Grammar Worksheets:
Celebrating
Adjectives and Adverbs - Adjectives are words that describe nouns and pronouns. Adverbs are words that describe verbs,
adjectives, and other adverbs. Adverbs often end in -ly, but not always. Find where the adjectives and adverbs
are hiding.
New
Year's Day Mad Libs - Fill in the blanks with the appropriate type of word. Noun,
adjective, or verb. Read your silly story aloud to your friends for
lots of laughs.
Reading Comprehension Worksheets:
Fireworks Safety
- The second most number of fireworks accidents happen on this day
in the United States.
The Chinese
New Year - This is always major topic of conversation in January. Read about some of the traditions of the Chinese New Year and answer the questions.
Mark
Your Calendars - All you ever wanted to know about the history
of the calendar. Read the following information about the history of the calendar and answer the questions that follow.
Puzzle Worksheets:
Crazy Cryptocross
- See if this one helps you put it into perspective for you. Fill in each word that coordinates with the appropriate number and clue just like a crossword. Certain letters
have a special symbol to be used to decode the special message below.
Word
Find - Find the words hidden in the jumbled letters below. You will be looking for a dozen words in this matrix of letters.
Cryptogram
- Use the code below to decipher the special New Year's message!
Making
New Words for the New Year - Make new words with each given
word. Start with at least a four-letter word (bigger if you can) and
go down to a minimum two-letter word.
Writing Worksheets:
New Year's Resolutions
- Many people like to make resolutions for the New Year ahead. They
are goals that can be big or small.
New Years Resolution Worksheets:
New Year's Resolutions are promises or commitments, to ourselves, to make a change to our lives over the course of the coming year. The ancient Babylonians are created with being the first people to do this over 4,000 years ago. The common theme of any resolution is to do something for the better and improve ourselves. Most resolution focus around improving our health such as living healthier, losing weight, exercising more, quitting smoking, or no longer drinking alcohol. Many people also hope to improve their relationships with their loved ones or have career goals. If you were to improve one thing in your life, next year, what would it be? These worksheets will help students find their voice and create their own New Year's resolutions.
Now and Then - Things I accomplished and want to do this year and next.
Take Action - Write down
some actionable resolutions to help you accomplish those things
Picture It - See if you can explain your thoughts by drawing a picture.
8 to Go - See if you can come up with 8 sentences of your own.
My Thoughts - This is something that you can work out and reflect on for many years to come.
The History of New Year's Day Celebrations
The New Year eve is one of the most celebrated nights all around the world. The tradition of celebrating the New Year's Eve is not only common in the United States. Rather it is a worldwide celebration. Children stay up all night just to experience the magic of this night. The best cities around the world celebrate the New Year's Eve by conducting heavy fireworks that people get eager to see.
It is believed that the earliest celebration of the New Year's occurred around 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. It was the time of vernal equinox which means it was celebrated in mid-march. During that time, it was considered the start of the year. Ancient people of the Mesopotamia celebrated the New Year's for eleven days where they performed religious rituals. At this time, they either let the old king ruin or crowned a new king for them.
January was not always considered the start of the year. According to the ancient Roman calendar, March was the time that marked the beginning of the year. This is because they followed the lunar cycle. In 46 BC, Sosigenes was an astronomer who convinced Julius Ceasar to use the solar year instead of the lunar cycle. Julis was convinced, and from this point onwards, January was marked as the beginning of the New Year instead of March.
Another reason to start the year in January was to honor the God Janus. The name of January is also based on the name of the god Janus. The reason why it was considered a good time to begin the year is because God Janus had two faces. These two faces of Janus allowed him to look into the past and future at the same time. This served as a great symbol for the beginning of the year. This is the reason why New Year's Eve is celebrated all around the world on the night between 31st December and 1st January.
How to Celebrate a New Year in Your Classroom
There are literally a countless number of different ways you can approach this event with your students. In my twenty plus years of teaching I must have tried over a dozen different activities, but I specifically found two that are very impactful and help students develop a sense of self-awareness.
The first activity seems pretty obvious which is having students come up with a New Years resolution. I do this over several days which gives students plenty of time to self-reflect. The first day I present the project and have them brainstorm a resolution for themselves that is extremely achievable. We send them home with the task of adding one to two new brainstorms. This wait time is critical. They usually find the actual resolution over that break. On the second day we have them write the resolution and how they plan to achieve it. On the third day we take turns presenting it to the class.
Another great twist on the original activity is to have students write resolutions for characters from a story that we have read. This is an awesome activity. I will often have students work in a group on this. A nice way to cap it off is to have them draw a picture of what is going on with their character.
4 Reasons to Make New Year's Resolutions
Did you know around 4,000 years ago, the ancient Babylonians were the first to introduce New Year's resolutions? Festivities were documented in honor of the New Year - though, for them, the year did not begin in January, but rather in mid-March when the crops were sown, as was customary at the time. They also pledged to the gods, promising to pay their debts and return any goods they had borrowed in exchange for their blessings. In exchange for keeping their pledge, the Babylonians' gods (pagan) would favor them for the future year. If not, they'd lose their favor with the gods — which was a place no one wanted to be.
Here's why resolutions hold the same importance in the twenty-first century.
The statement that 80-90 percent of individuals who start a New Year's resolution at the beginning of January are unlikely to complete it by the end of February is not one many people would argue with. Since most New Year's goals are intended to achieve 'something' — it is unfortunate that many individuals don't even make it to March in terms of completing them. Surprisingly, there's no need to wait until next January to make another effort; March is the perfect time to brush up on your convictions and give it another go.
1. They Serve As an Opportunity - Sometimes all we need to bring about positive change in our lives is the opportunity to do so-that's the thing with resolutions. As the end of one and the beginning of another, this might serve as the hard reset for many individuals. It's the way our brains have developed throughout time. Having a vision for the future motivates and drives us to take action, and the cultural practice of making a New Year's resolution provides the ideal chance to develop such a vision.
2. They Drive Us to Do More - After telling yourself, "I'm not going to eat junk Monday – Friday!" how many times have you found yourself sharing a bucket of fries with Sara after every Mathematics class? We're right there with you, believe it or not. If you set yourself the purpose of ditching junk on weekdays for a month, or even two months, at the same time as everyone else sets their personal goals, you'll have the support and encouragement of others around you to help you reach yours more quickly.
3. Resolutions Offer Time for Self-Reflection - Most of the time, individuals hurry through their everyday lives without pausing or slowing down to properly consider the consequences of their actions. As a result, these goals let you think about the past, present, and future, finding out what has worked in the past and what may need to be altered to offer a boost in the present. Think of resolutions as a map to help you see where you are going and what route you need to follow to get there.
4. They Boost Confidence - Resolution helps you reflect on what's important to youand concentrate on who you want to become in the future. As a result, jotting down and following through on them may bring a feeling of confidence.
For instance, if you want to lose seven pounds, analyzing the results on the scale may be a tremendous motivator that spurs you on to make other positive changes in your life-and accomplishing these little-but-important objectives may also help to improve your self-esteem.
Sheers to a new, purpose-filled year! What is the one thing you want to achieve this year?
