Engaging New Year's Activities for Classrooms

 

Here are some engaging and versatile New Year activities suitable for all grade levels that can be adapted to fit your classroom needs.

 Goal Setting and Vision Boards

- Activity: Have students reflect on the past year and set goals for the new year.

  - Younger students: Draw or cut out pictures from magazines to represent their goals.

  - Older students: Write SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals.

- Materials: Paper, magazines, glue, markers, or digital tools for creating online vision boards.

- Variation: Create a class goal together to encourage teamwork.

 "Year in Review" Time Capsule

- Activity: Students reflect on their favorite memories, achievements, and lessons learned from the past year.

  - Younger students: Fill out a simple worksheet with prompts like “My favorite thing I learned this year” or “I loved when we…”

  - Older students: Write reflective journal entries or letters to their future selves.

- Follow-up: Collect the reflections and seal them in a class time capsule to be opened at the end of the school year or the next New Year.

 "My Word for the Year"

- Activity: Encourage students to pick one word that represents their focus or intention for the new year.

  - Discuss examples like "Kindness," "Growth," or "Curiosity."

  - Students can decorate their word on a card or poster.

- Variation: Create a collaborative word cloud for the class by compiling all the students' words.

 New Year STEM Challenge

- Activity: Challenge students to design and build something related to New Year’s traditions.

  - Example: Create a party popper, design a clock that shows midnight, or build a “firework” using simple engineering materials.

- Materials: Paper, craft sticks, rubber bands, balloons, or LEGOs.

- Variation: Include a “resolution machine” where students invent something to help achieve goals.

 Cultural New Year Celebrations

- Activity: Explore how different cultures celebrate the New Year.

  - Younger students: Create crafts like Chinese paper lanterns or write resolutions on "wish leaves."

  - Older students: Research and present unique New Year traditions from around the world.

- Discussion: Compare these traditions to how they celebrate New Year’s at home.

 Gratitude Garland or Tree

- Activity: Reflect on the positive aspects of the past year by writing what students are grateful for on strips of paper or leaves.

  - Display them as a garland, tree, or bulletin board.

- Variation: Create a classroom gratitude jar and revisit it at the end of the year.

 New Year’s Escape Room

- Activity: Create a fun escape room or scavenger hunt with New Year-related puzzles.

  - Younger students: Use simple riddles or matching games.

  - Older students: Include more complex math problems, word games, or team challenges.

- Themes: Midnight countdown, finding a missing resolution, or unlocking the "new year treasure."

 Class Countdown

- Activity: Create a countdown to the "Class New Year."

  - Each student contributes an idea or activity for each "hour" (e.g., 10:00 = trivia, 11:00 = craft, 12:00 = celebratory cheer).

- Celebration: Have a mock New Year countdown at the end of the activity with a small celebration like confetti, music, or a mini dance party.

 Creative Writing Prompts

- Activity: Encourage students to write a story, poem, or essay about the New Year.

  - Prompts: “What if you could time travel to next year?” or “Describe your dream New Year celebration.”

  - Younger students: Provide sentence starters like “This year, I want to…”

  - Older students: Explore reflective or futuristic themes.

 New Year Math or Art Integration

- Math Activity: Solve New Year-themed problems like calculating the time difference between cities celebrating midnight or graphing students’ resolutions.

- Art Activity: Create a class “fireworks” display by painting or crafting vibrant designs.

 Tips for Adapting Activities

- For younger grades: Use visuals, hands-on crafts, and simple prompts.

- For older grades: Focus on deeper reflections, research, and critical thinking.

Top Women in Math History

 

Girls in STEM: Throughout history, women have played a major role in the science of mathematics.

Sadly, not many are remembered in this way. These woman can be an inspiration to girls and young women to go into the sciences. Woman have been involved with math and science for thousands of years. But it still is basically a man's world. These woman of the past can be used to encourage more girls to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, and math. Perhaps by knowing some of the accomplishents of women in the past, they too can strive to make history.

Of course they can inspire boys too!

