Use these ideas for using the Kindness Challenge throughout the year.

The Olympics are coming! Make the most of this ancient event with these Olympic Games activities for students. They're the perfect way to teach your class about different countries, cultures, and traditions, and I have 12 interactive games, printables, and worksheets to help you along the way! And the best part?! Most of them are free! With the excitement of the summer Olympics and the Paralympics right around the corner, this is a great time to teach your students about this ancient tradition. I remember LOVING the Olympic Games when I was in primary school, and I know that your students will be the same! Even if your students are not sports fans, the Olympics are a fascinating international phenomenon. All children are sure to find something that grabs their attention, whether it's rooting for their chosen country, seeing the different uniforms, listening to the national anthems, or watching the athletes in action. Plus, the Olympics are a treasure trove of learning opportunities. You can easily touch upon several different subject areas, including social studies, history, geography, and culture, as well as Greek mythology, physical education, maths, and more! Since the Olympics only occur every two years (rotating between Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics) and many schools in the Northern Hemisphere are on holidays for the Summer Olympics, many teachers will only be able to teach students about the Winter Olympics. Don't worry -- these classroom activities can be used for either event, including the Paralympics. I've also added some fun customisations specifically for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and will update those for the Winter Olympic Games in Tokyo and beyond! 15+ Olympic Games Activities for Students We’ve created loads of fun activities to share with you! They are all available in The Hive, our digital teacher platform packed with a complete library of printable resources, videos, apps, and more. It's an all-in-one interface to help you organise your day, plan your lessons, and find a little calm in the chaos of teaching! Right now, there are several Olympics-themed backgrounds and video backgrounds to decorate your classroom dashboard, including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, as well as Olympics and Paralympics writing prompts and more. You'll also have access to a library of Olympics graphics in the image library to customise your slides and other activities! Plus, you'll love our medal tally app - freely available to all teachers! With The Hive's medal tally app, you can: Follow as many countries as you like Track the gold, silver and bronze medals Find each country on the map Use the colour-coded interactive map to see which countries are winning the most to least gold medals Ready to get started? Start your free 14 day trial of The Hive today! Olympics Bingo This bingo board is a fun way to catch your students' attention about the Olympics right away! They can keep track of who earns gold meals, who cries happy tears, what song they hear playing, and more. All of the questions follow the who, what, why, and how, so they're and they require minimal writing. Great for primary grade levels! Olympic Athletes Biographies For a light research project, have your students choose one of their favourite Olympic athletes and learn all about them! This is a great way to practise those research skills and for your young athletes to learn about perseverance, dedication, and overcoming obstacles. Consider reading books about Olympians to discuss these traits as part of your morning meeting or SEL time. Some great read-aloud options include: Cathy Freeman: Born To Run - A gorgeous picture book that will inspire girls and boys everywhere to chase their dreams. Swimming Toward a Dream - Yusra Mardini's Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer Dream Big - a picture book written by Michael Jordan's mother. Unbeatable Betty - an inspiring picture book biography of the first woman to win a gold medal in track and field. Touch the Sky - an inspiring story of the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Tenacious: Fifteen Adventures Alongside Disabled Athletes - These inspiring athletes have won gold medals, set world records, climbed mountain peaks, claimed national championships, and many more extraordinary achievements. Standout - the true story of Paralympic Gold Medallist Greg Stewart Flying High - The story of gymnastics champion Simone Biles My Favourite Event In this printable activity, students can share their favourite Olympic sport, draw a picture of it in action, list the equipment, and write out the rules. Olympics Medals Tallies Chart This handy medal tally chart will help you keep track of how many gold, silver, and bronze medals your country's athletes have won! There are several different layouts to choose from and lots of different ways to incorporate this activity. You can track the medal counts as a whole class or have students keep track of their chosen country to see how they compare. This would tie in well with the country research project