February Activities for 1st Graders, that are better than Valentine’s Day Worksheets
There are standard Valentine’s Day activities that teachers and students look forward to all year long – like building Valentine’s Day boxes. At the same time, February is also a time of year that can be difficult for teachers and students.
By the time February hits teachers are back into the full swing of the school year. The months of long holidays are over and in the world of education, teachers are starting to prepare for spring. With spring on the horizon, which means testing, and the holidays behind us – this time of year can be a lot.
Worksheets for first graders seem like quick and easy learning activities to use during this time of year. While worksheets are often quick to implement, they are not always the most effective. Therefore, we have come up with several ready to teach activities that are just as easy to implement as worksheets, but more engaging, rigorous, and fun!
Independent Learning Activities for 1st Graders
If you really want activities that make teaching easy then you want resources that engage students in independent learning. Independent learning for first graders can seem like a lot of work to implement, but with our five-star learning quests you’ll never look for another worksheet.
Learning quests are an original resource that we created as The Core Coaches. We designed them to be easy to implement while still maintaining rigorous instruction. All of our learning quests follow a similar format and meet the common core standards in several areas.
Since each learning quest follows a similar structure it makes it easy for your first grade students to learn how to complete them on their own. To support teachers and students in being successful during independent learning we suggest using one learning quest as a whole class assignment first.
The February learning quest bundle includes four research topics for the month. Begin the month with this set of Groundhog Day Activities for first graders. Choose the most common platform you use in your classroom: Google Slides, Seesaw, or printed. Then complete the quest together as a class.
Once your students are familiar with how to complete this kind of research, they will be ready to work independently the week of Valentine’s Day as they learn more about this holiday. You can even have them work as a group!
If you buy the whole bundle, you can now assign the last topics for the rest of the month. Once each week.
If you’re looking for more information about our Learning Quests you may be interested in these blog posts such as:
STEM Lessons for 1st Grade
While traditional Valentine’s Day boxes are a fun activity for first graders, they do not always offer rigorous instruction. However, with the right instructions and by presenting a problem to solve, making Valentine’s Day boxes is a great STEM challenge.
In addition to creating your own STEM challenge, we have four that are already planned and ready to go. These STEM activities for first graders focus on engaging problems that are related to the month of February.
Groundhog Day STEM Challenge
In this challenge students help the groundhog create his longest shadow of the year. The perfect way to kick off the month of February. Combine it with the Groundhog Day Learning Quest for a full week of engaging and core focused lessons.
Valentine Day STEM Challenge
In this STEM activity, students design creative ways to deliver their Valentine’s to their classmates. This is the first specific STEM challenge for Valentine’s Day and to get ready for the big day. You can even have your students test it out during a Valentine party.
Valentine’s Day Candy Heart STEM Challenge
In this second Valentine’s STEM activity for your first graders, students build a candy heart tower to help Cupid shoot his arrows. This is a perfect activity to use alongside the other STEM activity above.
Lincoln’s Top Hat STEM Challenge
This is one of our newest STEM activities for first and second graders. It is the perfect addition to a social studies unit or President’s Day lesson.
If you are new to STEM we suggest choosing one that you think your students will be the most excited about. Have students work in small groups alongside your whole class instructions. Like the learning quests, this helps students gain confidence with these types of lessons.
All of our STEM activities for elementary students follow the same steps. This allows students to gain the skills needed to work independently. Another great way to keep students engaged while supporting you as the teacher!
If you’re looking for more STEM activities for First and Second Graders you can visit our shop or you may be interested in these blog posts such as:
Valentine’s Day Read Alouds For 1st Grade
Whole class learning activities are equally important as independent learning activities. Whole class activities allow you as the teacher to build positive relationships with your students and to build a positive classroom community. Both things that are essential to academic development and even classroom management.
Our favorite whole class activities are read-alouds. The initial step of a read aloud, reading to your students, was one of our favorite parts of teaching first grade. The other thing we love about read-alouds is that while they are perfect for whole class instruction they also allow great opportunities for continued independent learning.
