New Year’s Day comes with many traditions! Some don’t do laundry on the first day of the year, while others eat specific meals with black-eyed peas and greens. Fireworks and watching the ball drop are my personal favorites! There are actually a ton of traditions and each country has its own!
All the different New Year’s celebrations make for a very fun and interesting lesson. In fact, it was always my favorite lesson going into the New Year! I would give the class a chance to tell me what they did on New Year’s Day and I would get some very interesting answers! Then we would talk about how the rest of the world celebrates the new year with the interactive New Year Celebrations Around the World activity!
This lapbook is so diverse in the subjects it covers! Social studies, math, reading comprehension, AND writing skills! All the materials you will need for this lesson are included and super easy to prep! Perfect for transitioning into lesson planning after a relaxing holiday break!
The five countries your students will study are Australia, Kenya, Greece, Brazil, and the Philippines. They will get to see these countries on a world map and compare where they are located. They will also read graphic organizers about each country and its traditions. They can compare and contrast the different celebrations and discuss their favorites. Whether it be jumping in the ocean like in Brazil or singing carols like in Greece, there’s a bunch of interesting things they may like.
They exercise their writing skills, as well, as they respond to differentiated writing prompts in the lapbook. They can also work their brains at math while calculating the hours until midnight on the provided clock worksheet! There’s so much information and great substance to this activity! My students never got bored while completing this and it also made for great bulletin board material! The bonuses never end!
There are five mini books for each country. They are one-page foldable books that go into the lapbook. They are full of information on each country’s traditions for New Year’s Eve and Day! All the pieces for the book and detailed directions for assembly are provided to make the lesson go by smoothly.
Each student will receive vocabulary flashcards they can study even after the lesson.
A handful of writing prompts are provided and can fit multiple grade levels of learners. I loved the writing prompts as they helped my students really to reflect on what they learned, plus they were fun!
Plenty of clock math pages are included for students to practice calculating to the hour, half-hour, and minute until midnight.
Coloring pages for each country. These are great as time fillers or morning work!
A 31 slide PowerPoint is attached that matched the mini-books! This is great to display as the class is working through the activity. The slides include real-life pictures as references as well.
Absolutely! This resource includes 4 pages of teacher notes for a low prep, easy-flowing lesson! They offer information on prep directions, suggestions, and other notes to bring an easy transition into the new year of lesson plans!
As I said, this was my favorite New Year’s celebration lesson to do year after year! My students loved it and I think yours will too! Grab this resource for your class, here!
