January has arrived, and while it’s not snowing here in Florida, I know many of you are looking for ways to celebrate the Winter Wonderland in your classrooms! Teach your students about the importance of inclusion and diversity, the excitement of arctic animals, and the power of bundling up through these January learning resources.
So bundle up because we’re bringing you some of our favorite Winter lesson plans, crafts, and activities.
Martin Luther King Jr. Resources
January is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and in honor of him, we’ve created the Martin Luther King Jr. Lapbook. You can chat about the importance of MLK all month long! This lapbook gives your students the chance to reflect on meaningful concepts such as equality and diversity and how they do have the power to change the world. Use this lapbook across several weeks, and work inclusion, kindness, and acceptance into your classroom- although I’m sure you do that anyway!
To complement the lapbook and get vocabulary practice in, use the Happy Birthday, MLK Jr. Adapted Book.
Digital Winter Activity Resources
Last year, we created a slew of digital activities with the intention of distance learning. Thankfully, school has returned to in-person, but these lessons are still a fantastic resource to have on hand.
Have your students practice their matching and literacy skills with the Mitten Letter Matching Digital Activity. This digital activity is perfect for free time, small group instruction, or center time. Your kiddos will look forward to practicing letter recognition with this fun & friendly snowman activity!
P.S. You’re going to need Google Slides to be able to access any of the Digital Activities in the shop! If the thought of spicing up technology in your classroom is a bit daunting, check out this post for some guidance.
While we’re on the topic of digital activities, here’s another one that really entices students to participate AND has enough lessons to last the entire month. I’d certainly call that a win!
Give students the chance to Create Their Own Winter Adventure with this bundle of fourteen different interactive activities. A bonus reason to work this into your January planner? There’s an activity for every academic area, including science and life skills, so that you can carry them across centers.
Literacy Winter Resources
The Create Your Own Winter Adventure bundle has slides featuring polar bears, snow owls, seals, and all of the cutest arctic animals.
Use The Arctic Animals Adapted Book as an extension (or vice versa) to pique the interest of the animal lovers in your classroom. The All About Polar Bears Adapted Book is another goodie that goes hand-in-hand with the arctic theme. Don’t forget your parka to keep you cozy!
And in case you haven’t heard, we sort of have a thing for adapted books here. Check out the store for our entire themed collection, or try this one for FREE!
For more literacy and animal-based fun for January, read A Loud Winter’s Nap by Katy Hudson to your students. Tortoise is a deep sleeper during the winter season, but his friends have other plans. They try to keep him awake, so he doesn’t miss out on all of the amazing winter beauty! A Loud Winter’s Nap Book Companion is the perfect lesson extension and features activities around sequencing, vocabulary, story mapping, and more! Practice those core language arts skills with this little tortoise friend.
Have you tried Write the Room activities in your classroom? If you haven’t, it isn’t too late to start! You can think of this bundle I’m about to show you as a Write the Room activity, but the deluxe version! The Write-Trace-Color-Identify The Room is a differentiated learning pack that gives kids on all learning levels the chance to practice their handwriting skills. In addition, it contains pages for themes and seasons to cover the entire school year, including Winter.
The beauty of this pack is that you can get super creative! Incorporate the cards into your movement block for gross motor practice or put them in a Winter sensory bin for added excitement and exploration. My vote for a great snow-like sensory filler is packing peanuts.
The Ultimate Winter Resource
Alright. I’m going to need a drumroll before I share my favorite January resource because it’s just that good. Are you ready?!
It’s the January Adapted Piece Book Set!
This valuable winter bundle comes with pieces for 12 different winter-themed stories. This set will let you plan out three different books for each week in January if you think about it. Fan favorites such as The Snowy Day, Snowmen At Night, The Mitten, and Bear Snores are turned interactive with pieces that take the student overwhelm out of storytime.
The reason this resource is my fav? Your students won’t even realize that they’re practicing their fluency and comprehension skills because they stay busy and focused with hands-on fun!
There’s so much to celebrate in January! What is your favorite winter topic to incorporate into your classroom? Tell us in the comments!
