Back to School After Winter Break Activities

About this resource

The first days back from winter break are a lot: children have stories to tell, routines to remember and a new year to start. This pack gives your K-3 class a first week back that is already planned. Children draw and write about their break, set goals for the new year, review the classroom routines, take a class survey and color the graph, sort winter break things from school things, and put their first day back in order. Every student page has a My name line, one short instruction with a picture and room to work, so a paraprofessional can run the table from the page itself.

Everything Inside

The PDF is 20 pages long.

• A Start Here page for the teacher: what is inside, a first week back with one or two pages a day, the levels, and a kind note on sharing
• Two My Winter Break pages: one with four sentence frames to finish (starting level) and one with six lined writing rows (ready for more), each with a drawing box
• Ringing In the New Year: color a ten-to-one countdown, finish three sentences and draw
• Goals for the New Year: three goals, each with two writing lines and a drawing box, plus a strip of goal ideas
• A Winter Break Word Bank: 12 pictures with words, sentence starters and feeling words to keep on the desk
• Our Classroom Routines: 8 routines, each with a picture and a circle for yes or not yet
• A Winter Break Time Capsule: 6 prompts to write for the spring
• My Favorites: 6 favorites, each with a picture, a drawing box and a writing line
• A class survey, How Did You Spend Break?: 6 choices with a tally box and a total box for each
• Color the Graph: 6 columns, 10 squares high, and two sentences to finish
• Two sort mats, winter break things and school things: a starting-level mat with 6 pieces and a faint picture in each box, and a building-level mat with 8 pieces
• My First Day Back: cut and glue 4 steps in order (First, Next, Then, Last); a fifth picture does not belong and is left over
• A Letter to My Teacher: a drawing box and 5 writing lines
• A filled example for an invented class of 24 children (the tally, the graph and one invented child's sentences)
• Answer notes with a class survey record and a who-did-what table
• A family letter with things to talk about at home
• A credits page

Levels, Marked With Shapes

The pages that come in more than one version are marked with a circle, a square or a triangle instead of a number, so children at one table are not comparing papers. Starting: My Winter Break with sentence frames and the sort mat with a faint picture in each box. Building: the sort mat with 8 pieces and no faint pictures. Ready for more: My Winter Break on lined paper.

Cutting Built For Small Hands

There are 3 cutting pages with 19 pieces in all: 6 on the first sort mat, 8 on the second and 5 on the sequence page. The pieces sit edge to edge in a strip or a short grid, so each cut is one straight line, and the smallest piece is 1.2 inches across.

How To Use It

Print only the pages that fit your class. A first week back could go like this: Day 1, talk about break and write My Winter Break, then talk through the routines review. Day 2, ask the survey questions, tally, add up the class and color the graph. Day 3, Ringing In the New Year and Goals for the New Year, with the word bank on the desk. Day 4, sort and put the first day back in order. Day 5, the time capsule, favorites and the letter to my teacher. You need scissors, glue sticks and crayons.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A print-and-write PDF. It is not a fillable PDF and it is not Google Slides or a PowerPoint file. It has no dates or year on it, so you can use it every January. The pictures are Whimsy Clips art and the fonts are KA Fonts; the file is secured so the art cannot be lifted out of it. Every child's break looks different, so any writing page can be answered with a favorite food, a favorite game or a favorite part of school, and you can skip a page that does not fit your class.

Who This Is For

K-3 classroom teachers and special education teachers planning the first week back in January, for a general education room, a resource room or a self-contained class: one pack with writing at two levels, a routines review, goal setting, a class record and sorting that needs no prep beyond printing and cutting.