New years resolution bulletin board ideas

Looking for tips on writing New Year’s resolutions with your students? Keep them engaged and learning with these lesson plans for writing New Year’s resolutions!

Coming back to school after winter break is tough on students AND teachers. Trying to get students back on track can sometimes be exhausting. I love starting off the week with these fun and engaging New Year’s lesson plans and reading passages. My students always love learning about New Year’s traditions and writing New Year’s resolutions of their own for the year. Keep reading to learn my tips for writing New Year’s resolutions with your students!

Learn the history of New Year’s celebrations

Did you know that the tradition of the New Year’s resolution dates back to the ancient Babylonians? The ancient Romans also celebrated the new year. There’s a ton of history behind New Year’s celebrations and resolutions, and I always love getting students excited about learning with fun and interesting facts!

I have three engaging New Year’s lessons on PowerPoint and Google Slides that I use to help me teach this information. I have a 5-day lesson plan that I use to help me structure that first week back from winter break. There are helpful videos that fit into my mini lessons and help keep students’ attention. 

The lessons include information on the history of New Year celebrations, different New Year traditions around the world, and what a resolution is & why people make them. I also added real historical photos to help students visualize the information in the lessons.

I also use leveled reading passages to help students learn more about the history and traditions of New Year’s. The passages are paired with comprehension questions for students to answer. Click here to check out the full New Year’s resource!

Discuss why we write resolutions

After we learn about and discuss the history of writing New Year’s resolutions, I get my students thinking about why it’s important for us to write resolutions. After all, if people have been doing it this long, it must be pretty important, right?

We talk about the significance of setting goals and having a plan to achieve them. I think that second part is important to highlight and emphasize for students. It’s not just important to set goals, it’s equally as important to have a plan in place with action steps for achieving goals.

Provide New Year’s resolution ideas

Coming up with personal goals and resolutions for the new year can be tricky for elementary students. It’s a pretty advanced skill when you think about it! But setting goals is important for students to learn in their lives, not just in school.

One type of goal that all students could focus on creating is a new learning goal for the year. Mastering a math concept or moving up a reading level are examples of learning goals students might want to set for the new year.

This post >> has 50 New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Elementary Kids

Remind students that having a plan to achieve their New Year’s resolution is important. If they want to be a better reader, maybe their plan is to read for 1 hour each night. If they want to improve in math, they might plan to practice basic math facts every day.

I have a specific lesson plan for writing New Year’s resolutions that I use every year to help students get a better grasp on the how and why of writing New Year’s resolutions. I made step-by-step instructions to help support students with their resolution writing. I also made some fun New Year’s-themed graphic organizers to get students excited!

Make a New Year’s resolution writing craft

Close out your learning with a craft for writing New Year’s resolutions with your students! I have my students create a party horn craft using colored paper. Then, they write their New Year’s resolution on the writing template paper.

The writing template has lines for students to write their resolution AND how they will follow through with it. They roll up the resolution paper and glue it to the end of the horn so it looks like a real party horn!

This New Year’s resolution writing craft is absolutely perfect for a January bulletin board or door decoration. I even included easy prep templates for a bulletin board display in the resource. I also added an example photo of my bulletin board display to help get you inspired!

Wrap up your learning

After creating your New Year’s resolution craft, assess students’ knowledge and understanding with a little New Year’s quiz!

I have a print version of the quiz and a digital option in the resource I use. The digital option is a self-grading Google Form. I find it so easy to use Google Forms for assessing knowledge whenever I can.

Click the picture or the link to see more of these New Year’s resolution writing activities.

I hope these ideas help you write New Year’s resolutions with your students! Add these ideas to your after winter break activities and pin this post for easy access next year!

Visit these posts for more Jauary teaching ideas:

Getting your Class Back on Track After a Break

Free After Winter Break Writing Activities

Happy New Year!