365 Days of Classroom Fun Early Childhood Development Activities & Supply Lists for Every Day of the Year Written by Kristen Ortwerth & Angela Feathers Illustrations by Natalia Scabuso Copyright 2019 by Ledger Software, LLC (d.b.a. Prime Child Care Software) All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email the publisher, subject line “Permission Requested: 365 Days of Fun,” at [email protected]. Ordering information: quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the author at the email address above. Orders by U.S. trade bookstores and wholesalers please contact the author: Tel 888-311-1351; email [email protected] or visit www.pccsoft.com Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2019 This book is dedicated to Ms. Keller-V, Mrs. Dozier, Ms. Kelly & Ms. Bobbie who taught me how to celebrate the small things & take joy in learning. FOREWORD As a child, I spent time in multiple daycare settings (some better than others), and even in the earliest years of elementary & preschool, my very best memories are the ones that involved simple, DIY celebrations of even the most trivial things to help me remember books, animals, foods, historical events, scientific discoveries, and new cultures. Little did I realize how hard my teachers must have worked behind the scenes to make those memories happen for me. Our early childhood educators are overworked, underpaid, and (in some cases) massively undervalued. Lesson planning is critical to your success as an educator, but it can also be a royal pain, especially when you’re just starting out in the field. When I set out to create this book, I had exactly that in mind: help early educators with ideas for their lesson plans that incorporate the concept of celebration & play into the classroom learning environment. So many of my friends are educators, and they all have the same thing to say: executing your lesson plan well and seeing the joy light up all of those little faces is incredibly rewarding, but the thought of trying to come up with that many ideas and build a calendar out of them is exhausting. It’s usually one of the things that they procrastinate most and force themselves into doing. So, I wanted to help kickstart that creativity and inject a little bit of fun into lesson planning with a cheat sheet of ideas you can use to fill out your lesson plans for any day of the year. In this book, you’ll find 365 days of reusable ideas for activities that incorporate educational play & celebration in early years educational environments. Each day’s activity is tied to a national (USA) observance day or month. Some are serious or historical topics, some are simply interesting, and some of are very, very silly. Take these ideas to turn your classroom into a celebratory learning lab that can help students to learn real world information though fun, engaging activities. I tried to pick holidays that recur on the same date every year so that you can reuse the ideas year over year. My goal in creating this book was to provide you with a resource you can use to reach any number of educational goals through memorable, engaging lessons without reinventing the wheel every time you sit down to do lesson planning! My personal experience in a daycare setting notwithstanding, research studies prove that (at any age) when we are engaged and having fun while learning, our brains release a chemical called dopamine that can act as the brain’s reward mechanism. In fact, dopamine in children goes beyond just reinforcing the joy of learning. Whenever it’s released, we are far more likely to remember that experience; when it’s not there, we have a much harder time retaining information. This is the reason that incorporating play into learning is so very effective! Creating these types of activities and engaging events for our students is imperative to helping these minds grow and understand the things they need in ways that are positive and healthy. Another major benefit of aligning your classroom activities to broadly recognized events is that it allows you to connect what’s happening in the classroom to the real world, including with parents and others at home. It’s a great idea to include these activities in weekly or monthly newsletters in addition to your daily sheets so that parents have easy insight to something their child is learning and working on in school. It gives them something charming and relatable that they can discuss at home. Learners who connect information to their world helps them to understand its importance and relevance. Through these creative activities, you never know what interest you may spark. Perhaps a child will want to learn how to make their own ice cream on National Ice Cream Day or want to check out books from the library to understand the history of Groundhog Day. Regardless, these timeless activities are all planned out for you so that you can maximize your time with the student and reduce the administrative work of pulling plans together. Regardless of how many of these ideas you choose to incorporate into your lesson plans and curriculum, this will be your go-to guide for all things fun and entertaining for your classroom. It can be modified based on age group. Your students are sure to love it, and who knows, maybe you will learn a thing or two along the way! I’ve also included a list of supplies that you might need for these activities so that you can ask your center or director to make sure they’re available. If that’s not an option for you, you can also create a “donation” drive each month to get parents to provide some of the supplies you’ll need (they might even come in and volunteer to help on the days that they want to help you celebrate!) While all of these activities are designed to help you reduce the amount of time spent on busy work and administrative tasks, I also know that not every day in the classroom goes the way you hoped it would, and sometimes the stress of a relationship with a colleague or a parent can really get you down (or make your blood boil!) I want to give you something that not only helps you engage your students, but also helps you manage your stress and anxiety, so I worked with illustrator Natalia Scabuso to create an adult coloring page for you to complete each month. Spending time coloring is a little bit like meditation, and many clinical therapists assert that an hour spent quietly coloring can be as valuable as spending an hour meditating or exercising. It utilizes both sides of your brain and allows you to exercise your problem solving and organizational brainpower in a low risk, emotionally satisfying & creative activity. Burnout is a huge risk for early childhood educators, so any time you’re feeling a little frayed around the edges or falling a little out of love with the work you do, flip to your month, grab the crayon tub and allow yourself a little time to unwind and relax. Childcare workers, early childhood educators, and teachers are incredible, and the work you do to build the foundation for childhood development has a direct impact on the world around us and the kind of society we will have in the future. I am so grateful to you for every book you read, every sticky finger and runny nose you wipe, every building block you clean up, and all of the hard work you put in behind the scenes to create an environment where our children can grow and thrive. Don’t ever forget that you are amazing, and you are appreciated every single day. One day, a child like me will grow up and remember everything you did to bring joy and celebration into her life! JANUARY January 1 Celebrate: New Year’s Day What You’ll Do: It’s a brand-new year! What will it hold? Discuss the possibilities and traditions with the children. Perhaps have some traditional New Year’s food (black-eyed peas, turnip greens). Enjoy the promise of a new year! Infant/Toddler Adaptation: Our youngest students can also participate by trying new foods and ringing in the New Year! January 2 Celebration: Winter Animals What You Will Need: Books, pictures, figures What You’ll Do: We know children are drawn to nature. Let’s talk to them about animals who thrive in the winter. Snow leopards, reindeer, and snowshoe hares are just a few that come to mind. Explore their habitats and what part of the world they live in. Share their names and help children identify them. Allow the children to play with figures and recreate the habitats and things they’ve learned. Infant/Toddler Adaptation: Ensure that the figures are not choking hazards. Allow the children to explore. Name the animals, a few a time, in a clear distinct voice. Have the children repeat. January 3 Celebration: Straw Day What You Will Need: Various straws, size and colors, biodegradable straws What You’ll Do: Who doesn’t love a straw? Children are drawn to the colors, stripes, bendy and swirly straws.