Here are our picks for

The Top 10 Women in Mathematics History

#10 Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684). First woman in the world to receive a PhD.

#9 Hypatia (lived around 400 ad) The first woman to have an impact on the science of math. She was ruthlessly murdered in her hometown of Alexandria.

#8 Winifred Edgerton (1862-1951) First American woman to recieve a PhD in mathematics. Born in Wisconsin, she received her PhD from Columbia. After completing all the requirements, she was turned down the first time.

#7 Florence Nightingale ( 1820-1910) What did she have to do with mathematics? She revolutionized how statistics are gathered and displayed.

#6 Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) She discovered a comet, but apparently never learned her times tables!

#5 Mary Everest Boole (1832-1916) Became most interested in teaching math and science to children. Used "string geometry" to help depict shapes.  Yes, she was a bit odd in her "other" beliefs, but aren't we all?

#4 Sophie Germain (1776-1831) She developed a theorem that is a basis for proving Fermat's Last Theorem. Certain prime numbers are called "Sophie Germain Primes."

#3 Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718 - 1799 ) Wrote a book on calculus and an equation that when graphed became known as "The Witch of Agnesi."

#2 Ada Lovelace Daughter of Lord Byron (1815-1852) Worked with Charles Babbage and his counting machines. Could she possibly be the first person to think about programming computers?

#1 Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) THE first lady of computers. Had major impact on the first computers. Supposedly came up with the computer slang word "bug." Was member of the US Navy and reached the rank of Rear Admiral. Without her, you probably wouldn't be seeing this!

Sunday School Behavior Charts

Sunday School Behavior Chart

Free Printable Behavior Charts

The following charts are for individual students. They are in pdf form that you can download and print.

Directions for using the behavior charts.

Each one has 10 places to either place a sticker over or color in. This is done each time a student completes a task. You can let them get credit for attendance, good behavior, memory verse, or even bringing an offering. When they fill all 10 places, they get whatever prize you reward them with. Tips for Sunday School behavior are below the charts.

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Jesus and Children Behavior Chart
Circle, color, or place sticker over numbers.
Sunday School Behavior Chart #1

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Shepherd and Sheep Behavior Chart
Color sheep or place sticker.
Sunday School Behavior Chart #2

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Jonah and the Whale Behavior Chart
Color the fish or place sticker.
Sunday School Behavior Chart #3

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Jacob's Ladder Behavior Chart
Color each step or place sticker.
Sunday School Behavior Chart #4

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The Widow's Mite Behavior or Offering Chart
Color in the coins each time child brings offering, or use as regular chart as the ones above.
Sunday School Behavior Chart #5

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Tips for Sunday School Behavior

Children are all different and you find this evident in a Sunday School setting.

During Sunday School, you may find that most of your children behave with little to no difficulty, but there are always a couple that will have behavior issues. Getting children to behave during Sunday School is important for several reasons.

You need order in the classroom to teach your lesson, the other kids need it for their own learning needs, and you need to provide a safe environment for all the children. Here are some ideas for helping children behave during this time.

Establish Rules

No matter what age of children you teach, you need to establish rules within the classroom. These rules should always been simple and pertinent. Do not have so many rules that children feel trapped in them. For example, simple rules such as "Listen at all times," applies to not only listening to you, but the other children as well. Think about what you expect out of the children and start from there. It is a good idea to explain all of the rules to the class, so there are no ways for them to misconstrue their meanings.

Get to Know Your Children

One important step in establishing order in your classroom is getting to know the kids on a personal level. Talk to the parents and find out if there are behavior issues in the home or if the child has been diagnosed with a medical condition that may cause behavior issues. Find out what works best for your children and what kind of classroom setting they respond to the best.

Have a Reward System

A reward system works out very well for children of all ages, especially children in preschool. It could be something as simple as earning star stickers each week for outstanding behavior, and letting the children place their own star on their Sunday School attendance chart. At the end of so many weeks, children can earn a prize from a prize box. Other ideas include earning plastic coins, "Bible bucks" or anything small that the children can trade in for larger rewards. It is always a good idea to keep the reward system in a place where they can see it each week. This gives them a visual reminder of what is expected out of them.