Here are our four favorite read-alouds just for Valentine’s Day. Each of these follows our proven effective format to help students develop reading comprehension through text dependent questions, graphic organizers, and more focused activities. In addition, they include opportunities for students to respond through writing and craft.
Download our Friendship Learning Quest Freebie!
Love Monster Read-Aloud Activities
- Detailed Lesson Plan with Examples
- Text Dependent Questions
- Story Map Graphic Organizers
- Feelings Graphic Organizer
- Illustrations/Text Graphic Organizer
- Craftivity Instructions and Pattern
- Graphic organizers pre-loaded to Google Slides and Seesaw
Dragons Love Tacos Read-Aloud Activities
- Detailed Lesson Plan with Examples
- Text Dependent Questions
- Key Ideas and Details Graphic Organizers
- Cause and Effect Chain Graphic Organizer
- Writing Pages
- Craftivity Pattern and Instructions
- Graphic Organizers pre-loaded to Google Slides and Seesaw
A Crankenstein Valentine Read-Aloud Activities
- Detailed Lesson Plan with Full-size Examples
- Text Dependent Questions and Answer Keys
- Key Ideas and Details Graphic Organizers
- Character’s Feelings Graphic Organizers
- Compare and Contrast Crankenstein and A Crankenstein Valentine
- Things that Make Me Say Yechhh Writing
- Poem Writing
- 2 Craftivity Patterns and Instructions
- Graphic organizers pre-loaded to Google Slides and Seesaw
Beyond teaching important academic skills, we love how fun these stories are to share with your students! In addition to these Valentine’s Day specific stories and activities we also have a great story for Groundhog day. The perfect addition to any of our other groundhog activities above.
Groundhog’s Day Off Read-Aloud Activities
It’s a great addition to any of your standard February stories. Just like our Valentine’s themed read-aloud resources this one includes common core activities for reading, writing, and listening comprehension.
Valentine’s Day Lesson Plans
While all of the activities above are great on their own they are even better together. By combining learning quests, STEM activities, and read-aloud resources, you can easily address all the required teaching standards for the month.
By purchasing each resource in a bundle you provide yourself with four of each type of lesson. One for each week of the month. This provides you with a variety of activities and a variety of ways to use them in your classroom.
The three main themes of February in first grade are groundhog day, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day. Begin the month with a focus on groundhog day. Choose either a learning quest, STEM activity, or read-aloud as a way to introduce the topic. Use another activity as a group project and the third activity as an independent learning activity.
Focus on Valentine’s Day during the second and third weeks of the month. The great thing about holidays is that you can teach about them for more than just the week of.
Here are some Valentine’s Day Lesson Plans you could follow:
Second Week of February
- Valentine’s Day Learning Quest
- Valentine’s Day Airplane STEM Challenge
- Love Monster Read-Aloud
Third Week of February
- Valentine’s Day Candy Heart STEM Challenge
- A Crankenstein Valentine Read-aloud
- Presidents Day Learning Quest
At the end of the month you can shift away from Valentine’s themed activities by starting with the Presidents Day Learning Quest. Then end the month with the last activities in each bundle. Using a format similar to the ones above, you will cover core standards in multiple subject areas.
Ready to Teach Valentine’s Lessons for First Grade
In addition to these ideas you can combine these with other activities you love to teach during February. Add these activities into your other science lessons, math lessons, or social studies activities.
However you decide to implement these first grade activities just know that you are providing your students with lessons that are both rigorous and fun! Maybe even more importantly, these activities have all been created with your students and you in mind. Therefore, these are easy to implement.
All of our first grade February activities can be used digitally or in printed versions. Simply upload them into Google Slides or Seesaw, or print them out. Choose what works best for you, your classroom, and your students! Once that is done, you are ready to go! Take the extra time to go home and relax. Then enjoy showing-up to school rested and ready to teach!
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