So, here are a couple of things we're doing in First Grade this week to celebrate the old presidents. First, we read a couple of books about Lincoln and Washington and documented our learning (the kids LOVE this.) Lincoln’s Log Sorting Center This week I wanted to incorporate President's Day into my reading workshop, so I made this little center. President’s day theme? Lincoln’s cabins. The idea is pretty basic. Students sort “logs” onto Lincoln’s “cabins”. Once they fill a cabin up with logs, they’ve built it! (And, wowie-wow-wow are Firsties proud of themselves after they’ve “built” a cabin!! Ha!) Pre-Sorting Post Sorting Here are some example sorts. Compound Words V. Non-Compound Words Long E Words and Short E Words What I love about this center is the variety of sorts you can make to differentiate for different kiddos. I stuck to sound sorts when I made my cabins, but you can also make syllable sorts, type of speech sorts, computation sorts, even and odd number sorts, and all other kinds of sorts with this pattern. Want to make your own? Here’s how. First, print this pattern (click the pic to download). It is UGLY. But, I promise it will turn out okay.... Just trust me on this one :) I know it is ugly!!!!! See explanation below. (I was totally afraid to cutesy this pattern up in case I lost the sizing of the craft sticks. They were a TOTAL nightmare to trace! Hence the lack of loveliness...) To improve your cabins, I suggest adding some Cabin Bling. I just added a door and a window to mine because I am an underachiever, but that shouldn’t prevent you from going wild!!! You may also want to laminate your houses for durability. After you’ve made your houses, program craft sticks for whatever skill you want your kiddos to practice. Math, reading, whatever. You also want to create labels for the houses (e.g. “Long E Words”, “Short E Words”). To store this center, I put all of the sticks for each sort into a different labeled baggie. Then, I pull specific sorts for different kiddos who need work on different things. Or, when I’m feeling crazy, I just put out all of the baggies and the kids can sort whatever two groups they feel like. Before sorting the kids like to "shuffle" the sticks- translation: dump all of the sticks on the floor and swirl them around like there's no tomorrow. Then they get down to sorting business and once they’re done, the sorting sticks and labels go right back into the baggies. EASY! Storage President Mobile So I totally wish that I could take credit for this super cute idea, but I can’t. It was entirely the mind-child of my brilliant and adorable colleague, Mrs. Shackelford. My class hasn’t actually done this activity yet, but here’s how I plan on doing it. First, the kiddos are going to make their mobiles (glue a presidential silhouette to each side of a heart- EASY!!!!). Then, the kiddos will sort statements about each president onto to either side of their mobile, gluing them to the mobile tail. Simple and cute. And who can’t use a little simplicity in their life?! Here's what it looks like when it's done (one pic of each side). Any big plans for the Presidential Weekend? I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I plan on catching some zzz’s. (Can you tell my mind is already on the weekend!?!?!?!) Have a FABULOUS Wednesday! Mrs. Thiessen
President’s Day is just around the corner and although the perfect President’s Day is a 3-day weekend, it can still be fun at school, too! What can you do to make President’s Day one your students won’t forget? Try some of these fun and informative President's Day activities. Talk to a President In the age
This free “If I Were President” Worksheet is perfect for President’s Day! I recommend you have your child fill it out as creatively as possible, then give him the rest of the day off! (Or if you’re like many homeschoolers, just plow right on through this national holiday to save up time for your own...
Free Presidents' Day printables and ideas for Montessori-inspired activities using free printables for preschoolers through first graders; perfect for classroom or homeschool!
About a month ago I got a text from the young women’s president asking if I could fill in for one of the presidency members in planning a combined activity. The conversation went something li…
Presidents’ Day is a perfect time to squeeze in great history lessons incorporating reading and writing! This President’s Day Activities Packet helps students read about some of our greatest leaders, learn about presidents on U.S. coins, make paper bag puppets, complete activity sheets, write reports, and write letters to the current president (see what we...
Make it fun for kids to learn about American Presidents in this free, no prep Presidents Day Printable Mini Unit for kids of all ages.
