Fun Activities for the Month of October

It's time to get ready for another month of lesson plans with units and activities for the month of October.  Planning for the entire month is a time management tip that can help you get things done and get out the door in a timely manner each day.

Taking the time one or two days at the end of the month to plan out your entire upcoming month is a great way to stay organized.  While it might mean that you have to stay late at school for a couple of afternoons now, you will be so glad you did as the month rolls on and you find that you can actually get out the door on time most afternoons.  

Keep reading for a roundup of all things October and how to plan for maximum learning and engagement.

First, ask yourself these questions:

1)  What standards and concepts are listed on the curriculum map for October?
2)  What holidays, special days, and school events are taking place during the month?
3)  What activities have I included in past years that were successful that I want to repeat?

Keep all of the answers to these three questions in mind as you plan out your month.

Center Activities:

Centers are such a very important time of day!  Students are engaged and learning, and you have much needed time to work with needs-based groups to meet all of those individual needs.  The use of centers is a great strategy to make sure that you have the time to work with ALL students and meet ALL of their different needs in your classroom.  Keep your centers easy, simple, and fun!

Planning centers for the entire month using activities to both practice and review concepts will take care of a lot of your lesson plans.

Concepts and Standards for All Subjects:

After planning your center activities, plan out your core academic subjects.  If your district uses a curriculum map, this should be fairly easy to fill in the days for the month of what subjects, skills, concepts, and standards you will be using.  Keeping a fall theme can help keep things fun and interesting for your students.

Don't forget to add activities for math fluency in your classroom.  Helping your students become fluent with addition/subtraction or multiplication/division facts just makes teaching all other math concepts so much easier!

All of the "EXTRA" Parts of the Day:

Keep activities ready for students to use immediately upon arrival.  Students will be engaged and excited to come to your classroom each and every morning.  It's a great way to start your day and sets the tone for success for your students.

Add a little extra science and social studies to your day with a different kind of morning work.

Having some easy activities at your fingertips for your early finishers will help keep your classroom moving smoothly during the entire month.  Click here to grab some FREE activities for October.

If you have other items for the month of October, collect them together and plug those in.  Make your copies, and organize them in a way that works best for you.  

If you are in need of items to fill your monthly lessons, click on the pictures below to see if any of my products will be a good fit for your classroom.  The important thing is to finish your planning and enjoy time outside of the classroom.

Keeping things real, keeping your personal life a priority, and helping you whenever I can, that's just...

MY KIND OF TEACHING

Math Minis - An Easy Way to Incorporate Math into Your Activities

What are math minis?

Math minis are a new idea I have for giving your students short activities to help incorporate math into your activities each and every day.

These math minis can be used for practice and assessment as you teach the same concept in your classroom.  They can also be assigned to students who need remediation or just to review a concept.  They are quick and easy for you to add to your lesson plans, assign on Google Classroom (or a compatible program), and go.

Here's a closer look at everything that is included!

What do you think?  Will these work well for you?  I have more coming soon!

I would love to hear what you think and what you need.  Trying to help meet your needs and make teaching easier for you is just...

My Kind of Teaching

Judy Moody was in a Mood - Great Beginning of the School Year Book

Judy Moody Was in a Mood is my favorite chapter book to use for the beginning of the school year for back to school. 

If you are looking for a great Back-to-School chapter book for a read-aloud or whole group reading for the first month, this is the book for you!

Both boys and girls enjoy it.  The students are engaged and excited to learn more about Judy’s antics.

I have a class set so that students can follow along as I read aloud.  They also have time to read individually and in small groups.  They can refer to the book to complete comprehension questions.

This book is great to use at the beginning of the year because it begins with Judy’s dread of going back to school.  

There are so many cool and interesting things that happen in the book.  You can easily use this book for an entire month since there are many things to expand on and learn.

Some of the things included are an unusual choice of a pet which is a Venus Flytrap.  This is the perfect opportunity to learn about these carnivorous plants.  It's a great time for students to do more research with this digital unit.

This book lends itself to developing so many fun learning opportunities.  

