Fun Educational Days to Celebrate in November

Wow! I blinked and it was almost November....where did October go annnnnnddddd everyone is forgetting November because Michael's had Thanksgiving items for 50% off and the entire store was decorated for December Holidays on October 15th same for Home Goods!!!

I can't even think about December yet...November just about to start...this is cray cray!!

With that being said, I want to quickly give you some fun days in November you can celebrate at home or with your students. I am not including Thanksgiving because that is a well known holiday!

So...Here we go!  6 Fun Days to Celebrate in November!

1.  Did you Know that November 8th is STEM/STEAM DAY? 

Everyday activities at home or in school can be fun and transformed into STEM challenges with the right questions to motivate STEM thinking!

Use of the correct questioning technique can encourage your kiddos to think outside the box, which is exactly what is needed with STEM activities.

• Ask questions that require more than one-word answers, which allows for students to think deeper to answer and promotes higher order thinking.
• Ask questions that focus on processes and reasoning, not solutions.
• Ask “why” questions that require examples and reasons as the justification and make sure studentes explain their thinking.

I found these great Stem activities at THE STEM Laboratory. Check them out to celebrate STEM DAY!

2.  I am pretty sure that most of your classrooms have a set or 2 of Dominoes.  Guess what?  November 10th is Domino Day!

AND......I am willing to guess that you might have more than 2 sets depending on the Math program your district uses...am I right?

I am sure your brain is bursting with ideas for Domino Day, but just incase your brain is fried from teaching all week, here are a few ideas:

I thought this was a bit different in that the sums are provided and the kiddos have to find the part/part that equals the sum to complete the puzzle or game.

This Domino resource is exactly one of the ways that I used Dominoes in my classroom to learn math facts. The Kiddos loved it and it became a popular choice activity after our "Have to" math was completed!  

Another fun idea might be to play dominoes exactly the way the kids love to play them and we all know what that is...simply line them up and knock them down. You might even want to time them and see if they can arrange the dominoes in a different way to beat the clock or who has the longest run of dominoes knock down. Here is a fun one I found that is just fun to watch!

Any way you decide to celebrate Domino Day will be fun for everyone...oh and before I forget, here is a Wikipedia about dominoes. You can pick out a few ideas to share with your kiddos: Dominoes

HERE is MY ALL TIME FAVORITE DOMINO CRAFT...

Have you met Domino Dominic and Domino Dominique? You haven't?  Well let me introduce this couple to you NOW! This would be a great Domino Day Craft after teaching domino fact families or part- part -whole with dominos!  

This fun craft also includes poster to teach or reteach how to find domino sums using the PART-PART-TOTAL concept.

This is one you will not want to miss!

3.  Veteran's Day is celebrated on November 11th!  Why not teach your students about the meaning of Veteran's Day? 

Need a video that explains Veteran's Day?  Here You GO!

Here is a cute and easy idea for your little learners or not so little learners:

Tissue paper crumbled flag and a cute poem you can copy to use.

For the flags simply use white
8 1/2 x 11 cardstock.  If you are doing these with an older class, you can create the flag with the correct amount of stripes, but with 5 or 6 year olds, I would just worry about making sure there are red stripes with white between them.

The blue tissue won't really matter as long as it looks proportional. Older children can try to fit 50 stars, which are simply small silver sticky stars.
The poem is an easy one that is written in kid friendly language.  You might want to use it as a morning message and look for rhyming words, 1-2 or 3 syllable words and any skill you are working on with your class.

This is a great anchor chart for Veteran's Day that really summarizes the day!

4.  We can't forget World Kindness Day on November 13th!

Teaching kids kindness is so important for building community and character education.

I firmly believe that we should celebrate kindness every single day of our lives.  

Here is a post that I that I thought would be perfect to share with you here:  

5 ideas to Create a Culture of Kindness in your Primary Classroom That Will Make you Smile

I know I said I would not mention Thanksgiving since it is an obvious day in November to celebrate BUT...this is a great activity to use for your family and classroom family to understand and show Gratitude. 

Teaching gratitude has many social and emotional benefits; such as, encouraging well-being, supporting optimism and positivity, building confidence, encourages empathy, supports giving to others, reduces materialism and stress. It supports children in being thankful for what they have and to be less materialistic.

This Gratitude Thanksgiving activity will support your children in their journey to understanding and showing gratitude.

 

5. OOPS! I almost forgot about Button Day! 

Yes in 1938 November 16th was set aside as National Button Day to celebrate those who collected buttons. Here is a cute craft with some math and ELA ideas to have a little fun with buttons!

So there you have it...a few awesome days with educational ideas to integrate into your daily learning to bring a little fun back into learning.

So, there you have it...a few days to celebrate in November to bring some fun activities into your classroom...ENJOY!

Please comment and share your November activity ideas!