Engage Students in Learning About Famous Presidents and Mount Rushmore with STEM! Students love learning about Mount Rushmore, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln by completing this STEM challenge! Video links are included to teach students about the history of Mount Rushmore as well as mini biographies of each of the presidents. Designing and building a model of Mount Rushmore helps solidify the lesson in a hands-on way! This activity helps students develop critical thinking and engineering skills. Students plan, design, and execute their own ideas. After they have completed their activity, there is time for reflection on what worked and what didn't. Amazing resource for STEM club, STEM Teachers, parents who love hands-on learning, and elementary teachers who want to create a hands-on educational environment in their classroom! Aligns with NGSS(Next Gen Science Standards). Includes: Teacher Instructions Student Instructions Student Note Pages Student Planning Pages Student Reflection Sheet Certificates NGSS Standards TpT Digital Version for Distance Learning with Google Classroom Digital Activity: To use Easel for Distance Learning, select "Open in Easel" on this listing. Works with computers, laptops, chromebooks, ipads, and tablets. Material List: Straws Tape Scissors Ruler What teachers are saying about Presidents' Day Build Mount Rushmore STEM Activity: "When I asked my students to write about their favorite memories in fourth grade, learning about Mount Rushmore was listed many times. My students loved this activity! Thank you!" - Mollie G. "I am so excited about this extensive resource. You have thought of everything! I can't wait to use it for our upcoming school-wide STEAM night! Thanks for all of your hard work!" - Tami P. "This will be a great addition to our unit on landmarks. Thanks for the social studies connections too."
Engage your students with hands on Presidents Day Activities, including President STEM challenge, drawing activity, Lincoln craft, and more!
What can kids do on Presidents' Day? If you've ever asked this question, then we have what you need. This post shares fun, yet simple Presidents' Day activities for upper elementary students. Not only will teachers get fresh ideas for what to do in the classroom, but we have some tips for parents too! *This
American President Worksheets for kids to learn about U.S. Presidents of the United States. Includes all 46 from George Washington to Biden.
I am all done with parent conferences and it feels great! I had the most terrific year and I’m so happy to share my students’ progress with their parents. During parent conference time, I always love to have lots of student work to display. I absolutely love to incorporate student pictures into student work. This ... Read More about Silhouette Autobiographies and Read Across America
To help make your Presidents Day more fun and engaging, I’m sharing some favorite learning activities that young students have loved over the years. They should help make prepping for Presidents Day a little easier! George Washington & Abraham Lincoln Activities We usually start off our Presidents Day unit by discussing George Washington and Abraham […]
Celebrating President's Day can be so much fun with these 21 easy presidents day activities and crafts for kids. I've got free printables and templates for George Washington wigs, Abraham Lincoln's hat, cabin crafts, President's Day crafty food, and so much more! When is President's Day? When is Presidents Day? Presidents' Day in 2018 is on Monday, the 19th of February. In the United States, Presidents Day is always celebrated on the third Monday of February. Presidents Day is a federal holiday officially designated as George Washington's Birthday on February 22. While the holiday is officially Washington's Birthday, it has
🌎 Read This Post In: English | Español 🇪🇸 | Português 🇧🇷 Disclaimer: These ideas aren't all my own. Most are from past fun activities I have been to, all of which have been team efforts. I hope all my current and former leaders know how much I appreciate everything they planned for us. So... A year of activity ideas!! Pin your favorites. 📌 👉Want these in a PDF? Check this out in the shop. INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITIES 1. Cook for the missionaries Choose a target dish for the youth to learn to make. Bring supplies and tell missionaries dinner's on y'all for that night. Instruct them on making, serving + setting up the meal. Add time limits for suspense! 2. Photography night A photographer in the ward shared her tips on posing, selfies, lighting, group pictures, cameras, and more. It ended with a big photo shoot for practice. 3. Paint night One of our young women was close with her art teacher, so we brought the supplies and the expert showed us how to use them. So much fun that we've done this several times. You don't need anyone good at painting to lead the activity, though -- Pinterest and YouTube have so many tutorials as well! 4. Outdoor survival night We split into teams in the church parking lot and had to "fight to survive" through three stations: making a lean-to with a tree, rope, and tarp, building a fire without matches, and using a compass to find hidden treasure, and enjoyed s'mores. 