Holiday Activities and Freebies!
Keeping kindergarten students engaged in skill practice doesn’t mean that you have to constantly come up with fresh activities for your lesson plans. In fact, it’s the opposite! With the right monthly activities for kindergarten, you can add a rhythm to your daily learning routine with familiar activities. I’m going to share engaging monthly activity ideas with a seasonal twist that can keep students on track all year long.
Young kindergarteners thrive on consistency! When each month has a familiar rhythm, students are able to spend their energy and attention on what they’re learning rather than how to complete a brand-new type of activity.
This doesn’t mean that the school year has to be boring and overly repetitive! Instead, you can use activities with consistent formats while still incorporating some seasonal fun into the learning routine.
Here are some of the ways that you can bring consistency into the classroom each month while using engaging activities that students love!
Kindergarten students learn new literacy and math skills at lightning speed over the course of the school year! One of the best ways to help them practice and review what they’re learning is with engaging center activities.
Since students need to be able to complete centers independently, it’s helpful to use formats that are consistent throughout the year. That way, students will just need a quick refresher when new centers are added to the rotation.
For example, this mystery puzzle center is a fun way for students to practice literacy and math skills. Even though the format and instructions are the same, students are always eager to see the new seasonal picture they will create with their literacy or math skills.
An effective homework routine is another way to add important review into your monthly plans. The homework activities can be consistent in format while focusing on different skills that students need to practice.
A weekly or monthly homework packet is something that families can watch for and incorporate into their evening routine. Since the activities will be familiar and will focus on skills their child has already learned, this routine won’t be burdensome on families.
However, if you don’t plan to incorporate homework into your daily routine, these printables are also perfect for a morning work routine or early finishers. Students can just grab their packet and get right to work since they will be familiar with the activities and skills!
Monthly sight word practice is another great addition to your lesson planning! When you use similar activities to practice different sight words, students are able to focus their attention on the words they’re learning instead of thinking about how to navigate the activities.
I have created a bundle of printables that you can use to practice sight words with your students each month! They will know exactly what to do when they see a blank sight word rainbow writing worksheet or a sight word hat that’s ready to assemble.
The familiarity of these activities can help your sight word practice run smoothly all year long!
There are so many reasons why it’s helpful to incorporate craft projects into your monthly routine throughout the school year! Students are able to practice skills like following directions and using school supplies like scissors effectively. They can also improve their fine motor skills as they create these fun seasonal crafts.
When crafts are a regular monthly activity in your classroom, students will grow accustomed to the rhythm of these activities. For example, they will know how to wait for teacher instructions with each step of the craft. They will also become familiar with the clean-up routine when it’s all done.
Even though each craft will be different throughout the year, the overall routine of crafting together as a class will be something your students will look forward to each time. They are always so excited to see their seasonal crafts on display in the classroom!
Finally, themed learning is something that you’ll want to add to your monthly activity rotation! Thematic units are such a fun way to introduce new vocabulary while reviewing important literacy and math concepts.
While it is true that each unit focuses on a different topic, the overall pacing of a thematic unit can become familiar and routine for students. For example, you might start each unit with read alouds of nonfiction text to help students gather information about the topic. Then, you will complete a writing activity for students to share what they’re learning, and so on.
It’s easy to choose units that match the current season! In fact, I have written a blog post with theme ideas for each month of the school year. There are so many ways that you can use themed learning to increase student engagement with relevant seasonal activities.
If you would like to use thematic units as monthly activities for your kindergarten classroom, I can save you a lot of time! I have put together a bundle of thematic units for the whole year that will help you add these to your monthly lesson plans without a lot of planning time.
Each unit comes with all of the printable activities, book suggestions, and craft templates you’ll need to complete the unit with your students. You’ll also find a unit at-a-glance document with a suggested outline for completing all of the activities. This makes it easy to add the themed learning activities into your daily learning routine!
If you’d like to take a closer look at all of the units included in this bundle, just click below to find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or in my TPT store.
Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board of teaching ideas on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these monthly activities when you’re working on your kindergarten lesson plans.