Plan Plenty of Activities

Children often misbehave or become restless when they become bored. You can prevent this by keeping your children busy during the time they are in your classroom. Have plenty of short and easy activities that last no more than a few minutes.

Remember that small children have a short attention span and need several small activities to keep their interest. Sculpting clay, puzzles, blocks, easy games and even a quick walk around the church are all quick activities that will direct their attention.

There will always be the child who doesn't behave during Sunday School. Learning how to distract that child's behavior is your best bet. Keep open communication with the parents of your students, use the tips suggested above, and you should be able to run a tight ship in your classroom every week.

How to Motivate Students

Classroom Teaching Methods to Increase Student Motivation

Students who are motivated put a greater effort into learning and have higher acheivement. Most students are not motivated by normal classroom environments. How do you engage and motivate students? Teachers must instill an interest in the subject and make it relevant.

Even good lesson plans will not motivate students. Motivating students is a tough task for teachers. Once students reach a certain age, they no longer feel the need to attend school, let alone enjoy it.

It is up to teachers to motivate their students. Without at least minimal motivation, your teaching will fall flat and there will be little or no real learning in your classroom. How do you currently try and motivate students?

First rule of student motivation

Your classroom must be an enjoyable experience. Student motivation will be next to impossible if your classroom does not have an inviting atmosphere.

What is your demeanor? Are you excited about teaching? Glad that you're there? Happy to see the students?

Excited about your subject or grade? You must be warm, inviting, and enthusiastic about your job.

You must show up everyday well prepared.

What does your classroom look like? Sterile? Prison? Blank walls? Your classroom needs color and excitement..

Put up posters. Put up students' work. You need to hook the students as soon as they set foot in your classroom.

Making your classroom an enjoyable place to learn is actually half the battle.

Students are motivated with rewards

Students need a reward for learning. No, this is not prizes or candy.

That may work to get a task completed, but not motivate for real learning. Remember, we are looking to motivate students into learning, not necessarily completing a task.

The reward for learning that you strive for is a students satisfaction for learning. That's it. For example, you are teaching the Civil War. You want a student to sit back and say, "Man, that Abe Lincoln was one cool dude."

Okay, a little corny, but it makes the point. If that goes on in your classroom, you are virtually there! But it's not easy. It's not easy because teachers are taught to dish out a task, test, boom, done. Not very motivating, is it?

Tips for motivating students

Students need a reason for doing the assignment. Give them one. Each teacher will have to come up with this on their own. No help here is given because if you can't think of a reason for teaching something, you can't motivate students.

Here are some hints. How does it affect them? Does it make them a better citizen? Learner? Relate it to their life. Relate it to their future. Relate it to their ego.

Relate it to current events. You cannot just say, "Because."

Praise goes a long way. This is the reward you can give out frequently and it's free. Write notes on their papers. Say things to them as you walk around the room. Call everybody by name and encourage them. Put student work on the walls. Put a piece of work from ALL students at various times. Call home and praise your students to their parents.

If your students have a reason to learn the material and get praise from you, that's really all motivation they need. It sounds simple, but remember it is hard. Over the course of the school year, you will get better.

Choose your opening to the lesson in such a way that it makes the students want to know more. It may sound silly, but a story can be a very effective way.

Using the Lincoln example, "Let me tell you about a guy whose mother died when he was nine. His first girlfriend got sick and she died. Eventually he became president."

Once your students want to know more, you have them hooked. They are motivated! You want your students to go home everyday and say, "Guess what I learned?"

Recapping student motivation, first is you and your classroom. Next comes a reason for learning. You then create a curiosity about what is to come. You do all those, your students can't help but be motivated in your classroom. And the best thing about this, is it make your discipline problems be few and far between.

Confrontational Students and Classroom Discruptions

Teacher Tips for Classroom Disruptions

If not dealt with properly, defiant student behavior will lead to more disturbances. De-escalation is the key to confrontational students. The majority of teachers will never have any problems with one. Teaching is a relatively safe profession. But for upper grades, there is always the risk. The students are bigger and have different wants and needs. Teachers should be prepared to confront a student who is raising the stakes in the classroom.