5. Cake decorating night A sister in the ward is a professional caterer + baker and she showed us all the different icing and frosting mixing and piping techniques! It was sweet. 😉😋 6. Traveling Etiquette Dinner We went to three houses with different lessons and food at each one. First, we had appetizers and a lesson about dinner behavior, then we drove to the next house where we had dinner and talked about place settings. Finally, we went to the last house and talked about dating while having dessert. 7. International Foods Night Our youth group is so diverse and we have a lot of amazing girls that have joined us from different countries around the world. We set this up to let them teach us about their culture...and yes, to have lots of amazing food. It doesn't get better than that! 8. Friendship Bracelet Night We all wished we knew how to make friendship bracelets but felt intimidated by complicated techniques. So we learned to make them soooo easily, with cereal boxes!! All credit goes to this blog from Pinterest, we enjoyed using her tutorial. 9. Iron Chef Competition This was so fun it became a ward tradition. Gather mystery ingredients. Missionaries make great judges. The teams have an hour to make a master meal with what they have, learning resourcefulness and cooking from the older kids along the way. 10. DIY flip flops Relief Society tablecloth flat lay 🤣🤩 Cheap, useful, and cute. We bought $1 flip flops for each Young Woman, and decorated them with fabric ties, as per here. The goal was for everyone to have a pair of inexpensive flip flops they didn't have to worry about getting dirty at girls camp. 11. Tie dye night Everyone brought a white shirt and we folded and dyed them. Pretty easy and quick, try the tutorial here. We bought tie-dye colors but I've seen food coloring used before, from Pinterest ofc. 12. Band night Our bishop got each of the members of his band to teach a different "clinic" based on each instrument - voice, piano, guitar, drums, etc. The youth signed up for which instrument they wanted to do in advance. Instruments were borrowed. We all learned the different parts to one song and had a performance in the gym. 13. Time capsules night I've made printables for cute individual time capsules! What would also be so cute is a group time capsule - each class could make one with group photos of them, positive things they write about each other, their favorite church things, etc. 14. The Game of Latter-Day Saint Life We brought a Game of Life board and played, pausing for devotionals from different people at each spot (college or work first? marriage? kids? home ownership? money?) You can also make a custom Latter-Day Saint themed game board or a life sized game of LIFE. 15. Babysitting skills night A bunch of primary kids were invited. We were given a babysitting lesson before, and then put our knowledge into action as we played with the children. 16. Make-up Know How In a group of young women and their leaders, people qualified to teach makeup techniques it won't be scarce. This was fun for the younger yw who were just getting into makeup and for the older yw who could show off their talents. 17. Bread Making We learned how to make our own bread. We each had index cards to write the recipe on, but we did it step by step as the leaders demonstrated the process with us. Bread making can be intimidating, but thankfully Pinterest exists! Here's an idea to get you started. 18. Hairstyle night Learn to do Dutch, and French braids and have each girl bring her own brushes and hair ties so everything is sanitary. You can also go over curling and straightening hair, products everyone swears by, dos and don'ts, etc! 19. Modesty night We cut out paper dolls and made modest outfits for them with scrapbook paper. We discussed standing out from the world and being a light as we cut, pasted, and taped. A modest fashion show could also be fun! 20. Song night We've done this to prep for musical numbers, or to learn to sing a song. A way to make this more fun is to get a ukulele involved. Chances are that several of the youth know how to play (this has always been true for us at a given church activity) and gets them involved and everyone having fun. PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES 21. Sledding If you have the weather and location, enjoy some fun in the snow and then some hot chocolate back at the church building. 22. Youth Pool Party This one is a classic, along with a BBQ! 💦 The leaders bring the most essential items (burgers, buns, plates, paper utensils) the young women bring the kind of essential items (salads, desserts, appetizers) and the young men bring the items that won't be too unfortunate for us to miss (sodas, chips, condiments etc) and it always works out. 🍔 23. Yoga Night We did this one outside + got some low impact exercise + fresh air. Dual yoga is also fun! 24. Cultural Dance Night A dance teacher from the ward taught us traditional dances from different world cultures. 