below! Note: Don't forget that you can use The Hive's medal tally app to easily track the results in one handy place! Olympics Country Research Project The Olympics spotlight so many different countries for our students, and this is a great time for them to choose one to study more in-depth. This flag craft is a light research project, ideal for K-3. Choose a country to research and fill in the fact sheet: Continent, Language, Capital City, Population, Interesting Fact. Draw the country’s flag on the blank template. Colour in the flagpole (2 lengths are included) Glue or staple to assemble – place fact sheet on the bottom, then the flag, then the flag pole. Editable Olympics & Paralympics Slideshow To create your own questions and writing prompts, make sure you grab this editable slideshow! It has 90+ editable slides, including: 18 slides for the Paralympics 70 slides with Olympic Events 8 slides specific to the 2024 Paris Olympics. You might also like these Olympic sport event slide backgrounds: Character Trait Y-Charts Explore the character traits of Olympic athletes with your students with these editable Y-chart templates. Students can draw or write about what each trait LOOKS ​like, SOUNDS like and FEELS like. 12 different qualities to explore: perseverance determination resilience good sportsmanship courage patience positivity endurance motivation focus integrity fair play OR, use the editable template to add your own character traits! Character Traits Writing Templates Once students have explored different character traits, they could use these writing templates to create a class display! Word Search This Olympic-themed word search is a fun activity for independent work or as a morning starter. You can use the pre-made template, or students could also make their own find-a-word. It's a handy print-and-go option you can use at a moment's notice! Activities Grid This choice menu is the perfect way to get students thinking about and connecting with the Olympics. Each square includes a thought-provoking question, research task, or creative project that will test their creativity and brain power. Plus, the template is editable, so you can make up your own activities, too! Olympic Writing Prompts This set has 36 engaging writing prompts to spark your class’ curiosity and get them thinking about the Olympic games in a new way. The questions include opinion writing, creative writing prompts, and more, so there is something for everyone! There are also editable task cards so that you can create your own. You might like to also download the matching slides to display on your classroom screen. These are perfect for daily writing journals! Olympics Acrostic Activity Teach your students to write poems about the Olympics using this acrostic template! Younger children can choose just one word per letter, but older children should be able to write out longer phrases or sentences and even incorporate some rhyming words. Olympic Word Mapping Template Incorporate Olympic themes into your phonics instruction with these interactive word mapping templates. As students encode words, they tap the number of sounds they hear, map them orally, write the individual sounds in the circles, and then write out the final word. This resource includes several templates with spaces for different quantities of sounds. Stick these into write and wipe mats to use in whole-group instruction or in your small groups! Design an Olympic Medal Can the Olympic medals use an upgrade? Invite your students to design their own medals! This activity pairs well with the design-an-outfit activity below. You can even have them present their designs in front of the class to practise their public speaking. Design an Athlete's Outfit One of the most interesting parts of the Summer and Winter games is seeing the different uniforms from each country. Have your students design their own outfits to show what they think would look best! More Olympic Activities for Kids Host your own Olympic games as a field event with lots of activities, like a relay race, hula hooping, walking the balance beam, obstacle course, juggling, etc. Use paper plates to make your own Olympic rings. Research the origin of the Olympic games to understand why this event is so special. Study previous results to predict which countries will win the most gold medals this year. Survey the students in your class about their favourite sport, country, athlete, and more, and record the results in bar graphs. Research how the International Olympic Committee chooses the next location. (Great for upper elementary students learning about governing systems!) Make a map to track the Olympic torch relay. Read about famous Olympians who overcame adversity. Watch the opening ceremony and discuss the different countries and traditions on display. Discuss the rules of the Olympics and whether or not they are fair. I hope these Olympic Games activities for students help you bring these events to life! They're really special occasions that can expand our students' worlds and learn about people from all around the world. This is a great opportunity to hold some meaningful conversations and make some memories too!

