A Kindergarten Smorgasboard of New Year's Ideas!

Happy Sunday!  We have been cooking and cleaning fools today!  We're hosting a New Year's bash tomorrow so we're trying to get ready!  What are your plans to ring in a new year?  Do you make resolutions?  I always resolve to get six pack abs.  And I fail.  Miserably.  Every year.  Maybe this year will be the year of kindergarten smorgasboard washboard abs!

I know you came here hoping to find Schedulin Sunday and tons of ideas for the week...but...I don't go back to work until January 7th!!  WOOHOO!!!  I know some of you go back Wednesday and I'm sorry for you.  I do have two ideas for the new year and a freebie for ya!

The first idea is a fun and engaging way to build community with your students!  I did this last year and we had a BLAST!

I am fortunate to have a SmartBoard for this activity.  If you don't have a SmartBoard you can use paper or your whiteboard.  Each student gets a turn to be the STAR!  I did this over several days so we didn't spend all day doing this.  Have your STAR stand in front of the board and the rest of the class says things that they like about their friend.  In older grades this is a great exercise for adjectives!  In Kindergarten, we sometimes struggled to come up with 1 descriptive word, instead coming up with a sentence about our friend.  I would write the word that best went with their sentence.  I take a picture of each STAR and I also saved the file and printed a copy for them!  This was so much fun and the monsters loved having a chance to shine in the spotlight.  It's a great way to kick off a new year with your students and help them form a stronger bond as a class!  Be sure to take your turn!  They love to say nice things about the teacher!

Here is another fun new year's activity!  Ya know how much I love me some craftivities, so of course I have one for new years!  This is a simple project that goes perfect on a bulletin board with new year's resolution writing!  You can even jazz it up with different party favors and by using scrap book paper for the hats!  If you want the pattern for this project and writing paper for new years resolutions, check out my common core standards aligned New Year activity pack on TPT and TN!  It has tons of great stuff for the new year!  And it's GLITERIFIC!

Here is a little freebie for you!

If you like these, there are 8 roll and color sheets in my New Year Pack!  These are great for meeting common core standards!  And their fun!