25. Nutrition Night We learned how to make healthy green smoothies. You could also expand this to healthy meal ideas. 26. Color run We got everyone white shirts that said "let your colors shine." Then we sprinted around the church parking lot while the leaders tried to make us as colorful as possible. 🎨 27. Outdoor/backyard games night We played kickball + Spud, but other outdoor games are, of course, fair game. Ideas include Mother May I, What Time Is It, Missionary Tag, Blob Tag, Ghost in the Graveyard👻, Werewolf/Mafia, Sardines, or whatever y'all enjoy. 28. Glow In The Dark Volleyball This is what it looked like during the activity! 👇 For the first fifteen minutes, everyone got glowsticks + put them together as necklaces, bracelets, anklets, etc. We put glow in the dark paint on our volleyball and really enjoyed this fun twist on a classic game. 🏐 See the glow in the dark dessert table below! 29. Church gym sports When nonmembers ask why we all have gyms, this is one of the reasons. Volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, soccer, and more are all easy to plan + play inside in those cold winter months. 30. Self defense skills night One of the young women does karate + invited a member of her dojo to give everyone tips on basic moves to defend themselves and stay safe if attacked. 31. Nerf Wars The young men thought this would be fun. Tie in doctrinally to "avoiding the fiery darts of the adversary" or the "Samuel the Lamanite" story. 32. Life Sized Games Our ward has played life size Hungry Hungry Hippos and Battleship.The latter was when we did life size Battleship. We split into teams, put up a blanket in the middle, and everyone lay in different areas on the gym floor. While lying down, we would throw a light ball at each other over the barrier and if someone was hit, they were out. I found so many other cute life sized game ideas on Pinterest y'all could try, including Foosball, Clue, Guess Who, Connect 4, Operation, Angry Birds, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Jenga, Pac Man, Scrabble, Tic Tac Toe and Kerplunk. Woah, 15 weeks of creative combined youth activities. 😉 33. Group bike route In my old ward, there were SO many of us (easily 30+) and I still laugh out loud thinking about this one bewildered man walking his dog who saw this procession of dozens of women and girls zooming by on their bikes, and was like "who is this?" Having enough bikes for everyone can definitely be a challenge, but if you can round up a lot of extras or consult with parents first before planning, you could make it work! SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES 34. Watch Face2Face Addresses We always do this whenever they come out because our time zone has them dropping at 10 pm on a school night. You can even do this with old ones they've made. Give one of these a try. 35. Scripture canvas bags These are great for when your youth need to have + transport their heavy, irl scriptures--and y'all need a cute and crafty activity idea! We created ours with fabric markers + canvas bags. 36. General conference prep night We made trail mix to enjoy with our families and DIY notebooks -- dollar tree journals, with cut out pictures of the general authorities that we taped to the pages and used as tabs. 37. General conference review night I'm planning to blog about some fun games to do for this. For now, try a themed Kahoot or General Conference race! 38. Teach the Theme activity Every year we get a new one and every year I put together a package to help you make teaching it to your youth a fun and memorable experience! I ended up having to take the 2020 one down 😢 but I'll be back with another one when the creating-resources-for-the-theme-in-4-months frenzy returns. 39. FamilySearch Workshop Everyone brought a dessert from a country of their heritage and we enjoyed treats while our Youth Family History consultant gave us pointers on how to use the Family Search indexing program. We also did our best to make it fun by incorporating the "Find My Famous Relatives" database that BYU has. I also suggest this Coco family history activity I made! 40. Spiritual Journal Jars Talk about the importance of writing down your "Spiritually Defining Memories" (recently coined term, classic concept.) We decorated mason jars with washi tape, scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, and acrylics and then filled them with journal prompts + ideas. 41. Church escape room This photo is from a St. Patrick's day escape room I created for the group and let me tell you...never again!! The activity went well, and staying up so late working on it every night and going crazy making every detail perfect did not go to waste. But you don't have to become a martyr to host a good activity. Which is why I would suggest using a pre-made church themed escape room like the Hope of Israel one (we've tested and enjoyed) or this general church themed one that is sure to excite, amaze, and promote teamwork skills! 