A New Year’s Celebration
You can reflect on the past and celebrate the future with these motivating activities.
By Rachel D
For many of us, the New Year is a time to reflect on the past and look toward to the future. We tend to make New Year’s goals for the months ahead. It also provides a great opportunity for students to reflect on the first half of the school year. Then, students can create resolutions for the second half of the year.
After the buzz of winter break has dissipated and students have settled back into their old routines, you might want to kick off the second half of the school year with a New Year’s celebration! Although it may be a few days after January 1st, students can enjoy and appreciate an exciting activity that can wake them from their winter slumber.
Follow these steps for a successful New Year and second half of the school year celebration.
Boisterous Banners for the Bash
Start your celebration by decorating the classroom. Have each student create a poster or flier with butcher paper or blank printer paper. Encourage them to devise creative illustrations and come up with clever phrases. For example, you may challenge your students by asking them to use examples of figures of speech on their New Year’s flier, such as hyperboles, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, etc. Students might also throw in examples of alliteration. This way you can make reviewing curriculum fun.
Hats With a New Twist!
You could also have students create hats to wear for the countdown. Allow students to decorate a piece of colored construction paper using markers, glitter, or stickers. Once the decorations are perfected, roll the paper into a cone shape and staple along the seam. Next, use a hole puncher to create two holes opposite each other at the bottom of the cone. Thread yarn, string, or elastic through each hole to make a tie to allow you to fasten it to your students’ heads. Save these hats to wear for the countdown at the end of the celebration!
Timeline of the Past and Future
Give students an opportunity to reflect on their past year. They can list everything they accomplished, and ways they improved. Ask them what they enjoyed most about the year, or what they will always remember about it. Next, have them create a timeline of the last twelve months, highlighting one to three things from each month that they want to remember. They can do this on a blank piece of construction paper, legal printer paper, or a computer.
Make sure students leave at least one quarter of their timeline blank. Once they finish their timeline up to December, have them mark the New Year! Next, give students time to reflect on their resolutions, hopes, and dreams for the year ahead. Finally, allow them to choose three to five things to add to their timeline.
Here's the Countdown
After your students have finished their timelines, have them gather in a circle. One at a time, ask students to stand up and share at least one positive experience they had in 2011 and one of their goals for the future. Once each student has had a chance to share, it is time for the countdown! Supply your students with confetti and horns, ask parents to bring in treats and toast with some apple juice or cider. From ten all the way down to one, this exciting celebration will definitely be memorable for your students, as well as motivational!
Happy New Year!