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Returning from winter break can be a challenging milestone in the kindergarten school year! Your students were just getting into the swing of being kindergarteners and then they left for two weeks! I’ve put together a post to help you choose back-from-winter-break activities that will help you get your classroom back on track as soon as possible!
Ultimately, the specific activities you use after winter break will depend on your curriculum and the needs of your students. However, be sure to choose activities that help you accomplish these things:
Try to choose an arrival activity that will help that first morning go smoothly. You will likely have parents that want to talk with you, students who are having big feelings, and other students who have forgotten the arrival procedures. Choosing an open-ended, flexible activity to welcome students back to class will make it easier to have a smooth first morning back from winter break.
It’s helpful to choose activities that students can complete mostly independently. This will give you time to circulate the classroom and check in with each of your students. You can quickly see which students are ready to jump back into the routine and which students might need a little bit more TLC on that first day.
Give yourself and your students some time during the first day back to practice some basic classroom procedures. Simple classroom activities are a great way to incorporate this practice! For example, you could use a simple cut-and-paste activity to help your students review the classroom procedures for using glue and scissors. Taking the time to reteach these procedures will help you have a smooth second half of the school year!
It doesn’t take long for students’ literacy and math skills to get a little bit rusty. This is especially true for kindergarteners! Use the first few activities after winter break to help you review those important academic skills before moving on to new content. This will also help you gauge where students are at so you can prioritize skills for your future lesson planning.
Finally, your students have all had different experiences during the holiday break. While they will all benefit from the consistency of your daily learning routine, some students might not be as ready as others to dive back into the regular learning tasks. You can use engaging activities to grab your students’ attention as you restart the daily routine.
With that in mind, here are some fun and engaging activity ideas that will help your students have a smooth transition back to school after winter break.
Dot-to-dot activities are a great option for the first few days back at school. Students will review either letter or number formation as they fill in the grid at the top of the paper. They will then practice alphabetical and numerical order as they connect the dots in the winter-themed picture. After completing the picture, students can color it in!
A packet of dot-to-dot puzzles could be a great morning work option as your students get back into the swing of your arrival procedures. You can find this set of dot-to-dot printables in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT.
To help your students practice classroom procedures like using scissors and glue, grab these free winter mystery puzzles! Each puzzle practices a different academic skill, so you can choose which puzzle would be best for your students. Students will cut out the puzzle pieces, determine where they go on the puzzle, record their answers, glue the pieces down, and then color the mystery picture!
Would you like to try out this freebie in your classroom after winter break this year? Just fill out the form and I’ll send these mystery puzzles straight to your inbox!
One of my favorite routines to get back up and running as soon as possible after the break is the centers rotation! Students are easily engaged in the hands-on activities and it’s a great time to review procedures like working with a partner, rotating through learning stations, cleaning up learning supplies, and so on.
Seasonal centers are a great way to grab your students’ attention and keep them engaged! Your students might be a little disappointed to return to school and see all of the fun holiday decor taken down.
Winter-themed centers are a great way to incorporate seasonal fun into your classroom and avoid the post-holiday gloom. Be sure to check out my blog post where I share some of my favorite hands-on activities to use for winter centers.
When it’s time to review important academic skills, mystery pictures are a fun resource to use! These customizable mystery pictures can incorporate any sight words, letters, phonics patterns, or even number words that you’d like your students to review. Just type in the words and the mystery pictures are automatically generated! You can customize your post-holiday skill review to best meet the needs of your students.
You can find these winter mystery pictures in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT. Just click below to take a closer look!
Finally, thematic units can be a great way to get your students back into the swing of the classroom routine. This is especially true if you regularly use thematic units to supplement your curriculum! Your students will be excited to dive into a new unit study!
Check out my blog post where I organize an entire year’s worth of thematic units organized by month. You can quickly see which thematic units I like to use after winter break.
If you’d like to find this post later, be sure to save the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest! You’ll be able to quickly and easily find these activity ideas when you’re putting together your lesson plans after coming back from winter break.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
