3 New Year Activities to Get the Year Started With a BANG
You walk into your classroom after two glorious weeks of sleeping in, using the bathroom when you want, and binging Emily in Paris (or Jack Ryan).
You totally thought you had all your lessons ready to go before you shut the classroom door way back in 2022!
But, alas. You were a little too eager to get out of the classroom with your armful of holiday treats and gift cards. No worries! Below you can find THREE simple new years activities you can print and have ready for the kids knocking on your door quicker than you can say “Welcome Back.”
1. New Year-One Word
These simple tartants have graced the walls of Sarah’s classroom since 2019. A quick 30 minute activity for students to brainstorm words they want to emulate in the new year, pick one, explain why they want to embody that word this year, then creatively decorate the tartant.
You can grab this takeaway from the takeaway library and check out a past blog with more details.
2. Vision Boards
Did you know January 14 is National Vision Board Day? Based on the concept that “seeing is believing” allow your students some time to create their own vision board for the new year.
Use choice to have students express their vision boards in ways they feel comfortable. Maybe they draw it, or cut out magazine pictures or even hop on Canva and create it digitally.
If you are wondering how to include categories for these vision board to make them more holistic than just “school goals,” try these categories: Health/Wellness, School, Home/Family/Friends, Financial, and Personal Growth.
3. FFA Emblems from Cam Frazier
Past Germinate Speaker, Cam Frazier started the Personal FFA Emblem Craze two years ago. He suggests using it when you are teaching your FFA unit to help review the parts of the emblem (you know the ear of corn and plow right?).
Now, the personal FFA emblem is created using symbols that represent what means the most to that student. Imagine a soccer ball for your sports lover, a deer for the hunters in the crowd, and paintbrushes for those who love to create visual art.
You can check out some examples on Cam’s Instagram and you might even be able to snag his template if you say “pretty please” in his DMs.
So, take a moment to think about which of the three activities would be best for your kiddos. That might be based on their age, maturity level or even the class prep (Emblems may work better in a Basic Ag class and maybe Vision Boards for your Seniors).
These 3 New Years Activities can help you start the day with some fun and time to reflect on what the student really wants out of the new year. That reflection can help the students look into the future and envision who they can be not who people tell them they are.
And that my friend is the power of taking a moment to reflect and set some personal goals. You have the power to provide that time to your students this month!
We’d love to hear which one you’re going to try out - let us know in the DM’s!
The Green & Growing Fam 💚
Holiday Hazards for Your Pets: Downloadable Inside
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… but did you know it can be the most hazardous time of the year for your pets?
Holidays always allow for fun classroom activities and give your students the chance to do something that matches their energy versus forcing them to sit and listen to a 30 minute lesson when they’re hyped up on chocolate and the excitement of the upcoming winter break..
I mean let’s face it - holidays as teachers can be challenging, but we must remember that it isn't our students' fault!
Kids are naturally excited 🤪 about holidays (regardless of their age and regardless if it’s Valentine’s Day, Christmas or Groundhogs Day 😂), so instead of wasting your time and energy on trying to correct their behavior, you can lean into it by planning for fun activities that relate to the holiday at hand!
This activity goes hand in hand with the holidays, so it creates the perfect opportunity for you to still teach something on this day while relating it back to what’s actually going on in their life!
For this Holiday Hazards activity, your students will research hazards that are common around the season. From the beautiful (and toxic) poinsettias to the tantalizing (and shocking) twinkling lights, students find those hazards that might cause our furry (and not so furry) friends stress on the holidays.
To add an extra layer to this activity, you can assign one hazard per group, have them research in groups, present their findings to the whole class. Another extension activity is to have student create informational posters to hang around school!
Holiday Hazards is quick activity (approx. one 45 minute class) that will keep those students occupied despite their distractions on the holiday!
You can grab this activity for FREE by clicking HERE.
Happy Holidays!
