May Activities For Kindergarten and First Grade
May activities are here! Do you plan to get a head start on making May plans? It’s that stressful time of the year when EVERYTHING is due at once: doing assessments, report cards, final projects, goals, final formal observations, end of year celebrations, packing up (if you are switching schools or grades) and maybe some FUN along the way! You WANT to have fun with your kids BUT you don’t want them bouncing off the walls because there is too much unstructured time. I understand. If you already have May planned out then you can carry on. BUT if you want some ideas that are FUN but also will help you stay consistent with the academics then Read On!
Ocean Animals
In April we worked on a living & nonliving unit. We studied farm animals, hatched chicks and grew plants. If you wanted to extend any of those theme you could. Here the April blogpost.
April Activities For Kindergarten and First Grade
However it’s also fun to continue to study more animals. Towards the end of the year I like to continue teaching informational writing and have the kids create animal reports. You could have the kids choose any animal or you could focus on a specific type of animal such as ocean animals. You could use the PowerPoint resource for an overview of some ocean animals. Then let the children pick their favorite ocean animal and you can get books from the school library about each of the animals. Have older students come in for a 15 to 20 minute block of time to read the books to the kindergarteners or first graders. Have the younger kids tell the older kids some facts about their animal. Then let your students work on the Ocean Animal Reports in the shape of the animal. During this unit we also sing and incorporate ocean animals into the writing center.
Zoo Animals
Your students can also do Zoo Animal Reports the following week in addition to (or instead of) Ocean Animal Reports. It’s the same process as described above.
Also check out my FREE zoo song.
However this week we are also getting ready for Mother’s Day. If you click the picture below you can get my FREE Mother’s Day song that I wrote. The song/video comes in two versions: Using the word mom and not using the word mom. I realize that not all kids have contact with their mom so I have changed the lyrics slightly (although same tune) so that it can be sung to any special lady in their lives. It Is FREE! Enjoy!
Maybe you want to do a play OR a musical! Here is a really cute one that will only take about 15 minutes to act out and sing. Interested? Check it out!
Insects
What better time of the year to learn about insects than May? These creepy, crawly little bugs make me a little crazy sometimes BUT it’s fun to see the kids’ eyes light up when they learn that they will be studying insects. Just expect these little creatures to join in the classroom festivities because there WILL be some bug hunting at recess. I just remind them that they need to stay with their families OUTSIDE. We also sing songs, read information about their favorite insects and write about insects during centers.
Camping
During this week in the classroom the kids create stars with glitter on them (just use glitter glue and let it dry) and hang them from the ceilings and we make s’mores using graham crackers and chocolate. It’s fun to read camping stories to them while they pick a spot to lie down under the “stars” (that they created). We also sing and write about our adventures.
Weekly Plan With Themes
Do you need a plan laid out for you with the themes shown in more detail? To download this thematic plan below and see these May reading and writing activities, click the Download button at the bottom. You can also go directly to any of these resources by clicking on each picture.
Enjoy planning out May! I hope you can find some fun May activities to use while trying to survive the last month (or so) before break. Summer is coming – hang in there!
