Happy New Year!!! Going back to school after the long awaited Christmas and New Year break is never easy. Although it may be hard to believe, our students are dreading it just as much as we are. After years of dealing with this horrible dread, I decided to look for ways to make the blow of going back to school a little softer for both myself and my students.
For the first week or two after the holiday break, my students begin each class with video journal responses. What this means is they watch a short video clip that addresses topics such as resolutions, goal setting, etc, and then respond to the question that goes along with the video. This is a great way to allow students to reflect on where they are as well as where they want to be. Following the completion of the journal responses, students fill out an infographic that correlates with the topics discussed in the videos. These are great to hang around the room to remind students of what their goals are and to keep them focused for the remainder of the year. You can access this resource here.
Another way to get students thinking about the book we’ve been reading is to do a character reflection. This is helpful to get students back into critical thinking mode and to remember important characteristics about characters in the book they were reading prior to break. I know my students seem to forget everything! To do this, I have students use these character reflection task cards that work with any novel or story. They’re for sale in my store, but I’m giving them to you for FREE here to show my appreciation for all of your support this year!
To take a look at the entire bundle of all of my New Year’s resources, click here.
What do you do to get your students back into the swing of things after the holiday break? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