The Green & Growing Fam 💚
Start the New Year With Intention With One Word-Downloadable Inside
Y’all I loved this in 2019, and now it’s back (AGAIN)!
The new year is around the corner (so is GERMINATE Virtual Conference, have you registered yet?)
Time to think about how we want to see 2022, and what to personally focus on to move forward.
What a great opportunity to do this with your students…
But, any old worksheet just won’t do this justice! This is a BIG DEAL so it needed to be more that JUST an activity.
So, after thinking and seeing some other ideas similar to this online (like All About Me banners) I decided to make my own back in 2019 and it has been updated for you for 2022!
And thus, the One Word Banner was made.
On the back side are prompts to run through with the kids.
Step 1: Brainstorm as many words as you can that will embody 2022.
Step 2: Circle THREE that you like the most and write why you could see that as your ONE WORD.
Step 3: Pick ONE WORD and explain why that one is the best for you in 2021.
Step 4: On the other (blank) side creatively design your ONE WORD for 2021.
After they were done I decided to hang them on my personal growth wall (I have the FFA mission on the different walls of my room).
It was a GREAT activity that the kids took seriously and I love how for the rest of the semester they will be able to SEE their personal WORD day in and day out!
Wanna try it out? Here is a link to the document!
If you try it out with your students make sure you tag @sarahnerswick & @greenandgrowingedu so I can see the awesomeness your students create!
Scavenger Hunt for National FFA Convention
We can't wait to see you at National Convention in a few short days!
If you haven’t heard, we are doing a meet up!
The Marigold Meetup (if you don’t get the reference, check out this podcast episode) is on Thursday October 28 from 9-11 a.m.
You know you want to come to the Marigold Meetup and you know that keeping your kids occupied at the Expo will give you the time and space to attend the Marigold Meetup.
Picture this. I can see you now…
It’s Thursday at the National Convention. At 8:30 a.m. you have arrived at the Expo Center and start your lesson brief for your students. As you explain their scavenger hunt goals, you can feel the electricity of the environment and the excitement of your students donning the blue & gold jacket. As you pass out the scavenger hunts, the kids in their groups rush into the expo hall ready to learn and connect with others. You turn around confidently to go up the escalator and sky walk to the JW Marriott and feel at ease because you know you students are completing a quality curriculum-based activity while you fill your cup up with coffee and community at the marigold meet up.
That's the picture you want to see on Thursday October 28th right?
Well, you are just ONE CLICK away from that activity. Download the G&G Convention Expo Scavenger Hunt HERE.
Ps... if you aren't attending National Convention, but still want an easy to implement activity for your kiddos with you in the classroom...
Check out the Retiring Officer Reflection worksheet (Pss...I am leaving this activity as part of my sub plans, but have used it before during the FFA Unit)
Save 5 Hours per Week With Start Ups: Template Inside
You can picture exactly what you are looking forward to this summer.
Waking up without an alarm clock
Not hearing a bell a dozen times a day
Eating (and using the bathroom) when you want
You favorite FFA events
Your family's go to vaca stop
the list can go ON and ON
I get it, I also love a good relaxing summer.
But, if I'm being honest I get a little stir crazy after a week or two.
One of my favorite things to work on (other than prepping for Germinate) is to brainstorm ideas that can help save me time ⏱ in the year.
I just listened to this awesome podcast this morning that talked about strategies to save time and basically the morale of the story is SYSTEMS create TIME freedom.
One of the BIGGEST time savers I created a few summers ago when I was feeling stir crazy was creating yearlong Start Ups. Which you can find some in our resources page if you want to "delegate" that task to me.
But, if you want to make your own...I made a blank template to get you started! When you invest your time this summer to make 180 start ups, you will save an estimated 15 HOURS per prep per year! That is WORTH the time investment in my opinion.
Something else worth your investment...attending Germinate.
Instead of spending your summer browsing Pinterest for the prefect activity, trying to find teachers who specialist in a certain events, attempting to create community without knowing where to start, attend Germinate and the hard work is already done for you.