Dealing with disruptive students should actually start before the disruption. A teacher needs to be well organized and efficient in running a classroom. Above all, have your classroom discipline and classroom management down. You also need to create a positive classroom. If these three are in pace, the chances of you having a confrontation with a student are greatly reduced.

One of the best things you can do with a confrontational student is nothing. At least for a few seconds. Give the student a chance to back away. Above all, do not get angry. Do not lose your cool. You have a classroom of other students who are watching you, and are also relying on you to maintain order and peace. If you get angry, you will be seen as someone who is not in charge anymore. You don't want that. You need to maintain professionalism. Do not get lowered to the student's level.

19 Top De-Escalation Strategies:

1. Always stay calm, cool, and collected.

2. Make a joke, use some humor!

3. Ignore the outburst, ask them a question on the lesson.

4. Encourage them and point out a positive side of the student.

5. Be willing to change your teaching approach.

6. Validate the student in any way you can.

7. Don't over-react and always listen.

8. Apologize for any wrong they perceive.

9. Don't give commands, like: sit down, calm down, be quiet, shut up, knock it off, etc.

10. Be empathetic. Choose to put yourself in the student's place.

Read: Lower the Stress of Teaching

11. Don't take anything personally. Very important!

12. Always give positive remarks.

13. Remind the student they are not in trouble and you do not want them to be.

14. Never, ever, blow up!

15. Explain how you are there for them and want them to succeed.

16. Always be respectful. Do not end up on YouTube!

17. Do what works for this moment, move on.

18. After class or school, reflect on what went wrong, what went right.

19. Ask other teachers for advice. Each teacher has one good idea. You cannot implement all their ideas because you are NOT them.

Remember, tomorrow is another day!

Do not raise your voice. A yelling and screaming teacher is seen as an out of control teacher. Again, if you seem out of control, the whole class can dip into chaos. You speaking in a calm, but firm voice, can do wonders at least to diffuse the situation. Yelling will never solve anything. Maintain your cool at all cost.

Read: How to Motivate Your Students.

Other students in your classroom may feel emboldened to get in on the action. They may want to be on either side. They see the teacher as someone who may need protecting. Do not allow any student to get involved. You will only escalate the situation. Now instead of just one student, you may have several to deal with. You cannot do this.

Your goal as a teacher with a confrontational student is to lower the steam. Even if it is just until the bell rings. Most of the time a few stern, calm words can lessen the tension for at least the last minutes of class. That's your goal. To make it to the end, then contact the principal about what happened.

Some students are defiant or clowning as a way of getting attention. The less they get, the better.

Or....give them what they want! Keep them active and engaged. Ask them questions. Get them to do chores for you, like pass out papers, collect, erase the board. etc.

Form a relationship with them. It takes time, but each day maybe get's a little better.

Talk to other students outside of class. Get them onboard not egging the situation on.

Try and avoid a punishment for most times. Sending a student out of the room does nothing for the student. Or you, for that matter. Keeping students in your classroom is a goal. After all, what will they learn going to the office? That they get a break from boring classwork?

If you have a chance, you may wish to talk to the student alone, after class. Not alone in the classroom, but in full view in the hall or school yard. Talk like two adults. This can actually work very well.

There are many other articles here to help in this situation. It is all related. Having a positive classroom, welcoming students, be cheerful, don't assign lame homework, keep the students active and engaged, etc.

Think about what triggers the student(s). Keep pencils, paper, supplies, and other things available to all students.

If the student cannot stay in a seat, think outside the box. Can you teach standing right next to them as a block? Did you assign something that the student can complete at a desk?

Many times we, as teachers, do not realize that the very work we ask them to do is part of the problem. A hard assignment, completing alone at a desk, might not be beneficial to anyone. let alone the problem student.

Many students act up because they feel they cannot accomplish the work, so why bother? Why not upset the class! Think about that.

