April Round Up

April Round Up

2 comments Freebies, Monthly Round Up, Social Studies

April is just around the corner.  Can you believe it?  How is time flying by so quickly? 

Well, if you are in the market for some fun activities for the month of April, you've come to the right place!

When I think of April, I think of spring and all things earthy.  Did you know that Arbor Day takes place in April?  Celebrating the importance of trees ties in perfectly with Earth Day, which also takes place in April!

This quick and easy bulletin board idea would be a great extension activity when learning about Arbor Day (or Earth Day).

This craft can be assembled using only two pieces and the students write directly on the craft, talk about easy peasy!  You could have your students write a cinquain, list poem (that's what the sample shows), or an acrostic poem.  Don't forget, April is also poetry month!    

You can grab the templates for this quick and easy craft HERE.

I love directed drawings.  A lot.  I try to do at least one or two a month. It's a great way to help students develop confidence in their drawing skills, and it's also a great way to work on those listening and reasoning skills. And even though everyone is following the same directions, the drawings always come out different and unique.

This month, we'll be drawing some butterflies.  It just wouldn't be spring without butterflies!  This drawing would be a great way to incorporate some art into a butterfly life cycle unit too.

When the drawing part is done, you can let your students dress up their drawings with watercolors, oil pastels, crayons, or whatever!  The example shown above was done using watercolor.  You could encourage your students to paint a scenic background, or let them choose one solid color.  They are the artists, let them decide!

You can grab the directions for this drawing HERE.

I don't know that I could go through the month of April without covering Earth Day.  It's a great way to remind the students of ways that they can help take care of our planet.  I've used this mini book the past few years to introduce Earth Day.  I love that it's interactive and tasks the students with responding in a variety of ways.

After reading various books about Earth Day and learning about ways to take care of our our planet, I love playing a game of I Spy where the students evaluate the sentences printed on each card.  This version gives the students practice with critical thinking as they determine whether a sentence is fact or opinion.  I love that I Spy engages students and gets them moving around while they learn. You can read more about I Spy here.

One of my favorite things to do with Earth Day is to take my students on a nature walk.  What better way to gain an appreciation of nature than to spend some time out in nature.  It's like a mini field trip.  Hehe.  Seriously though, the kids always love this. Any time they get to head outdoors, they are happy campers.  This little journal is fun way to keep them focused as we explore the outdoors.

You can find these, and other activities in my Earth Day unit on TPT.  

I'm a huge fan of class books.  We make them all.the.time. in my classroom.  My class recently made a class book with a twist. What's that you ask?  It's a super cute class coloring book!

Each student created a page to be included. 

I made each student a copy of the coloring book and sent it home for them to color over Spring Break (but, you could send it home any time you want, of course).

We made these back in November too and they were a hit!  You can read all about it HERE.

You can grab the templates to make your very own class coloring book HERE (you can also use these templates to make a traditional class book).

I truly hope you were able to use an idea or two today.  Thanks for stopping by! 

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