Are you gearing up to plan your lessons and activities for February? It's a short month with lots of things to fit it! With multiple holidays and plenty of great seasonal themes, you might be wondering where to start... Come along to take a peek at the February activities I like to include in my lesson plan!
What to Focus on in February
As a first-grade teacher, I'm a big fan of using thematic teaching to incorporate holidays and seasonal activities into our lessons. Not only does this help keep things interesting, but it also ups the engagement factor for students as well!
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners")
In February, I love to lean into the themes of Valentine's Day and Friendship. These are bright and cheery themes for the final weeks of winter, plus they help encourage kindness in the classroom. We always have a Valentine's Day party and use plenty of fun read-alouds during the month, but I also like to use themed activities in our daily lessons.
Students are always excited to play Valentine's Day center games, making it easy to focus on important skills and standards throughout the month!
February Phonics Activities
We all know how important phonics skills are for our primary learners. Without a solid understanding of phonics, it's hard for students to become fluent readers. Because of this, I'm always mindful to include plenty of phonics games in our weekly lessons. Students love games of any kind, and they make it fun and easy to get the practice that we need!
Valentine's Day Phonics Centers
These Valentine's Day Phonics Centers are the perfect way to encourage students to practice working with CVC words, word families, rhyming, and more! Included in this resource are 5 different games, each focused on an important phonics skill.
Students will use the clip cards, sorting games, and puzzles to practice. Each game features a fun, Valentine's Day theme like candy or love birds. The best part though is that every game is easy to prep, meaning they won't take you hours to prepare. I always recommend laminating them for future use, so your centers will come together even more quickly next year.
Each game also includes a recording sheet for students to show their work as they complete each activity. I like to use these during center time, assign them as partner games, or use them for rotations during our Valentine's Day party!
Vowel Teams Activities
February is usually when we're working hard on mastering vowel teams in first grade. By this time of the year, everyone has had an introduction to them, but likely still need practice. I like to use some fun games and worksheets from this resource throughout the month to help students gain a better understanding of vowel pairs such as ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, and ow.
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners Vowel Teams")
One of the students' favorites from this resource is the I Have, Who Has game. This activity is great because there are enough cards to play with your whole class at once. To play, you'll pass out one card to each student and select a person to start. They'll read their card, and the person who has what they're asking for will go next. After each person reads their card they can drop it in a basket or flip it over until every child has a turn. This simple game is great for the last few minutes before dismissal.
This resource includes many more fun games like Zap or Zing and Bump, along with word-building cards that are great for small groups, and some no-prep worksheets. You'll have everything you need to facilitate plenty of practice with vowel pairs all month long!
February Math Activities
Math is another topic that you're surely working on every single day in multiple ways. As a primary teacher, there is so much to cover on this topic! I utilize center time for math practice since we can use games like Write the Room and digital activities to mix things up! Here are a couple of my favorites...
Valentine's Day Boom Cards
In case you haven't heard... Boom cards are kind of a big deal. Students love these digital games that can be played on computers and tablets. I love them because of their no-prep nature, and because they offer instant feedback to the student! Adding a few digital activities to your math centers is a great way to lighten the prep load, while also getting your students to practice with important skills in a fun way.
These Place Value Boom Cards are perfect for getting students working with tens and ones. To play, students will build 2-digit numbers with tens and ones blocks, compare numbers using greater than or less than, and order numbers from least to greatest. The silly Valentine Llamas on these cards are always a hit with the kiddos too!
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners Boom Cards")
And if your students need practice balancing equations, this deck is just the thing! In this activity, students will look at both sides of the equation and determine if they are equal. Each set shows the numbers represented in a tens frame for additional support to help them determine if the equation is true or false.
Assign these digital task cards during center time for independent practice or as a partner activity for a quick and easy math activity that everyone will love!
Math Write the Room Centers
Raise your hand if you love write the room! I know I do! It's one of my favorite activities for the classroom because it's super versatile. It can be used for any topic, and even in several different ways...
You can use it traditionally as a way to give students a break from their seats to "travel" around the room and solve each card. Or, play it as a Scoot game, having students move from desk to desk. You can even use it as a task card center! No matter what you choose, it's always a hit with students.
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners Math Write the Room")
I like to use this set of write the room cards to practice addition facts and this one to work on comparing numbers. Both of these skills are important to master in first grade and write the room helps make it a little bit more fun!
February Social Studies Lessons
In February, we are typically focusing on economics. This is an important topic in first grade and it's one of my favorite to teach since the students are always fascinated by it. In our Financial Literacy Unit, we focus on goods and services, bartering, spending, saving and so much more!
Throughout the unit, we use vocabulary charts, mini books, games, and worksheets to cement this topic. There's also an interactive lapbook in this unit that is always a student favorite.
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners Social Studies")
I love that this topic offers real-world, applicable skills that students are interested in learning about. Many kiddos already have an idea about what money is and how it can be used, but this unit is a great way to help them fully understand their own personal financial literacy. Be sure to check out this post for an in-depth look at how to teach this topic in the primary classroom.
No Prep-Practice for February
If you're like me, you probably find yourself needing a few extra practice pages to weave into your days in the classroom. Maybe it's for fast-finishers, or to fill in the gaps during center time, but either way - we want these activities to be meaningful! Choosing worksheets that align with our standards is a must since every activity is an opportunity to deepen understanding.
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners No Prep Worksheets")
This is where my No-Prep Math and ELA Worksheets for February come in super handy! These printables include important first-grade math and literacy concepts that we're working on during this time of the year. Students will work with blends, digraphs, sight words, addition, subtraction, and more. These activities are great for homework, morning work, centers, and extra practice activities all month long.
Valentine's Day Party Ideas
Last, but not least, I had to include a couple of simple ideas that you can use during your Valentine's Day party! Personally, I'm a big fan of using some of our themed learning centers on party day to keep a little bit of normalcy in our day, but I like to include special activities and crafts too. It is a party after all!
One practical craft you can do the day before, or the morning of your party is this cute Valentine Chick Card Holder. Students will cut out the pieces and glue them together to create their own chick made out of heart shapes. You can glue these to brown paper bags or cereal boxes covered in butcher paper to create a "mailbox" for Valentine's Day cards. If you do this activity on the day of, I recommend using glue sticks so that they dry in time, and try to get them done sooner rather than later! That way, students can pass out their cards after lunch to their friends.
.png "Fun February Activities for Primary Learners Craftivity")
And if you're looking for a fun and simple Valentine's surprise to give your students, check out these fun bookmarks. You can print them off on colorful paper or cardstock, laminate, and add a ribbon. Then, pass them out as your gift to students!
There is also a black and white version of them included if you'd prefer to make this into a crafting activity for students to color. Either option is a lot of fun and students love them year after year!
Have Fun Planning Your February Activities
I hope this post sparked a bit of February inspiration for you! This month is a fun one, and with the right activities you can keep engagement high and students excited to be at school. If you're looking for even more ideas, check out my TPT shop. You'll find more centers and games for February and beyond!
Save This Post
Pin this post on Pinterest to keep track of these February activities for primary learners!
0 Comments