Included in my TpT unit are:

Lesson plans are included for every chapter of the book.  These lesson plans will guide you with vocabulary to teach during the chapter and questions to ask while reading the chapter.  Activities to extend learning are also included.

Include writing in your book study.  In addition, to answering text questions, students will be given opportunities to write about their own experiences.

When Judy's class gets a turtle, your students can use the included QR codes or posters to research and learn about how to care for a pet turtle also!

Judy is so jealous that her brother gets to go on a field trip to Washington, D. C.  During this part of the book, your students will go on a virtual field trip as well.  

For a math activity, your students will vote on their favorite pets to make a class graph.

Your students will get to decorate a t-shirt just like Judy does in the book.  Students will also complete a turtle when learning about pet turtles.  

Just like Judy has to create a homework assignment all about herself, you can assign your students a homework project to complete.  Students can make a "Me Collage" to bring to school to share.  This activity will help you learn more about your students! 

Students will learn about carnivorous plants, complete a crossword puzzle, and read informational text about frogs and toads to go along with the book.

I think your students will love this book just as much as my students loved beginning our year with this funny and exciting chapter book.  

If you are interested in purchasing this for your own class, click here to grab it for a super low price!

Keeping the learning fun and enjoyable, that's just...

MY KIND OF TEACHING

Five Easy Ways to Keep Students Engaged in Learning

Keeping a balance of learning, working, skills practice, rigor, and ALL. THE. THINGS. while also keeping students engaged for the entire day can seem overwhelming.  The good news is...

It DOESN'T HAVE TO BE!!  That's right!!

Do you ever ask yourself any of the following questions?

• How do I ensure that my students are engaged and learning?
• What are some easy, fun, and effective ways in which I can engage my students?
• How can I motivate my students to be engaged in their learning?

If you have ever asked yourself any of these questions and all of the other worries that keep you awake at night, keep reading!

During my many years of teaching, I found a few sure-fire ways to keep my students interested with these five easy and fun ideas.  You can spread them throughout your day to keep students engaged in learning for the entire day!

Games

Honestly, I can't say enough about the importance of using games in the classroom.  Pause for just half a second, and think back to your own childhood.

Maybe those games were board games, card games, digital games, or outdoor games.

(Be honest; I bet you just thought of a happy memory or two, didn't you?)

Games can be a powerful way to motivate students.

That sentence bears repeating.

Click to read how using games can be a creative way to engage students.  

In my classroom, we used games every chance we had.  

Try it.

You will see your engagement skyrocket! 

Centers

Click to read:  Do you utilize center time to its fullest potential?

Centers can be used throughout the day.  Not only is this a meaningful way to engage students, but it's

also a way for you to focus on time management to cover more material in a small amount of time.

Centers are commonly used during ELA and math, but you can also cover a lot of material by having a

dedicated time for centers during social studies and science.

Hands-On Activities

Adding hands-on activities into your classroom is one of the most fun and simple ways to increase

engagement in your classroom.  These morning tub activities will incorporate fun ways to engage 

 students in academic learning.

Movement

Scoot games are a favorite in many classrooms and are a great way to involve your students with some

movement in their learning.  Other ways to give students active learning opportunities are to use task 

cards for classroom scavenger hunts and ask questions that have students move to a corner of the

room or stand up and sit down.  Brain breaks in which students pretend to climb trees or move like 

animals, complete a few exercises, or have a 30-second dance-off are quick activities to keep your 

students engaged, as well.

Digital

Students are proficient with technology.  They use it all the time.  Keeping students engaged using

technology is one of the easiest things you can do...especially if it involves games AND academics

(win-win!).  Assigning students digital task cards, writing prompts, interactive games, etc. will keep

even your most reluctant learner in the classroom engaged.

Here's a great freebie for you to use to add to your own center time.

Click on this picture to pin to your favorite board about adding student engagement so that you can 

visit this blog post again and share it with others.

Which of these ideas can help you keep your students engaged?  Comment below.

I hope you found some inspiration and encouragement from this post.  Sharing my many years of 

experience is just...

My Kind of Teaching