February Activities For Kindergarten and First Grade

It’s the middle of winter and you’ve had indoor recess more times than you care to count. Maybe even more times than you have gotten into the candy drawer? Come on…admit it…you have a candy drawer. But wait…you haven’t even finished planning out all the February activities for the month (or even the week) yet! So you tell yourself, “NO more candy until my planning is DONE! Well…um…maybe…one more piece will get me the nutrients I need to work.”

Need some help? Not to worry…….I’ve got you covered with February activities. Need writing activities? Check! Engaging music? Check! Information about science and social studies topics? Check and Check! Now, sit back and have a sweet treat. I’ve got some resources that will help you plan out engaging learning for the month of February.

Groundhog’s Day

Right off the bat you will need some February activities for Groundhog’s Day. I know it’s only one day BUT you can teach them about groundhogs for an entire week. These animals hibernate and somehow predict the weather…they DESERVE a week! Kids love to learn about animals and your students will be fascinated by groundhog facts where you can also incorporate informational writing all week during your writing block.

During circle time what better way to engage your kids than MUSIC! Get your kids up and moving to a song called “The Groundhog Blues”. There are 5 different activities to go with this song that would be perfect for whole group instruction OR center activities.

This post explains how I use my music in the classroom.

Don’t forget to include a Groundhog’s Day game that you can use for small group instruction or for partners during centers.

Dental Health

Aren’t you lucky that dental health month is in February. Although it’s probably best that you do not let your dentist know that you have a candy drawer. There are so many fun activities for dental health including practicing another week of informational writing and singing songs.

Want some extra activities to add to your writing center or use with whole group or small group instruction? Here are three activities that you can use to spice up learning time. In this bundle there is a writing center with and without writing prompts, pictures with words for vocabulary and spelling practice (as well as getting kids to brainstorm ideas for their writing) and a writing book. There is also a Dental Health Write the Room and some fine motor center activities.

If you teach dental health along with community helpers you can invite parents in to talk about their jobs to your students. That’s so much fun!

Valentine’s Day

Don’t forget that smack in the middle of February is Valentine’s Day. This is that special day where your students hand out cards to their classmates but then realize that they can’t read the names quite yet so actually YOU are the one handing out the cards. Then there is candy (you don’t even have to sneak into your candy drawer today). Too bad Valentine’s Day doesn’t land on a Friday every year. Then the kids can get the sugar out of their systems over the weekend before seeing you again. It’s a great time to teach your students how to be kind because all that INDOOR RECESS is making everyone a little cranky!

Here are some centers that can be used ALL month long. You prep them and set them in tubs or trays and FORGET about them. Well actually you really can’t forget about them because every time you sit at your teacher table to start a small group SOMEONE is reminding you that there are centers out there as you are reminding them to be quiet and not have so much FUN!

Check out this blog post to see how I run Centers

Here is the Valentine’s Day Writing Center that you can also use for whole group and small group writing instruction.

President’s Day

During President’s Day week you will also need some February activities. It’s fun to teach American Symbols during this week. In case you stumbled upon this post and you are not from America I also have a song (in the same resource) that is to the same tune but is about symbols in general (not just American).

Learn some facts about American symbols and write about them. Incorporate this into your social studies curriculum.

Another fun bundle of writing activities! Write the Room is always a hit and gets kids up and moving. Who needs recess after doing a Write the Room? Am I right? Um…ahem…no YOU are right…they still need their recess.

Singing, informational writing (incorporating science or social studies), whole group instruction, small group instruction, centers…..what more can you ask for? Oh math? Are you ready for story problems? Got you covered! I have a printable version or one you can use with Google Slides.

Printable Version

Use with Google Slides Version

I hope you found some February activities that will help your students engage, learn and sing with joy throughout the day. I also hope your kids get some recess too! This also means you can enjoy a sweet snack and have a break (well unless you have recess duty). Wait…is spring here yet?