Writing a detention or office referral does not really work. Most of the time, the kids just get lip service and are right back. In fact, I believe this is counterproductive. It becomes a game. You kick the student out, they come back, repeat. They will wear you down before they wear you down.

A call home may not help either if you have never called home before. Calling home the first time for a behavior problem is crazy. The parent has every right to wonder where you have been. Telephoning home can be a powerful tool. But you need to call home to every parent at least once or twice the first week of school. This alone will put parents and students on notice that you are going to have them be an active party. Make it an ongoing effort.

One caution. Teachers are not police. If a student is really getting out of hand, you need to make the judgment that you need help. Call the office immediately.

Easy Lesson Planning

Classroom Teaching Tips to Create Easy and Effective Lesson Plans

Lesson planning allows a teacher to prepare proper questions and objectives ahead of time. Lesson planning should be quick and effective. How do you write a lesson plan? A lesson plan has a few key elements. Included with a general summary, are goals, materials, samples, steps to completion, and review. Lesson plans do not have to be elaborate. The internet can be a valuable resource for lesson plans.

You can find lesson plans on almost any subject for any grade level. The problem is actually using them in a real classroom. When most teachers think lesson plans on the internet, they really are thinking lesson resources as opposed to actual plans. Since every teacher has a different slant to what a lesson plan should be, take the resources and adapt it to your classroom situation. There are many types of lesson planning guides, but we'll go over one that is typical.

Three things that should be included in every lesson you plan are: What am I going to teach? How am I going to teach it? What will I do for the students who don't get it?

How do I do go about creating a lesson plan?

Sample Lesson Plan Template

This sample has 4 parts:
1) Grab the studens attention.
2) Introduce and model the material in an engaging way.
3) Guided practice.
4) Assess.

First, you need to introduce the topic in a way that gets students interested. Asking a question about the subject, what they know, etc. Anything that you can do to at least get students ready to learn. Next, introduce the material. This can you or them reading, discussing, or leading the class doing the activity as a group. Eventually your students need to do something on their own. They can work alone, you can assign partners, or even groups. But you must walk around the room to facilitate.

To finish, you need some type of assessment. You can do this orally by asking questions, or writing a couple of problems/questions on the board to be done individually alone. Assigning homework is now an option.

Keep the learning process flowing and consistent. Every lesson you do must be engaging. Students must be involved. Even if it's just explaining something. Get animated. Ask for questions. Look around the room. Get students to guess what comes next. Can you get the students moving? Get them out of their seats? Even you know when it will be boring. Lighten it up!

Are you doing lesson plans daily, weekly, or even monthly? Think about long term lesson planning. Teachers should do at least a weekly plan. Doing lesson plans daily is not a good way of teaching. Depending on how things go, you may have to change the plans to fit how your students are doing.

There are many places on the internet that provide lesson plans. You can even submit your own. Teachers should have a lesson plan filing system. Keep a file cabinet or box with your lesson plans in them, filed in subjects and categories. Yes, you should print out each lesson and make your own notes. If you just bookmark or save the websites to your favorites, the websites may not be there next time you look. The internet does not stand still and many sites change or go offline.

Don't think that you must do the lesson plans exactly how you find them. Many lesson plans will need to be modified by the teacher for his or her own class. It may take time for you to become an expert on creating, modifying, and implementing good lesson plans. But without them, teaching is less effective.

You probably teach the same idea over multiple days. When doing lesson planning, you may wish to make one lesson plan that will last two or more days. Teachers, especially new teachers, sometimes think they spend a lot of time doing lesson plans. The more you can plan in advance, the better.

How Teachers Should Assign Homework

Best Teacher Practices for Assigning Homework for Educational Purposes

Homework should be purposeful to learning outside of school and leave time for other activities. Are your homework assignments meaningful? Homework should reinforce concepts, prepare for future learning, and engage family members in education. Homework conjures up images of piles of work that a student is required to complete outside of class. Is this beneficial? Does it actually increase learning, or is it just time wasted on useless assignments? Teachers should take a long, hard look at their homework practices. It seems since the beginning of time, homework has been gleefully given by teachers, and sadly accepted by students.

