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January Teaching Calendar

Teaching ideas and inspiration to celebrate the month of January. Burns Night,

Jackson Pollock, Jack & the Beanstalk Training Video, Martin Luther King, Tu BiShvat, Competition, National Handwriting Day and more!

Burn's Night Kilts

1st January

STOP! Don't throw away your Christmas Cards!!!

Receiving cards from family and friends is one of the joys of the season. Before you pop them in the recycling bin, take a look at these low budget educational, yet fun activities!

Next Year's Gift Tags!

This activity promotes creative art & design, handling materials, decision making and fine motor skills.

You will need:

  • Christmas Cards

  • Scissors

  • Ribbon or String

  • Hole Punch

  1. Select a Christmas Card.

  2. Cut down the edge and use the front of the card.

  3. Encourage the student to look for different pictures to use for gift tags within the card.

  4. Using the scissors, carefully cut around your chosen picture.

  5. Punch a hole in the top corner.

  6. Thread string or ribbon through the hole.


Jigsaws

This activity will develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, shape recognition and promote problem solving, patience and a feeling of achievement once the puzzle is completed.

You will need:

  • Used Christmas Cards

  • Scissors

  • Ruler

  1. Select a Christmas Card. Cut down the edge and use the front of the card.

  2. Cut the card into shapes (base the shape and the number of jigsaw pieces on the current ability of the individual)

  3. Experiment with different shapes, rectangles, squares, triangles etc.


Speech Bubbles

This activity engages imagination, develops communication and language skills and encourages social interaction by means of a two-way conversation and build on storytelling skills.

You will need:

  • The front of a Christmas Card

  • A Pen/Pencil

  1. Select a suitable card.

  2. Draw a speech or thought bubble (or print out templates to stick on)

  3. Write the speech inside the speech bubble - it could be a question, command, comment or a joke.

  4. There is an option to extend the learning by using a 'Thought Bubble'.

Story Cards

This activity is a fun way to engage imaginative thinking, promote communication & language skills and explore storytelling.

Take a look at this Christmas card.

  • Point to characters in the card and ask open ended questions e.g. 'What gifts do you think the girl is carrying?'

  • 'Why do you think the man is pulling the presents on a sleigh'?

  • What season/month is it?

  • 'Why are the people wearing hats/carrying presents?

  • Why do the chimneys have smoke coming out of them?

Build a story around the card.

'The people who live in this village are preparing for a Christmas party.'

'The boy at the bottom of the card is singing Christmas Carols.'

'The lady at the top of the picture has baked mince pies for the villagers.'

'The people have decorated the tre