeglasses Day" where everyone wears their paper eyeglasses if they don't have regular glasses.Winter Field Trips
Social Studies You can take your students to a museum without ever leaving your school! Visit the National Children's Museum at www.ncm.museum and also check out the Association of Children's Museums at www.childrensmuseums.org for links to other museums your class can visit online.A New Year
Reading Make paper plate clocks without numbers and invite students to make "calendar clocks" featuring fall leaves, snowflakes, spring flowers and the summer sun.Children can also make "daily action" clocks and draw people eating or getting ready for bed, etc., in the appropriate areas of the clock.
Then read the following poem to your class and have them move the hands of their clocks at the appropriate times.
ESL Buddies
Language Set up recess buddies for your ESL students by pairing them with English-speaking students who share their interests. Lots of English can be learned over blocks, stickers, toy cars and collector dolls.Magic Muck
Art Put 1/3 cup of water and five drops of food coloring into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Slowly add 3/4 cup of corn starch, but don't stir it. Let the mixture stand for three minutes. Pick up a handful of the mixture and squeeze it until it forms a hard ball. Now open your hand and you'll see that the mixture becomes a liquid again. This can be repeated over and over.Do You Believe in Magic?
Language Cover a bulletin board with bright blue paper and title it, "Do You Believe in Magic?" in silver letters. Cut stars out of gold paper and have students write or draw on the stars what kind of magic they believe in. Read "Cinderella" and other fairy tales. Invite a magician to your class to mystify your students with a few tricks.Compliments Unlimited
Writing January 24 is National Compliment Day. Have each student choose five people to compliment. It's nice to compliment friends, but don't forget parents, grandparents, siblings, even school staff members. The students can make cards in which the students write compliments. Deliver the cards on the 24th.Cold and Flu Season
Science/Health To demonstrate how sneezes spread germs, sprinkle a little talcum powder or cornstarch on a dark-colored sheet of paper. Show it to the class. Pretend to sneeze on the paper, then show it to the class again. How has the paper changed? Where did the powder go? Discuss with the students how this demonstration relates to our sneezes and coughs when we have a cold. Discuss ways we can prevent the spread of germs.Scavenger Shapes
Math Supply a large square box, a large rectangular box and a large odd-shaped box. Send the children around the room to collect items to put in the appropriately-shaped boxes.Seedless Wonders
Science Give the class seedless grapes and discuss seedless watermelons. How can more of the plants grow without seeds? Bring in a plant that regenerates, such as an ivy or a geranium. Break off short sprigs, place them in water in the sun and watch the roots grow!Ordinary Oats
Science/Health January is Oatmeal Month. You can show the children where oatmeal comes from by providing pictures of the grain being planted and harvested. Then provide small dishes for holding oat grains (ask for oat "berries" at a health food store), oatmeal and oat flour. Discuss how the various forms of oats are produced and what they're used for. Do oats grow in your region? If so, invite a farmer to give a presentation. If not, invite a person from a health food store to demonstrate how the grains or berries are ground into flour. Make some good old-fashioned oatmeal cookies with your class!Winter Wonders
Science/Art Share the following poem with the class:
Jack Frost
by Martin Shaw
He turns most windows icy cold,
He freezes locks on doors,
He reddens cheeks, makes icicles,
Sends chills through wooden floors,And though he is not ever seen,
His deeds are known to all,
For Winter wouldn't be Winter lest,
Jack Frost did come to call.After enjoying the poem, make a paper window frame and place it over a black sheet of paper. With white chalk, make frost patterns on the black paper. Students can research frost patterns by observing windows at home and school.