42. Primary song helps Make cute visual aids to help the kids learn their primary songs, helping your busy chorister save energy and time. Win win! 43. Cleaning the nursery We got on our gloves, turned on our Disney music, and disinfected every last nursery toy. This was pre-corona, but I have a feeling this might become more frequent when we're back at church again. 👀😂 44. Family History Campfire Everyone shared one funny/entertaining story from their family history, in the RS room with the lights off and flashlights and lanterns on sitting around this fake fire--which was so hilarious--red, orange and yellow tissue paper crumpled up in a casserole dish. 45. Missionary life skills night RMs set up a bunch of different stations with rapid fire lessons on missionary (but honestly also) life skills they wanted the youth to review/learn--ironing, shining shoes, cooking, sewing (for repairs)--and talked about their mission experiences while we did those chores. 46. Pioneer life skills night Set up different stations with different pioneer skills (making butter, hauling firewood, milling flour, grinding wheat, pulling a handcart) and honor their sacrifice and legacy. 47. Investigator Trailer Night We were put into companions and a bunch of the leaders went into different classrooms around the building, acting as the different stereotypical types of investigators when we "knocked on their doors." (Golden, nice but not interested, angry, etc). Discuss how missionary work is hard but rewarding and your converts, baptisms, results etc don't determine your success but your perseverance and positivity do. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 48. Personality Party We decorated with Disney Princess Personality Posters, and had everyone take a free MBTI test. We played games that helped us to know how to better minister to and get along with our fellow leaders + young women. Posters, handouts, activities, etc, are here! 49. Speed Friendshipping Everyone writes creative, funny, or even deep questions on slips of paper. Create concentric circles with the folding chairs, and have one circle rotate so everyone gets to "friendship" everyone. They get a time limit to go through as many questions as they can. 50. Caroling for the elderly Every year at Christmas, we sing carols at an assisted living home and enjoy hot chocolate afterwards. 51. Heart Attack This has always been received so well and is a Valentine's Day classic. Spread the love! 52. Cookies + Cards We made valentine's day cookies and cards and delivered them to our ministering sisters. 53. Friendship Dinner We did this over the span of three activity nights and it had a Valentine's Day theme. The idea was to make a dinner connecting youth with those who were old/lonely in the ward for a night of ministering and fun. First, we delivered invitations with cookies to the invited. The next week, we decorated the gym for the event. The final week was the dinner. 54. Make fleece tye blankets Service projects really don't get much easier than this--buy some fleece, cut two equal pieces, and then a fringe. Tie each fringe together while you chat, and donate the finished blankets to a good cause. 55. Gratitude scavenger hunt I created a Thanksgiving themed escape room/scavenger hunt activity that is so cute and will be available in the shop when the holiday approaches. 56. Daddy-Daughter Showdown Super fun Father's Day activity with three main events: the dads stood behind a chalkboard and we had to guess whose was ours, we drew pictures of them they had to guess which one was them, and then the big finale was us having to tie their tie and them having to paint our nails. 57. Disney lip sync battle One of our favorite activities EVER. Young women versus young men -- we rehearsed separately to face off and ended up choosing the exact same song! Super fun, easy, and hilarious. 58. Taking Photos of Graves Easy service project to organize -- index graves for BillionGraves, which has an easy to use mobile app. 59. Mall Scavenger Hunt We split into teams with leaders as the captains and were dropped off at our local mall. The team to take group photos with every item on the list and make it back to the church first were the champions. 60. Making gift boxes for Samaritan's Purse In this Christmastime activity, everyone brought cute gift items from 5 Below, Dollar Tree, etc. We got our assignments from Samaritan's Purse Ministries and put together and decorated boxes for them. 61. Bulletin Board Making Putting together a bulletin board, whether organically or with a printable kit, is a lot of work. We did it together for one of our activities. You could also do it as a service project for a busy (primary, rs, etc) leader at the beginning of the year. Bonus points if you use one from the shop! _____________ Whew! We made it. But before you dash, I want to make sure you know that this is NOT the only resource I have to make your life easier as a busy Latter-Day Saint. 💛 To easily see & have all my free Latter-Day Saint resources at your fingertips, follow me on Pinterest! Again, if you want to have a list of these activities in PDF form, check out this product!
