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May is such an exciting time of the year! The warmer weather is a constant reminder that summer break is just around the corner. One of my favorite ways to embrace the excitement of the season while keeping students on task is with themed learning. These May themes for kindergarten are always a hit with students this time of year!
There are many reasons to use thematic units in your classroom throughout the school year. However, May is a month where themed learning can really save the day.
If you could use some of these benefits in your classroom, keep reading for my favorite May themes for kindergarten.
One of my favorite kindergarten themes for May is learning all about farms and farm animals! Students are always so excited to learn more about life on a farm, so it’s a theme for student engagement. Here are some ways that you can incorporate the farm theme into your classroom learning activities.
Pairing read alouds with hands-on activities can help students learn more about life on a farm.
You can read non-fiction books about farm animals, one at a time, and then have students write a sentence with their favorite fact about that animal. You can even pair it with an adorable craft!
Fictional books about farm animals can also inspire some learning activities. After reading “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” to your class, your students can complete this cause and effect lift-the-flap craftivity.
The farm theme can extend into math practice!
After learning all about farm animals, students can vote on which farm animal is their favorite. You can tally the votes on a class graph, then invite students to complete their own graphing worksheets. This is a great way to practice recording and interpreting data.
You can also incorporate some farm-themed fun to math review in your classroom! This addition and subtraction game is perfect for math centers, morning work, or even early finishers.
There are so many fun crafts and activities that you can use for a farm theme in your classroom!
Students love to create their own red barns after learning about farms. This writing craftivity is a great way to keep students engaged in fine motor practice!
You can also give your students a taste of farm life by making butter in the classroom. This hands-on activity is a great way to incorporate science into your lesson plans. You can then connect it to literacy practice by having students write about how to make butter.
Are your students dreaming of their upcoming summer beach vacations? An ocean theme can help your students channel this excitement into worthwhile learning activities.
Just like the farm unit, there are many different books about ocean animals that you can read with your class during your week of themed learning.
As you read about and discuss each ocean animal, students can choose which fact they find the most interesting. They can write a sentence about this ocean animal fact and then create a craft to go with it.
Fictional books, like “A House for Hermit Crab” can inspire additional ocean-themed literacy practice in your classroom. This hands-on activity is a great way for students to explore sequencing.
You can also incorporate the ocean theme into your math practice.
If your students could use more practice with composing and decomposing numbers, this octopus-themed activity is a great option! Students can explore different ways to make 8 as they add legs to each octopus.
Your students can also review addition and subtraction with ocean-themed activities! This hungry shark activity is a fun and hands-on way for students to model subtraction.
Do you need a fun seasonal bulletin board for your classroom or hallway? These ocean crafts look great on a spring display!
After learning all about ocean animals, students can write about their favorite one. Then they can create this fun craft as a cover page for their writing. This makes a great interactive bulletin board!
This rainbow fish writing craft is another great option for ocean week in kindergarten! After reading “The Rainbow Fish” together as a class, students can write about how they can be a good friend to those around them. They can create their own rainbow fish craft to go with it.
Would you like to use these May themes in your classroom? I have a bundle of May thematic units that will save you some time and money! In this easy-to-download resource you will find all of the fun printables that you need for each of these themes. You’ll be able to add these thematic units to your May lesson plans with very little prep time!
You can find this bundle in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT. You can click below to take a closer look!
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these kindergarten themes for May when you’re lesson planning this spring.
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!