Snow Scenes
Art Create an outdoor forest or mountain scene with crayon on blue or green paper. Paint over with white tempera for a snowstorm effect.Prefix Parade
Language Arts Choose a theme for a "parade" bulletin board (train cars, clowns, circus animals, etc.). On the first figure in the parade, write a prefix, such as "uni-." Each item behind it will have a word that begins with "uni-." You can make a second section of the parade that begins with "bi-."Reading is the Key
Reading/Science/History Read More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby (Orchard, 1995) to your students. It's about Booker T. Washington, whose early childhood was much like that of George Washington Carver. Both boys wanted to learn to read, and succeeded because of a loving parent who provided one book. Do the students know anyone who has only one book from which to learn?Peace Parades
Social Studies In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., discuss peaceful marches. How can they accomplish anything? Plan a peaceful march for your class in your school. Select a cause, make signs and walk peacefully past the office. Send one spokesperson to the principal to request an opportunity to play with the older children for one day or the opportunity to play on a different playground for one day.Parents Activity
Math/Reading/Health Sometime this month, set aside a time when you can cook with your child. Pick a favorite recipe and let your child do the measuring and mixing. Talk about things that dissolve, blend and rise. Enjoy touching, hearing, smelling and then the tasting together.Capping Off Place Value
Math Collect white, two-liter bottle caps until there are 10 or 12 per student. Use a permanent marker to write a digit from 0-9 on the inside of each cap. Give each student 10 caps and a small piece of pipe cleaner to use as a comma. Call out a number such as 9,645. Students must build the number. Make the activity self-correcting by writing the answer on the board or overhead.Dancing Along
Reading/Movement Share the following action rhyme with your students. Lead them in waving and clapping their hands and tapping and stomping their feet when the poem suggests it. Have them bring in favorite recordings and invite them to create hand and foot motions to go with the music.Eyes Alive
Health/Science January is National Eye Care Month – the perfect time to invite a local optometrist or ophthalmologist to discuss eye care with your students. The medical professional can also teach your class techniques for resting and strengthening the eyes and discuss the proper safety equipment for use during sports activities.Fabulous Fables
Reading Research this genre by taking your students to www.aesopfables.com. Have each student or pairs of students select a fable to illustrate and storytell to the rest of the class.Poetry Contest
Writing The American Library of Poetry sponsors a poetry contest every year for students in grades 3-12, the deadline for entries is April 30th. Go to www.libraryofpoetry.com for more details.State by State
Social Studies/Art Have each student make a map of the United States either by tracing from a large atlas or using an opaque projector. Color the map and add important features like rivers or mountains, but no words. Mount the map on poster board and laminate it, then cut the states apart and have the students reassemble the nation. Students can also take turns asking each other the identity of a particular state just by seeing its shape.Marvelous Maps
Reading Read the following poem and discuss different purposes for maps. Does the poem pertain to the maps made in the previous activity?Big Words
Reading/Social Studies/Art Read aloud the book, Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier (Hyperion, 2001). Discuss the text, study the pictures and then collect pictures of people of all different races, ages and occupations. for a collage that depicts what Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream will look like when it is realized.Plenty of Peanuts
Science/History In honor of George Washington Carver Day on January 5, have your students research some of the more than 300 different uses he found for peanuts. How many can they find?Detective Dominos
Reading Make a set of paper "dominos" with a line down the middle. Have students write a cause on the left side of the domino and an effect on the right. Give examples to get them started. Make dominos after reading a story or hearing a read-aloud. In a learning station, provide dominos with one side filled in and ask students what might make sense on the other half.Lumpy Paint
Art Give your students thick poster board for this project. Mix together the following: 1/2 cup liquid starch, 1/8 cup of water, 1/2 cup of salt and some tempera paint. If you want to make several colors of lumpy paint, divide the mixture into separate containers just before adding the tempera. Students can paint directly with the mixture or draw a picture first and decorate it with the paint. When the lumpy painting is finished but not yet dry, adding glitter will strengthen the dimensionality of the artwork.Spinning New Word Webs
Language Arts/Art After reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (HarperTrophy, 1999), provide students with mesh canvas used for cross stitching. Have students use markers to write adjectives that describe a friend. Provide yarn and/or string for weaving over the top of the words.Wacky Webs
Math Use the word webs created in the previous activity for practicing math skills. Calculate the areas and perimeters of each web. Measure how much yarn is needed to weave a word, how far down from the ceiling should they hang, etc.Jars of Jargon
Language Arts/Social Studies As a way to help students realize that vocabulary often differs in various parts of the same country, start a "jargon jar." Every time students hear a new regional vocabulary word (such as "pop," "soda" or "soft drink"), they can write it on a strip of paper and put it in the jargon jar.Hot or Cold?
Health/Science During Eye Care Month, ask students to do some basic research with warm and cold eye compresses. Have each student hold a warm compress over one eye, then have them hold a cold compress on the other eye. Discuss as a class how the different compresses feel. Research the effects of heat and cold on blood vessels. Why are different kinds of compresses advised for different kinds of injuries?"Drawing" Conclusions
Reading Prepare small slips of paper with sentences requiring inference. For example, "There must be an accident up ahead" or "I don't think anyone lives there." Pass out the slips. Have each student draw a picture to illustrate the sentence. Post them on a bulletin board.Story Bags
Writing Fill small paper bags with an assortment of small objects. Give one bag to each child and let them remove the contents. Instruct them to write a short story that includes every item in the bag. The story bags can be reused again and again by mixing and changing the contents.Pressure Problems
Science When working with a unit on air pressure, provide a large can of fruit juice. Put one hole in the top of the can and have students try to pour the juice. Then put in a second hole and try pouring again. Why does it pour now when it wouldn't pour before?Snowmen Antics
Reading/Art Read aloud Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner (Phyllis Fogelman Books, 2002), and then provide blue construction paper, white chalk and pieces of material for children to make pictures of what they think snowmen do at night.Building Readers
Reading Provide a box of LEGO® pieces and three books: Mission To the Arctic, Castle Under Attack and Rocket Rescue all by Nicola Baxter (Dorling Kindersley, 2000). After the students have read each book, allow time for them to use the LEGO blocks to build one scene in the book. You may want to make it possible for students to sign out a bag of LEGO blocks to take home overnight with the book to "build" the story.Where Can It Be?