These mini pinatas are an easy craft to make with your kids and are perfect for your next celebration!

As the Christmas holidays are almost over I have been scouring Pinterest and some of my favourite blogs for winter art inspiration. I have lots of fun projects planned for me and the kids over the…

Do you use visuals in your classroom? Visuals support students understand what you are trying to teach them. They encourage students to associate pieces of information with visuals. Visual learning helps you to store information for a longer period of time. It is said that videos and images are directly processed by long term memory. The visual ... Read More about Classroom Visuals

Blow painting art for kids | Make cute germ or monster art with straws & watercolor. Simple activity for toddlers, preschool, & kindergarten.

Are you looking for New Year's activities for teens or your middle school students after the holiday break? Find everything you need here for your ELA classroom.

It's all about Earth Day in the spring months. Here are 7 fast activities for Earth Day and printables to help you introduce, cover and practice Earth Day and conservation topics.

Celebrate the spooky season without sacrificing the learning.

Use this Kansas Symbols Powerpoint in a Kansas History or Kansas Day unit! Includes 6 different slides on various Kansas symbols. Read through and explain powerpoint as students write down important facts about each symbol.

25 cheap and gorgeous DIY gift ideas. Inexpensive handmade Christmas and holiday gift ideas and tutorials. Best DIY gifts to make.

A strong classroom community is integral to students' success.

Roundup with over 25 Montessori-inspired Halloween activities for multiple ages ... perfect for classroom or home.

The ‘Array’zing Race! Practise multiplication in this fun game where the aim is to colour the most boxes on the game board. Number of Players: 2 Aim: To colour the greatest area Rules: Cut out the Arrays Game Cards on the next page. Keep the blue cards in one pile and the purple cards in […]

Create spook-tacular fun in your classroom with DIY Halloween door decorations! Get crafty with colorful paper, markers, and spooky stickers. From friendly ghosts to grinning pumpkins, let your imagination run wild.

A few years ago, I teamed up with my friend Noelle from Maneuvering the Middle to put together our favorite teaching strategies and class management ideas as

Because learning is best when it's hands-on.

Hi! Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite crafts to use for teaching digraphs. I try to make my blog posts useful for teachers in the classroom, and […]

Free Jellyfish art tutorial for kids and adults! This stunning jelly can be recreated with a few watercolors and a bit of clear glue. This mixed media art project creates lots of interesting textures and designs that are sure to delight your students.

Ready to "cook up" a great first day of school? It's easy with this recipe for a successful start to the school year! PREP: ➤ ...

