In the past, I have never celebrated New Year. Occasionally I would do a new year’s resolution and goal setting. In kindergarten and 1^st grade it is hard to teach them about it and what it means, for me at least. I wanted to do New Year’s activities, but also wanted to get back into a routine.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a blog post that talked about NOON Year’s Eve. I thought it looked like a blast, so I tried it, and we ALL loved it!! Last year I added a dance party and this year I am planning to add a little treat, crown, and history of why we celebrate it.

Materials:

• A balloon for each student
• Black trash bag
• Paper clips and string to hang from the ceiling
• Ring pops
• Ring pop tag FREEBIE
• Free New Years crown
• New Year traditions around the world
• Music for a dance party

The day before we come back from winter break, we have a teacher meeting day without students. Super lucky that our administration is giving us half of the day to work in our rooms. Having this balloon machine makes the process a lot quicker. I blow up 1 balloon for each student. Fill a black trash bag full of balloons. I tie it closed with a string in a way that I can just pull it and they fall out.  Then tie it to the ceiling upside down. There are fancy balloon drop ideas all over, but I just do simple, because let’s be honest the kids don’t care about what it looks like.

NOON Year’s PREP

When the kids come in on Monday, they all say what is that, why is that here, what is it for?? Just tell them they will have to wait and see!! Building up the suspense is so fun!

Okay rewind… I have the crowns copied on cardstock and put them in a basket. I got ring pops from $ tree and used this Free Printable to tape on each one. I keep all this a secret and DO NOT have them out.

The First Day Back

The first day back, we come back from lunch around 11:30 and we talk about if anyone did anything for New Year’s Eve. I let them share then we read these slides on how other countries celebrate this holiday. This is a great transition if you taught holidays around the world for Christmas! One of my coworkers found this activity that you can purchase.

11:50

I tell them that I wish that I could have celebrated the New Year with them, so we are going to celebrate it right now!!! They get their New Year’s Crowns and head to the carpet. I put on Kidz Bop and use a 2023 ball drop picture on the screen. I tell them we are having a dance party and when it is NOON years we will count down!!

11:59- Almost TIME!!!!

I lower the volume on the music and stand on a chair by the balloons. We watch the red hand on the clock or if you don’t have one you can just guess. I start at 10 and we all countdown to 1. We say HAPPY NEW YEAR when we get to 1 and I release the balloons! I tell them that everyone gets a balloon and I turn up the music for a 1 song dance party!!

After we are done, they leave the balloons on the ground. I love to see them everywhere but do whatever you would like! They go to their seats, and I pass out the ring pops and tell them I am so excited to RING in the New Year together!! Of course, I let them eat it and we go on with our day.

Chinese New Year

Depending on the year this might start in January. Believe it or not this is one of my favorite holidays to teach. It is strange because it is a holiday that I do not celebrate. Over the years I have had parents that do celebrate the holiday come in and talk/teach/lead and activity about Chinese New Year. There is just something about it that makes me excited.

Growing up, we would always go eat Chinese food at the same restaurant. I remember the placemats with the animals and birth year on it. Reading each time and our family talking about what animal they were and the characteristics about it. Before COVID, Panda Express would donate chopsticks and a fun activity pack to our classroom. I would also buy a large side of white rice, so they could practice using their chopsticks.

Activities

I bought this pack on TPT and it has A LOT of great activities. The first activity that I do is tell them what animal they are, and we read the characteristics. What I love about this pack is that it is in kid friendly language, but either will do. You could graph before on what animal they want to be. We will do that as our morning meeting. My kids love to use our smartboard whenever they can!

We will do a directed drawing on Art Hub’s YouTube channel of the animal that they are. I will put two laptops out one with each animal and have students sit and draw it to save time. Then they will write a sentence about it. They can use a characteristic that they relate to or write about how they feel about the New Year. You do not have to buy it you can do it on plain writing paper and do a directed drawing of the animal that they are.

Another activity they have is comparing and contrasting Chinese New Year and American New Year. The last few years I have celebrated NOON Year, you can read about it here, I will be doing a Venn Diagram to compare on the last day of our unit.

We read lots of stories about Chinese New year and watch videos of the Dragon dance on YouTube. One of my favorite stories is Goldy Luck and The Three Pandas. You can grab it on Scholastic or watch it here.

Extras For Chinese New Year

I buy red envelopes and chocolate coins to put on their desk for one of the days. Here is a FREE page, that I plan to do during stations, with the animal of the year and how to write it in Chinese.

I am a firm believer in not going over the top because in my experience the kids get wild, and the teachers get cranky, and the hard work goes to waste. BUT THAT IS JUST ME! These New Year’s activities are meaningful and bring the fun the first day back! I think starting with this activity will help goal setting in the future more fun and they will be able to remember the fun activities that go along with New Year’s Resolutions. Tag me on Instagram @theprimarycoach if you try any ideas!!