Social Studies Start a geography club or set up contests with your whole group. Students in grades 4-8 can compete regionally in preparation for the National Geography Bee in the fall. Go to www.nationalgeographic.com for details."Heading" Into the New Year
Art Provide clay for the students to use to make a basic head shape. Use toothpicks or craft sticks to make the faces. Students can add buttons or beads for eyes. Then provide a collection of sticks, pipe cleaners, wool, string, twist ties, pasta, beads, etc. for students to use in making creative hairdos for the new year.Sticky Measure
Math Write an assortment of different weights and/or measurements on sticky notes. Give one sticky note to each student and send them on a search around the room for an object that they estimate will match the weight or measurement. Ask them to stick the note on the item. Provide rules and a scale so the students can check their items to see if their estimates were right.Winter Warmth
Social Studies Find out how fat keeps animals warm. Have a student coat one hand with solid vegetable shortening. Then have the student submerge both the coated and the uncoated hand in a bucket of ice water. Which hand remains warmer longer? What does this tell us about the animals who live in the Arctic? Students can discuss or write about the findings.Insulation
Science Pour equal amounts of hot water into a drinking glass, a plastic cup, a foam cup and a coffee mug. Use a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature in each container. Record the temperatures and continue to measure the temperatures every five minutes for 20 minutes. Graph the results. Which container will keep beverages warmest the longest?Parents Activity
Music/Language Arts Set aside an evening this month when you can share your favorite music with your child and you can hear your child's favorite music. Compare and contrast such details as whether the music is vocal or instrumental, the content of the lyrics, style, speed, types of instruments, artist. etc. Take the time to appreciate and learn from each other's choices.Eponyms Anyone?
Language Arts Eponyms are words that originated with a person's name, such as leotard, sandwich, cardigan, mesmerize, etc. How many more can your students find? Ask them to categorize the eponyms: nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.Oatmeal Research
Science/Health This month, do some on-the-spot research by setting up questions for students to investigate, such as "Do students learn better when they eat a hot breakfast?" Plan one morning when the class will eat oatmeal for breakfast, and one morning when they will eat cold cereal. Students can make notes and graphs keeping track of how they feel at specific times of the day (energetic, tired, grumpy, etc.) After the experiment is completed, have each student write the class results and their personal results. What was learned from the study? Should some parts be redone? Was the students' hypothesis proven?Add Another
Language Arts Share the following poem and then look for examples of the things mentioned. Then create a list of other things in pairs.Inventions Unlimited
Social Studies During this month of creativity, visit the National Inventors Hall of Fame at www.invent.org and notice how inventions grow out of a particular need. Discuss needs with your students. What are things in our daily lives that it would be helpful to find an easier way to do through an invention.Super Storytellers
Language Start a storytelling club and have various teachers do some modeling for the students. Your librarian may be able to put you in touch with local storytellers who can come in to work with the club. Go to www.storycraft.com for ideas of stories to tell and suggestions from related crafts to make. When your storytelling club is ready, take a tour through your school's lower grades to show off their storytelling skills.Anagrams
Language Arts Provide some words and phrases that the students can use to make anagrams. "Harry Potter" can become "Try Part Hero," and "Nintendo Gameboy" can become "Dominant Boy Gene." Go to www.easypeasy.com for more suggestions.Freeze and Expand
Science Find how changes in temperature affect solids that contain moisture. Show the class an egg. What is inside? Solid or liquid? What is outside? Solid or liquid? What will happen if the egg freezes? Challenge the class to set a hypothesis, then freeze the egg. What changes took place? Why did they occur? Relate these findings to how snow, ice and freezing temperatures affect sidewalks and roads. Look for local examples.Census Time
Math/Social Studies Ask your students to construct a census questionnaire to distribute among your school's population. The questionnaire can ask for information such as type of housing, number of children, number of adults, number and type of pets, number of televisions, number of books, newspapers the household receives, employment, etc. No names will be used. Collect and graph the various data. What did you learn about your community?Food Choices
Health/Reading Collect food labels from a variety of different items. Make sure to collect labels from at least two different brands of a food. Give a pair of labels to each student to compare and analyze according to vitamin content, fat content, etc. Make charts, graphs and write a short summary of which brand is the healthier choice.Synonym News
