January is a great time of year for a classroom reset with your upper elementary students. New Year’s lends itself well to setting new goals and starting fresh, and returning to school after a break makes reviewing classroom procedures and expectations beneficial. Then there is MLK Day and the 100th Day of School to think about.
Below, find 31 no prep activity ideas that will make planning in January a little bit easier.
New Year’s Ideas
1. Goodbye Old Year, Hello New Year Letter
Have students write a short goodbye letter to last year. They could include things like:
- something important they accomplished during the year
- a challenge or mistake that they learned from
- fun memories
- something hard that happened that they want to say goodbye to
Then, students can write a letter welcoming the New Year. They could include things like:
- hopes and dreams
- goals they want to achieve
- habits they want to build
- something new or fun they want to try
2. Free Reviewing Procedures Find Someone Who
As students return to school after the New Year, reviewing classroom procedures will help your students ease back into their old routines. Make this fun by reviewing procedures with this Free Find Someone Who.
You might also like these other fun ways to review classroom procedures.
3. Reflection and Goal Setting Scavenger Hunt
Send students on a word scavenger hunt, looking for words around the classroom – in books, on posters or word walls, etc. – that describe how they felt during the previous year and how they want to feel in the New Year.
These New Year’s Scavenger Hunt worksheets guide students through reflection and goal setting, having them look for words that remind them of things like:
- their proudest moment
- a time they showed kindness
- something new they learned
- a dream they have for their future
- something they want to get better at
- …etc.
4. After the Break, Compare and Contrast 2 Procedures
MLK Day Ideas
5. MLK and Rosa Parks Freebie
6. What Makes a Leader – Character Traits
Have students make a list of the character traits a good leader has, and then rank them in order of importance, explaining their reasoning for the rankings. This free character traits list might help.
You could add on to this by having students list character traits that would be problematic in a leader.
7. Check Out an MLK Primary Resource
8. Hero Vs. Celebrity
Winter-Themed Activities
9. Paper Snowball Fight
10. Virtual Field Trip to Denali National Park
11. Secret Snowman Exchange
12. Sort “Cold” Words by Connotation
Have students brainstorm a list of synonyms for cold, and then sort those words by shades of meaning! Students can order the words based on their connotations, sorting them from words that seem only mildly cold to words that seem to describe something extremely cold.
Some possible words to sort:
- chilly
- crisp
- icy
- frigid
- frosty
- freezing
- cool
- wintry
This is a great activity for vocabulary building, critical thinking, word choice, connotation, shades of meaning, and more. You can find more no prep word sort continuums like this one here.
13. Observe Polar Bears on a WebCam
Give students the opportunity to observe polar bears in their natural habitat using a polar bear cam.
For more background knowledge, use this comparing polar bears and penguins reading comprehension resource – and also give students the opportunity to observe penguins!
14. Create a New Animal With Winter Adaptations
15. Write a Winter Haiku
Haiku are a great way to ease students into poetry because of their short length and clear structure. Use these haiku examples to introduce students to haiku, and have them write their own with a winter theme!
Want a more in depth haiku lesson? This No Prep Haiku Packet teaches students about haiku, provides plenty of examples, and includes templates to help students write their own haiku.
16. Winter Squiggle Story
Draw a random squiggle on a sheet of paper. Have students create a winter drawing that incorporates the squiggle – and then write a short paper that describes their drawing!
Find more fun winter ideas for the classroom here.
17. Read Brave Irene
Brave Irene is a fun winter story that is available as a read-aloud on Storyline Online. The author uses plenty of personification, alliteration, and similes throughout the text, making it a great book for reviewing figurative language.
Check out these questions and activity ideas that support Brave Irene.
100th Day of School No Prep Ideas
18. How Many Ways to Equal 100
Have your 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students come up with as many equations as they can that equal 100, utilizing all of their math knowledge – addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, etc.
Partners or small groups could combine their lists and see if they can come up with 100 ways to equal 100.
19. When I Am 100
Have your students write about what life will be like for them when they are 100 – what will they look like? What will they do every day?
You can use this “When I Am 100 Years Old” Template to guide students who struggle with writing through the writing process successfully.
Other No Prep Ideas for January
20. Desk Scavenger Hunt
This is a fun activity for after the winter break, as students get re-acquainted with their classroom and classroom routines. As a class, make a list of things students should look for in and around their desks (while staying seated!). See if they can find them all.
Include things like:
- something that is blue
- something that starts with the letter N
- something about an inch long
Love scavenger hunts? This fun scavenger hunt bundle includes a desk scavenger hunt, as well as many other ready-to-go classroom scavenger hunts.
21. Chart Daily Sunrise / Sunset Times
22. Stump the Teacher
23. Add a Detail That Supports the Main Idea
24. Review POV by Watching a Commercial
25. Fact & Opinion Writing
Give students a topic and have them write one fact and one opinion about it. This is a fun and easy way to review this skill!
EXAMPLE using dogs as a topic:
- Fact: Adult dogs have 42 permanent teeth.
- Opinion: Dogs have a very smelly breath.
Find more ideas for teaching and reviewing fact and opinion here.
26. Write a Story About a Character Who Changes
This unusual writing prompt will get students thinking while providing a framework that helps inspire students who struggle to come up with writing ideas.
Have students write a story about a character who changes over the course of the story. For a fun character trait review, assign students 2 character traits, like selfish and helpful, and have them write a story about a character who starts off selfish but ends up helpful.
27. Echo Reading
Build student fluency by having your class echo read after you. Read a text, and then have them echo the same text after you. This is especially useful for helping students practice reading at a certain rate or with a certain type of expression. Students can hear you model the phrase or sentence before repeating it back.
Read larger chunks of text so that students will have to read text and not just memorize it!
28. Making Inferences Freebie
29. Example and Nonexample Vocabulary
30. Alphabet Story
31. Have Students Ask The Questions
Want This Noun Freebie?
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