Are you making plans for heading back to school post-Winter break? This post was written for you! Enjoy this January Activities Roundup for Kindergarten and First Grade! It will make your first month of the new year fun, engaging, AND educational!

Inferences Activity

By January, you’re ready to dig into some of the deeper ELA standards, such as inferences. This can often be a tricky skill to teach because it involves using clues in illustrations and text to make educated guesses. Because of this, I created Inferencing Investigation. This lesson plan helped me better teach this skill to the six-year-old crowd. I actually did it for one of my observations one year, and my principal loved it just as much as the kiddos did! READ MORE HERE.

What’s in my teacher’s bag?

So, this activity pairs great with the above mentioned Inferencing Investigation. Also, it’s a FREE download in my TpT shop. It’s low-prep and your students will love taking a deep-dive into your personal belongings! LOL. The only things you need for this activity are the free printable and your purse, backpack, or teaching bag. Super simple. Super effective.

Snow-Themed Read Alouds

If there was a love language for the classroom, mine would definitely be BOOKS. And, my collection only grows every year as I add new reads to my old favorites. For the month of January, I’ve managed to settle on my top eight go-tos. They include oldies, but goodies like Owl Moon and The Snowy Day, and new favorites like Blizzard and Good Morning, Snow Plow. Of course you can find these in your local library or bookstore, but I also have a collection on Amazon for easy purchasing and quick shipping 😉

I also created a bundle of activities to use with each of the books pictured below. They hit a variety of ELA standards and skills. They’re low prep and high impact!

Winter Anchor Charts and Class Posters

If you love making anchor charts and class posters for your classroom, then be sure to check out this set!  Your students will love to make help you make them, and they will be a fun addition to your classroom walls or hallway displays! They’re a great way to visually display information, as well as provide your students a point of reference for a variety of learning activities. Read more about them here.

One Little Word

As the new year begins, it’s a great time to have students choose a word to focus on for the rest of the school year. Gather as a class to discuss the One Little Word movement. Share what your One Little Word for the school- or calendar-year is and how you will intentionally focus on that word and its meaning to you. Together, you can generate a list of words to choose from so that they, too, can have a focus word for the coming year. Learn more in this post + download a free OLW printable.

New Years Writing Craft

Here’s a fun New Year’s writing craft that’s perfect to use after Holiday Break to not only celebrate the New Year, but also to help your students focus on some end-of-the-year goal setting! Essentially, they write a letter to themselves to be opened at the end of the school year. It includes THREE writing options, along with different writing paper options (lined, dotted-lined, and blank) depending on the skill sets of your students.

Penguin Activities

This post shares picture books and activities that are great for classroom read-alouds or snuggling up to read before bedtime. They’re most appropriate for students in grades pre-k to second grade, while the paired activities lend themselves to kindergarten, first grade, and second grade skills. I love to teach about penguins during the month of January, since it’s generally pretty cold during this time of year. Students love the non-fiction reads just as much as they love the fiction texts, so be sure to add a variety into your classroom library.

I hope you enjoyed this January activities roundup for kindergarten and first grade! If you do any of these activities, I’d love to see! Please tag me on Instagram @babblingabby!