Reading/Language Arts Let each student choose an article from the newspaper to read and cut out. Students will glue their chosen article to the top of a sheet of paper. Below the article, they write the headline using synonyms, then they write their opinion about whether the new title changes a reader's perception of the article's contents. Which way does the title sound more interesting? Do the student's synonyms give the title a different meaning?Hello Hello
History/Communications Create an interactive bulletin board by printing out the word "hello" in several different fonts and colors. Space the "hellos" widely around the board and at various angles. Have students research various kinds of communication. As they discover forms of communication, make the pattern of a telegram or an early newspaper and upon it write important dates and inventors in the field of communication. Add the document to the bulletin board.Ah, Youth
Language Arts Find and research several quotations about young people or youth, such as George Bernard Shaw's "Youth is wasted on the young" or Robert Louis Stevenson's "Youth is wholly experimental." Have each student choose three quotations that they feel convey some degree of truth, and ask them to decide whether the truths are positive or negative. Discuss the quotations and the students' opinions as a class.Pine Cones
Science Collect a variety of pine cones, or purchase what you need at a craft store. Have the students use library references to identify each kind of pine cone. Talk about shape, texture and scent. How do people and animals use pine cones? If you are able to collect a closed pine cone, place it in a dry warm place on a paper towel. As it dries the scales begin to stand away from the stalk. What falls out? Plant some and see what happens.Parents Activity
Take some time with your child to consider your neighborhood, occupation and lifestyle. Are there people of all races, various economic backgrounds and abilities in your social circle? How has your mix of friends and neighbors changed since you were a child? Are opportunities equal for all people in your area? How could you and your children implement positive changes?Weight Comparisons
Science/Math Provide the students with a kitchen scale and the following items to weigh and compare: a raw egg and a hard-boiled egg, equal numbers of grapes and raisins, a dry sponge and a wet sponge, equal numbers of prunes and plums, equal numbers of unpopped corn kernels and popped corn puffs, a slice of bread and a slice of the same bread toasted. Have students record weights and compare findings. Do physical changes affect weight? How?Star Burst
Art/Science On a glossy piece of paper, have students make small watercolor paint blobs. With straws, blow on the dots, dabs, etc. The effect is to create firecrackers in the sky. Mount the pictures on dark paper. Do the same activity on paper that isn't glossy. Compare the results. Which paper creates a better effect? What does the composition of the paper have to do with it?Extraordinary Eyes
Science/Health Sometime during National Eye Care Month, take your students to library.thinkquest.org for a fantastic tour of the human eye as well as information about how it works. After exploring the site, challenge your students to make diagrams and/or models of the human eye and write explanations of how it enables us to see.
Primary Grades
Clocks and Calendars
by Heidi Roemer
Time for breakfast, lunch, dinner;
Time to shave and shower.
A day is made of bits of time –
Seconds, minutes, hours.
Time for Spring, Summer, Fall;
Time for Winter cheer.
Days and weeks and months add up –
A brand new year is here!
Happy New Year!
The Hands and Feet Dance
by Jacqueline Schiff
My happy hands and my frisky feet
Are dancing to the music's beat.
They're dancing fast;
they're dancing slow.
Clap clap clap high.
Clap clap clap low.
Stamp stamp stamp feet
so loud loud loud,
Tap tap tap feet just like a mouse,
My happy hands and my frisky feet
Are dancing to the music's beat.
Intermediate Grades
I Like Maps
by Heidi Roemer
Ocean maps,
Weather maps,
Maps that chart the stars.
Road maps,
Train maps,
That show us where we are.
Builder's maps,
Landscape maps,
Maps drawn in the sand.
Fold-up maps,
Rolled-up maps,
A globe held in my hand.
Tattered maps,
Treasure maps
are certainly worth knowing.
I like maps.
I read maps.
They get me where I'm going.
Middle Grades
One Plus One
by Heidi Roemer
I am a One.
I am an only.
I'm all by myself
and I feel lonely.
Another One joins me.
Now we're a Two-o,
a couplet, a doublet,
a dynamic duo.
Like twins, we're a tandem,
a pair, or a set.
Is a Two-some more fun
than a One-some? You bet!
THIS MONTH'S CONTRIBUTIONS:
Sherry Timberman, Sanford, ME, #1, #6, #7, #10, #35, #41, #53, #54, #55, #56; Marie Cecchini, West Dundee, IL, #9, #42, #43, #51, #57, #59; Carol Brown, Corvallis, OR, #14; Paula Fee, Brevard, NC, #19; Sue Lorey, Arlington Heights, IL, #30, #34; Joan Macey, Binghamton, NY, #60.
POETRY: "Clocks and Calendars," "I Like Maps," "One Plus One" by Heidi Roemer, Orland Park, IL. "Jack Frost" by Martin Shaw, Bronxville, NY. "The Hands and Feet Dance" by Jacqueline Schiff, Moline, IL.
Illustrations by H. Robert Loomis.
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