I don't know what it is about Halloween, seriously creepy things and spiders are so not up my alley, but all of my students always LOVE Halloween. So, in October, the best way to motivate them to work is to use Halloween activities! I don't know what it is about a spider on their paper, but they love it! HA. This is also a great time to work on "scaring" and "surprises" and helping students gain a sense of humor. During our morning meeting, I use a ghost beanie baby to help lead the meeting. My students think this is hilarious! In addition to fun little things like that, I sneak Halloween into our typical academic activities. Teaching Students to Scare and have a Sense of Humor! You already know that our job as special educators goes way beyond teaching the normal curriculum. In order to prepare students for Halloween, I think it's important to teach how to scare people in a light-hearted manner. Sounds a little weird? Stick with me here. If someone comes up to one of my students in a ghost costume and says "boo!", they might legitimately freak out. So, in order to teach them that this can be funny and funny, I let them do the scaring first! We had a fake blow up spider in my room, and I would give it to students during breaks and show them how to go up to other adults (or students who could handle it) and put it on their shoulder or somewhere and let them freak out. When they thought this was funny, I would then do it to them. This gives our students important social skills and also prepares them for the holiday! Of course, you may also need to teach when it is or isn't appropriate to scare too! Halloween Life Skill Math: I use this Halloween life skill math pack (which includes three levels for all of my students), and simply because it is Halloween themed, my students will suddenly become motivated to complete their math activities. Oh the magic of Halloween! ;) The worksheet shown above is one of the level 3 money worksheets, students have to cut and paste an amount using one or more bills. Level 2 simplifies it by only using one bill and level 1 is matching bill pictures. Sorting sizes, this one is a level 2 worksheet. (The cut and paste activities in this packet are my favorite!) Then we have a level 2 counting and more/less worksheet. Shown on this worksheet are a few different strategies that your students can use to help them determine the answer. One of my favorite is writing the number on the objects while they count. This time worksheet is a level 1 worksheet and focuses on day or night. The sentences describing each time can also be used as a good starting point for Halloween discussions too! Or of course, just adding to the fun! :) Other time worksheets also include an AM/PM concept as well as analog and digital clocks. Halloween Journal Writing: I know I say it all of the time, but seriously people, these journals are my FAVORITE. They have helped my students gain so much confidence while writing and even allows my non-writers opportunities to express their opinions and work alongside their peers. I first display the classroom sample of the journal of the time in our journal station. Every student, no matter what their level is, uses the same classroom example, so you can even project the sample on your white board and have all of your students (at different levels) write their journals at the same time, Level 1 is for my non-writers. They are able to color, trace a word (to the best of their ability), and then choose between two symbols to complete each sentence. If a student is able, I then have them read their paragraph to me (either verbally or using a communication device. They are SO proud of the work that they do on these! Level 2 is for my beginning writers. It includes a tracing portion for the sentence starter, and then the student has to choose how they want to complete the thought. The options are on the classroom sample, but some of my beginning writers have difficulty tracking and copying from the board, so I have also included the options below each sentence. They can then circle and write their answer to complete each sentence. Level 3 students are the ones who REALLY need the classroom sample. They will copy the picture, and then copy the sentence starters and complete the thought. Sometimes when students are working on this in the journal station, I will cover up the options and make them come up with their own thoughts if they are ready for that! Speaking of students who are able to complete sentence starters on their own.... Higher Halloween Picture Prompt Journals: This journal comes from my fall pack. I love projecting these pictures on the whiteboard and just having my students write about whatever comes to mind when they see this picture. Of course, some students aren't able to quite do that on their own yet, so I have supports for them too! The first level is sentence starters, possibly what students were used to if they were using my other journals, but now there are no options to choose from, they have to come up with them on their own. These sentence starters are very open ended in order to allow for a wide variety of thoughts. The next level is a bunch of questions to get students thinking about the topics and give them ideas on what to write about. It also gives a basic paragraph format structure, including topic, detail, and closing sentences. Halloween Cooking Activities: Okay, so I usually wouldn't call this a "cooking" activity, more of a following directions activity that involves food, but it is fun none-the-less. We make Oreo Spiders! Ingredients Needed: Oreos, Pretzel sticks, M&Ms, frosting. Directions: Stick legs into the creme of the Oreos, add frosting on the top of the Oreos and secure the M&Ms for eyes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Breezy Special Ed (@breezyspecialed) on Oct 23, 2017 at 3:23pm PDT Now, you can run around and scare people with your spiders or just eat them. ;) Halloween Social Stories: So, you've had fun all month with Halloween themed activities, but do your students actually know what to do if they go trick-or-treating? I love this trick-or-treating social story from Autism Adventures! Carving Pumpkins: Yes! I've carved pumpkins with my students. And, yes, as in gave them carving tools! We enlisted the help of peer tutors and they had a blast. Read more HERE. Greeting Cards: Who can you send Halloween cards to? Classmates? Parents? Friends? Janitors? Yes, yes, and yes! These cards are super fun and your students will love making them! Plus, there is a level for every student from your kids benefiting from symbol support, to your writers or students who need sentence starter support! And the ideas just keep coming... Tons more ideas on my Halloween Pinterest board! Check it out below And I'd love to hear, how else do you prepare your students for Halloween?

Create a rocket made with shapes! This easy space craft comes with a FREE printable template and it’s great for young children. Download and use it at home, school, or daycare!

To help all of us "Calm the Chaos" that might become of our classrooms over the next two months, here are my best tips for the end of the year.

We love this Dandelion Wish Craft for a variety of times throughout the year. Use this as a beginning of the year activity to brainstorm what goals students would like to accomplish this year. Use this as a New Year’s activity after Christmas break to imagine what this year will bring! Use this as an ... Read More about Dandelion Wish Craft + Writing

Need ideas for teaching listening skills in the classroom? Try these whole body listening activities and books, class games, and daily practice ideas and a FREEBIE!

