New Years Hats!

Yesterday was our first day back and it went WAY better than I expected. My students weren't unruly, or even chatty. I was in shock for most of the morning. It was wonderful!

I began by talking about how the calendar had changed from December to January. Then talked about how we change the year from 2010 to 2011. At that point I shared my New Years Eve celebration with them and had them share theirs IF they had one. That led to my reading of The Night Before New Years. Then we got to make some New Years hats!

Orignaly I wanted to buy some on sale but I did not like them and found this alternative better. I started by making this printable, which you can download here.

I had my students color it in and cut it out.

While they were coloring I cut out the center of a paper plate, without actually cutting it all out. You want to leave the center piece so that you can glue your New Years sheet. Then fold it up. You might want to have these done ahead of time. They are easy and quick but if you have 20 to do it can take a bit.

Here is the back view.

Last, you glue your New Years sheet to the center piece of your hat. Here are some examples. They loved it. That was day #1 of my New Years activities. Tomorrow we make a mini-book from Reading A to Z about celebrating the new year. I hope to get to resolutions on Wednesday.