Topic: Symbols

  • Day of the Dead Activity Pack

    Day of the Dead Activity Pack

    Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday that falls in November each year. It’s a day to remember the dead and welcome their spirits home for a night. It’s not a time to be sad, but instead, a time to remind us that life is a gift. Students will love learning about this special holiday with this fun no prep unit!

    This unit includes reading passages to learn all about Day of the Dead and Mexico with questions and activities for students to color and connect.

    This unit includes many interactive activities and learning opportunities for students including reading passages and activities about:

    ✔ Day of the Dead

    ✔ Symbols of Dia de Los Muertos

    ✔ Day of the Dead Skull Flip Booklet (5-pages)

    ✔ Vocabulary Posters

    ✔ Spotlight on Vocabulary

    ✔ Scan the QR code to watch two short videos on safeshare.tv

    Plus it comes with reading passages and activities to learn all about Mexico:

    ✔ All About Mexico

    ✔ Favorite Mexican Dishes

    ✔ Color the Flag of Mexico

    ✔ Suitcase Organizer

    ✔ Questions about Mexico

    ✔ All About Mexico Fact and Opinion Sort

    There are three main activities:

    Vocabulary:

    Introduce the vocabulary words with the real-life photo posters included. You could post these posters around the classroom and have students travel around to define the words. These posters make a colorful bulletin board display in a snap!

    Reading:

    Next, have students read the passages about Day of the Dead and all about Mexico. In centers, learning stations, or as partner work have students answer the comprehension questions and complete the suitcase organizer.

    Activities:

    There are many activities for students to complete to show what they know:

    ✔ Questions about Mexico

    ✔ Suitcase Organizer

    ✔ All about Mexico Fact and Opinion Sort

    ✔ Spotlight on Vocabulary

    ✔ Plus a 5-page Day of the Dead Skull Flip-up Book

    I usually have them do one page of the flipbook at each center or station. They can use the articles as a reference source to help them complete the pages of the booklet. Lastly, they cut, color, and assemble the booklet. Flipbooks can be glued or stapled inside their interactive notebooks, file folder, or a 12×18 piece of construction paper folded like a book cover.

  • Halloween Activities Pack

    Halloween Activities Pack

    With this activity pack, students will love learning all about Halloween! These would be fun activities to set up for upper elementary in place of a class party.

    For many years, people have dressed up as ghosts, witches, vampires, and other creatures on Halloween. Believe it or not, folks thought if they looked scary, they would frighten away the spirits that were roaming the Earth on All Hallows Eve.

    Students will learn all about Halloween including:
    ✔ History of Halloween
    ✔ Trick-or-Treating
    ✔ Jack-o-Lanterns
    ✔ Those Batty Bats
    ✔ Spooky Spiders
    ✔ Magical Witches
    ✔ Black Cats
    ✔ Illustrate a Poem: From a Tiny Seed
    ✔ Plus there are two case studies where students will meet
    ✔ Bitty Boo (a microbat) and Wendy Witch

    This packet includes many interactive activities including:
    ✔ Reading passages
    ✔ Scavenger Hunt Organizers
    ✔ Halloween Photo Posters
    ✔ Meet Wendy Witch
    ✔ Meet Bitty Boo Bat
    ✔ Fact or Fiction Activity
    ✔ Halloween Unscramble
    ✔ Halloween Fun
    ✔ Halloween Facts
    ✔ How to Carve a Scarecrow (3 versions)
    ✔ Halloween Writing Prompts
    ✔ Roll and Write a Halloween Story
    ✔ Plus a 5-page Flip Book

    There are two main activities:

    Reading:
    First, read the History of Halloween as a whole group activity. Work on completing the Halloween History Organizer with the class. By doing one together, you will have set the expectations for them for each article.

    At each station or center place copies of the article (passage) and the related scavenger hunt organizers for each student. Also, one copy of the Symbols of Halloween Poster is helpful for students to connect to the information.

    You could have students work in groups or partners to read and answer the questions for each topic. Then they can color the scene on each article/passage. Some teachers like to use these as an “Around the Room Scavenger Hunt” activity to get students up and out of their seats. Simply use a clipboard for their organizers.

    Activities:
    The scavenger hunt organizers are set up to follow along with the articles. Students can act as Halloween detectives to find the information and answer the questions.

    There are several fun activities for students including:
    ✔ Halloween: Fact or Fiction Activity
    ✔ Halloween Acrostic Chart
    ✔ Halloween Writing Prompts
    ✔ Plus there’s a 5 page Halloween Flip Book

    Happy Halloween!