Whether you're throwing a Halloween party or just need inspiration for boring October days, this collection of Halloween games for kids has you covered!

Whether you're watching the circus in person, or simply enjoying a circus theme in your home preschool (or classroom!), popcorn is a must!

My students were having difficulty staying focused at writing center. I decided to make theses folders for them to grab from the writing center and take back to their seats. I love that they have the resources and tools they need without having to physically be at the writing center. It is also a visual reminder for other students to leave them alone while they write. I only make enough in my classroom for the number of students who will be at writing center. You could also make one for each student in your class if it fits your needs. As you can see, there's not a lot of space for 4-5 students to work at my writing center. I was also hanging our anchor charts back here, but when students would go somewhere else in the room to write alone, they couldn't refer to them. This was a problem. So, these writing offices were born! There are tons of amazing writing office options on TPT, but I was looking for something simple for my students. I wanted them to have easy access to sights words, the alphabet, a writer's checklist, and graphic organizers. This is the front of the writing office. I got the green file folders from Amazon. Click the photo below for an affiliate link to the folders. I recommend laminating the offices once you get them put together. Students can also then check off the items on the Writer's Checklist after writing. They always want to ask what to do when they're done. I included an early finisher list of things to do, so you never have to answer that question! My students really rely on sentence starters right now when writing. Each type of writing's graphic organizer tool contains them for each sentence of their writing. I also added the alphabet at the bottom, because correct letter formation is super important. Finally, I added a mini word wall for sight words. The printables for the writing office also come in black and white within the resource. They would be really fun printed on Astrobrights paper! For the color version, I went with cool colors to provide a more calming workspace. You can click any of the photos in the blog post if you think this might be a tool your young writer's need! Happy writing, and thanks for stopping by!

The Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. Free printable preschool Bible lesson. Includes guide, games, activites, worksheets, coloring, craft and more.

This week was our first week back and, boy am I tired! My class is great though...very inquisitive and eager to learn. They take their work seriously and are actively working most of the day. Who could ask for more?? We did quite a few things this week, but I want to share with you one "get to know you" project we did that really came out great. I seriously can't stop staring at it! I saw this pin on Pinterest. I love how it looks and thought it would make a great welcome sign. Now, on the pin, the hands seemed to be just colored in. I wanted something a bit more. So we started with creating Circle Maps about ourselves. What made us special? What are some things that have shaped us? Where did you go in your life? etc....Most of the kids finished these Circle Maps in class on the first day of school. I then asked the students to trace their hands and arms on a piece of 11 x 17" piece of paper. They then had to draw, write, decorate, etc...the traced in hand with items from the Circle Map. The goal was to teach their fellow classmates about themselves in a visual way, without giving away too much information (ie: I didn't want them to write paragraphs.) That is pretty much how far we got in class. So, the first homework assignment the students had to finish the project at home. I gave them this sheet so that they could be a bit more focused on their project and add a bit if they wanted. (but if you are going copy-less, just forgo this. They can write the information on a sheet of paper instead.) The next day, the hands came back to school...and they were great! I had the kids get into groups and share what they decided to put on their hands and why. The kids learned a lot about each other in that 15 minute session! You can see some of them used words as well as pictures to tell about themselves. I love the one directly in the center of this picture! Others just used pictures, like the one in the middle here. When I went to put them around a piece of poster board, like in the original pin, they didn't fit :( I think if I had used a smaller piece of paper to trace their hands to begin with they might have. Oh well! I decided to put them up as if the hands were all in a line, raising up.....and it came out great! I overlapped the hands, so I was able to get 5 or 6 on one piece of large construction paper. I then mounted them on my wall. I love it! All in all, this was a fun little project that served as a great way for the kids to get to know each other and make a nice display! What is something you do during the first week of school to help the kids get to know each other and for you to learn a little about them? Follow me on Snapchat for even more teaching ideas!