Activities to Engage Students after Winter Break {with a FREEBIE}

Activities to Engage Students after Winter Break!

Students are back from winter break - the gifts, food and endless free time are of the past. Now it's time to dive into the second half of the school year with renewed energy! As we step into the classroom after the holiday season, we know that rekindling students' enthusiasm for learning can be a delightful challenge. But fear not; I've got you covered! Post-winter break can be a memorable time with a few engaging activities those first few weeks back in school.

Use Technology Activities to Engage Students

Students LOVE being on a computer!  Use this to your advantage to help support your curriculum! One way that I use technology in my classroom is with QR codes.  QR codes can be incorporated into any activity and any subject!

I like to use https://www.qrstuff.com/ for my QR codes.  The site is easy to navigate and you can incorporate the code by copying and pasting!

How would you do this?  Take your basic worksheet, answer your questions, and add a QR codes to the question.  Students will simply read the question, answer it, and check with the QR code to see if they are correct! INSTANT engagement (and self-checking)!!!! 

I use these a lot for those tedious math facts that students do not enjoy doing over and over again.....but we all know practice makes perfect! You can find them in my store for multiple math concepts. 

Another great option for technology is using my new found friend, BOOM Cards.  BOOM Cards are great for centers, group work, or individually.  You can read more about BOOM Cards here and pick up a FREE DECK while you're over there!

This short video will show you what BOOM Cards are all about! Digital, self-checking, no cutting, engaging......they're literally PERFECT!!!

I have purchased the VERY CHEAP yearly membership to track my students work and I can assign different decks to each student to help differentiate.    You can also add a membership to create your own BOOM decks so they specifically meet the needs of your students!

If you are interested in some pre-made BOOM decks, you can check out my listings HERE.

Use STEM Activities to Engage Students!

With feedback like this,

"LOVE!!!!! My first graders are BEGGING me to do more of these activities! Thank you!" and "Great hands-on activities for the children to explore and problem solve," it's no wonder why STEM has taken over the classroom IF it has meaning! STEM activities are so powerful at the elementary level because it really plays off of youngsters inquisitive and exploratory minds. We want to foster that love for asking questions, creating, developing, challenging, reinventing, and everything else STEM offers so that children can handle problem solving in the "real" world.


The great thing about STEM is that you can come up with an activity by looking around you. Reading Diary of a Spider? Have the students create a spider that flies (ballooning). Reading about animal habitats? Have the students create a habitat and explain their rationale! Anything can be made into a STEM project!


For Halloween, my students created spider webs from my STEM packs! They had to make a web that collected the most spiders. Here are some varieties they came up with!

If you are looking for seasonal STEM activities, I have you covered! My projects also come with planning, recording, and reflective sheets to help build the math skills and critical thinking. Check them out HERE.

Color by Code Activities to Engage Students

Now this one is a little more difficult to create on your own and time consuming! My color by codes are on another level in my classroom! It's a great way to 1. incorporate the holiday and 2. practice those skills that need to be done over and over again.

Ask my kids to do a worksheet of 30 problems, NOT HAPPENING! But, give them a color by code to complete with 50 problems and it's all good ;) Sometimes, I don't get them!!!

Here are some that I have available if you're interested in checking them out. These are also differentiated for your needs. You can take a closer look by clicking HERE.

      

Skill Swirls Activities to Engage Students

What's a Skill Swirl you ask?  These are activities that I invented to help combat the basic worksheet.  They are self-checking and have students ENGAGED from start to finish.  One of my students said, "It's like we are learning!"  Yes little one, you are learning. *face palm*

Basically students will begin with a problem, find the answer on a slip, paste it down, and continue with the next problem.  If the answer isn't there, then it is incorrect.  Here is a video to help understand the format. You can also snag an Addition to 10 Skill Swirl FREEBIE here! 

Skill Swirls are a great way to keep kids on task and completing assignments.  You can take a look at my list of growing concepts in my store, HERE.

That's it!  Five activities that I use in the classroom to break the monotonous routine.  I guarantee that these activities will engage your students!  I'm always looking for more ideas!  Let me know in the comments if you have any!