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Gift Giving Day activities

Gift Giving Day Activities: Celebrate Kindness, Gratitude, and the True Meaning of the Holidays in your Classroom

Sleigh Day

Sleigh Day Activities: A Cozy, Snowy, High-Engagement Winter Classroom Celebration

holiday lights theme day

Holiday Lights Theme Day Activities: A Bright and Festive Way to Boost Learning This December

holiday sweater day activities

Holiday Sweater Day Activities for the Classroom: A Cozy, Festive, and Educational Celebration

Polar Express Day

Polar Express Day

Christmas dramatic play

Fun & Festive Christmas Dramatic Play

reindeer activity and snack

Reindeer in a Cup: A Fun and Tasty Reindeer Activity

Elf Day

Elf Day

elf ideas for the classroom

5 Fun Elf Ideas for the Classroom and a Freebie

What Does My December Look Like?

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💛 Good manners are life skills that last forever!

💛 Good manners are life skills that last forever!

Help your students learn the power of saying please, thank you, taking turns, making small talk, interrupting politely, and showing respect through this engaging SEL unit. Students will travel to the Town of Manners, solve real-life scenarios, listen to stories, earn passport stamps, and practice responsible decision-making in fun, meaningful ways.

With 5 days of ready-to-teach Google Slides, printable activities, parent connection letters, and interactive lessons, this low-prep resource is perfect for morning meetings, back-to-school, or building a positive classroom community all year long.

💛 Comment MANNERS and I'll send you the link!

"I enjoyed using several aspects of this with my nonverbal learners in my high school self contained class. "

#SEL #socialemotionallearning #manners #morningmeeting #classroomcommunity #backtoschool #firstgrade #firstgraderoars

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🐻🥪 Wait…a BEAR ate your sandwich?! 🐻BRAND NEW BOO

🕷️🕸️ Spiders might be creepy and crawly…but first

🕷️🕸️ Spiders might be creepy and crawly…but first graders LOVE learning about them!

One of my favorite ways to take that excitement and turn it into meaningful learning is with a nonfiction spider study! National Geographic Kids: Spiders is a great anchor text for introducing informational text standards while teaching students how to identify a fact and find details that support it. 📚

Throughout the week, students become spider experts as they learn fascinating facts, build new vocabulary, explore nonfiction text features, and practice finding information directly in the text. We work on facts and details, captions, diagrams and labels, table of contents, fact and opinion, schema, misconceptions, and so much more.

Students also get to put their new knowledge to work with informative and opinion writing activities. 🕷️✏️

And you know I LOVE adding a craft! Students create a Label the Spider Craft that is perfect for showing what they’ve learned AND makes an adorable “Spooktacular Spiders” fall bulletin board! 🕸️

This unit is part of my Spiders Fact & Details Week and is also included in my YEAR-LONG Reading Comprehension with a Purpose Bundle.

Perfect for your October nonfiction studies, spider week, or Halloween learning! 🎃

🕷️ Comment SPIDER or WEB and I’ll send you the link!

#firstgraderoars #spiders #spideractivities #nonfiction #informationaltext #readingcomprehension #firstgrade #firstgradereading #nonfictiontextfeatures #factanddetails #octoberactivities #fallactivities #teacherspayteachers

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🎃🥣 Pumpkins + friendship + a little classroom dram

🎃🥣 Pumpkins + friendship + a little classroom drama = the PERFECT fall read-aloud!

Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper is one of those stories that gives you SO much to talk about! Duck, Cat, and Squirrel have the perfect routine for making their pumpkin soup…until Duck decides he wants a different job. Uh oh! 😬

What follows is a wonderful story for discussing teamwork, friendship, sharing, kindness, compromise, and what happens when things don’t go exactly the way we want them to. ❤️

This literature companion takes those meaningful conversations even further with differentiated reading comprehension activities for sequencing, retelling, problem and solution, character analysis, feelings, text evidence, inferencing, story message, point of view, author’s purpose, and more!

Students can also work on vocabulary and word work, complete writing activities, play a few fun math games, and create an adorable Pumpkin Retelling Craft to show the important events from the story. 🎃

It’s such a fun way to mix fall learning + reading comprehension + SEL all in one!

And how cute would a “From Pumpkin to Soup” display be hanging in your classroom this fall?! 🍂🥣

🎃 Comment PUMPKIN or SOUP and I’ll send you the link!

“We had a pumpkin theme in the library, and this was a great resource for multiple grades.”

"This resource is filled with various activities that can be used to differentiate how my students retell the connecting story. My students loved it. "

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#firstgraderoars #pumpkinsoup #pumpkinactivities #fallreadaloud #fallactivities #firstgrade #firstgradereading #readingcomprehension #selactivities #friendship #teamwork #pumpkinunit #teacherspayteachers

🦉 Whooooo is ready to learn all about OWLS?! 🦉 My

🦉 Whooooo is ready to learn all about OWLS?! 🦉

My first graders always LOVE learning about animals, and owls are one of those topics that instantly gets them excited! This nonfiction unit turns that excitement into meaningful practice with informational text, nonfiction text features, reading comprehension, vocabulary, research, and writing.

Students get their own mini reader to learn about different owl species, including barn owls, snowy owls, great horned owls, burrowing owls, screech owls, and more. Having the text right in their hands makes it so easy for them to go back into the book to find facts, headings, captions, diagrams, vocabulary, and other nonfiction text features. 📚

Then the learning continues with comprehension activities, word work, vocabulary, opinion and informative writing, and an owl research report where students can become an expert on a specific species. I especially love the final group project because students get to collaborate, put everything they've learned together, and share their owl expertise with their classmates! ❤️

And of course, we finish with an adorable owl craft that makes the cutest “Our Class Is a Hoot!” bulletin board. 🦉

This unit is part of my Reading Comprehension with a Purpose Owl Week AND my Year-Long Reading Comprehension with a Purpose Bundle!

🦉 Comment OWL or HOOT and I’ll send you the link!

#firstgraderoars #owls #owlunit #nonfiction #informationaltext #nonfictiontextfeatures #firstgrade #firstgradereading #readingcomprehension #animalresearch #researchproject #teacherspayteachers

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🍎🌳 One of those stories that opens the door to SO

🍎🌳 One of those stories that opens the door to SO many meaningful conversations…

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a beautiful read-aloud for talking about friendship, gratitude, giving, kindness, and how we treat others. ❤️

I love pairing this story with our apple studies because students can dig deeper into the story while practicing important reading comprehension skills like predicting, sequencing, retelling, main idea and details, cause and effect, making connections, character analysis, and identifying the message of the story.

We also work on vocabulary, writing, and word work, plus I’ve included a few fun math games to sneak in some extra practice! 🍎

My favorite part might be the Giving Tree craft. Students create their own apple tree to go along with their learning, and they make the sweetest bulletin board with “Our Giving Trees.” 🌳❤️

This companion is also part of my Reading Comprehension with a Purpose Apples Fiction & Nonfiction Week, making it easy to combine literature, nonfiction, reading, writing, vocabulary, and math into one engaging apple-themed week!

🍎 Comment TREE or GIVING and I’ll send you the link!

"This is a heartwarming and meaningful resource that supports strong comprehension skills while fostering empathy and thoughtful discussion. It’s an excellent companion to a timeless book and would be a valuable addition to any primary literacy program. I love this resource."

#firstgraderoars #thegivingtree #apples #appleactivities #firstgrade #firstgradereading #readingcomprehension #readaloud #fallactivities #kindness #gratitude #teacherspayteachers

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