Society almost seems to demand it. Principals cannot seem to get enough of it. Some teachers pride themselves on loading students up with hours of homework. We need to take a second look at the value of homework. It should be useful! Don't assign homework just because. It must add something to the learning.

If students see homework as some sort of punishment, a drudgery task, it will be despised and rarely seen as having worth. We cannot as teachers, make any schoolwork of any type, seen as a punishment. We want students to learn and love doing it! But then we turn around and shove more work at them as some sort of punishment? This sends mixed signals as to what school actually is. So, how should we teachers implement homework and extra assignments? Think enrichment. Think if not loving, at least enjoying learning.

Make homework a task that has some worth. Some value to a student's life. Never, ever should it be busy work. Assigning 50 problems to complete at home is worthless. The best time to do 50 problems is in class where they can get help from the resident expert--the teacher. A few problems, perhaps, as reinforcement, but if it takes longer than 15 minutes for a poor student to complete, it is way too much.

Assigning a couple of hours of reading is also fairly worthless. Do you really want to make reading seem like a long and arduous task? Let's hope not. Not only should homework be a worthwhile task, if it is assigned on a daily basis, it needs to be done in a short time. Think about it. Students are at school for six to 8 hours a day. The same as someone with a job. They travel to and from school to home. Again, the same as someone with a job. Read: How to Motivate Your Students

In fact, students have jobs: Going to school. How would you like it if your boss gave you three hours of work to complete when you got home? Not much fun is it? In fact, you would complain. Loud and clear. If teachers give homework on a nightly basis, it needs to be short. Students and society benefit when students have a life. Family time, chores, dinner, homework. There needs to be a balance.

If not, a students family life will suffer. How much more quality family time do you wish you had? I don't think we as teaches have ever thought much about our students home lives. Once you have made the commitment to quality and time appropriate homework, we can now talk about what makes a good homework assignment.

Enrichment. First and foremost. It must enrich and enhance the learning process. It does not, I repeat, it does not need to be on the very subject or topic you are currently teaching. But it can and should be related. That way a student sees right away why they are doing it. Okay, now for some examples. The following are for math, but can readily be altered for any topic and subject.

Homework Examples That are Worth Doing

• Let's say you just did an assignment on fractions. (Again, you can adapt these to any subject)
• Write about 5 examples of where you or someone you do anything that involved fractions. That is, portions, pieces, percentages, cutting, slicing, measuring, etc.
• Give a 10 minute presentation on performing (doing fractions) to your family.
• Help prepare dinner and explain how fractions may be used.
• Ask an older sibling or parent to explain what they thought of doing fractions in school. Explain how it is the same or different. Add any other comments they come up with.
• Write a review of your teacher presenting the topic. (These can be really good for feedback)
• Write about an occupation that uses fractions on a daily basis. Include examples of when, where, why, and how.
• Suppose you are planning a pizza party for 50 people. Contact and research a local pizza maker to see how various pizzas come. Explore how each pizza is cut up. Explain how many slices of pizza each person will get. You will also need the total number of pizzas, the cost, including tax and tip.

From those seven examples above, did you notice how many involve the student's family? A terrific way of making homework meaningful is to include family members.

Did you also notice how there was no repetition of doing problems? Again, you are the teacher. That needs to come in class.

You should also notice that homework does not need to be assigned on a nightly basis. Many of the homework examples listed above could be assigned over a week's time. Also, notice how the homework example was geared toward the real world? This will stop the "When are we ever going to use this" questions that bother so many of us! Read: Create High Impact Lesson Plans

Please also note that the homework cited above using reading, writing, and research skills. This aligns perfectly with a curriculum that is supposed to include all of these concepts.

One major benefit from doing long-term homework assignments is it will free up more time for teachers. Not having to grade or collect homework on a daily basis is just one more boring, time-wasting chore eliminated.

The hope is that you, as a teacher, have now taken a different look at homework. No matter what the subject, you should be able to quickly come up with ideas to make your homework a meaningful exercise.