Check out these 11 fun and simple President’s Day homeschool activities!
I am so so excited to be linking up with The Primary Chalkboard for the No Worksheet Wednesdays series! How did this idea start? It was the idea of the amazing Christina, from Sugar and Spice with Miss DeCarbo. She had just returned from the National Reading Recovery Conference, and had picked up a few professional reading books. Among them, was the book: A lively and interesting discussion followed, and we all agreed that it was time to go "back to basics." So here we are! Future link-ups will be held on these dates: March 11th March 18th March 25th So, what did I do two Wednesdays ago in preparation for this link-up? Well, we were still working on our Presidents' Day Flip Book. More specifically, we were set to read and learn about the responsibilities of the president. I knew I needed to get my second graders to a place where they could accomplish this task on Thursday: So, before we read the text, we focused on some hands-on vocabulary building...old school style, and made Word Posters. Here's how I did it: 1) Required Skills Mini-Lesson: Whole class mini-lesson on dictionary skills (abc order and guide words) 2) Guided Practice: We did a sample poster together. I left it pretty open-ended, and told them they could represent the word in any way they thought would be helpful. (pictures, definition, examples, cut-out photographs, and even non-examples) 3) Guidelines and Expectations: Ok, here is where I botched it up. We do a lot of inquiry work in my classroom. Kids are working together on a regular basis. So, I skipped the expectations talk, and just let them get to work. Big mistake! I had to stop our session, pull everyone back to the carpet, and go over our rules for working together. Here is the poster I have in my classroom. These are the rules that we have come up with together, during the course of the year. Each time we have a collaborative task, we always wrap it up with a discussion about our "successes" and "challenges". Students share any issues that came up in their groups, and then students work on coming up with a solution. We add the solutions to our poster. This makes the rules relevant and meaningful to my students. 4) Independent Practice: Students went off with their partners to go create their posters. They looked up their word in a dictionary, and worked on paraphrasing what their word meant. I made sure the poster paper was large enough so that all 3 group members could be contributing to their poster at the same time. By leaving this task open, all students were able to participate. I loved that even my students who struggle with reading and writing were able to add drawings and labels that represented their word, and made their learning evident. All Hands On Deck = A Happy Teacher! Here are a few finished posters: Think the poster above is a little bare? That's ok, because we will add examples and character's names throughout the year who demonstrate this trait! "collaborative" Their posters were seriously cute and authentic (not perfect), and they loved making them! As a teacher, the discussions I heard while walking around were rich and meaningful. Students were negotiating, compromising, agreeing and disagreeing respectfully, and coming to a consensus. 5) Group Presentations: Each group was then asked to present their word to the class. Each student was expected to contribute to their group's presentation. After the group is done, we use a wonderful idea I got from Stephanie Harvey. After students share, the audience may respond with: a) Comment b) Connection (In my classroom, this has become "Important Connection", to make sure we stay focused on the big ideas) c) Question, d) I also added the option of "Suggestion". The audience members usually have lots of suggestions for each group. After all groups had finished, I gave all of the groups an additional 5 minutes to add any ideas to their posters. These posters now hang in our classroom, and are a great focus wall for character trait discussions during our ELA block. 6) Debrief: Don't forget to go over the "successes and challenges" of working together. The next day, we were all set to read! We did a quick review of the words using a Powerpoint that I had made (which I will get into in a future post). (BTW: My approach to vocabulary instruction is based on the work of Isabel Beck. If you have not read her book...it is amazing!) Affiliate link below. With all of this background knowledge about the vocabulary, the students did a wonderful job finding text evidence to complete our reading task, the following day! To learn more about vocabulary instruction or the Let's Learn about Presidents' Day Flip Book, click here or on the image below. Here is a little freebie poster that you could use in your room for having students respond to each other. This poster works well for all subject areas, including math! Don't forget to check out all of these other amazing No Worksheet Wednesday ideas. (click below) Nicole
