I feel it and I'm sure you might be feeling it and I'm certain the kids will be feeling it. Lets ease back into the NEW YEAR. Starting the new year with a BANG is a noble idea but what if that BANG doesn't have to be felt? What if you can get the same impact or more with Winter activities or centers that don't take away more of your time but keeps the engagement and impact on student learning without all the fuss?

Here is one activity that can be repeated with consistency that most likely you won't have to go out and buy anything because you already have them.

Linking cubes or snap cubes
Books

You can go and purchase the books if you want but you can use your favorite books you already have that you can pair up with the Winter Build it Cards. Below are just a few ways you can use the cards to get your students,

Talking
Sharing
Building
Counting
Practicing spacial reasoning
Fine motor
Critical thinking

They will do all of this without bogging them down with a worksheet. Worksheets are used to practice skills but your students will be practicing lots of skills on their own, while they are engaged in building and working with with friends - ACADEMICALLY. No worksheet required. Kids will spend 30 minutes or more creating their Winter pictures.

CRITICAL THINKING

COMMENT -"Kids aren't practicing critical thinking or stretching their brains when they make these pictures." Yes, they are. Students have to be able to turn cubes and stick them together in a way that makes the entire creation stick together. Linking cubes and snap cubes only have one connector piece. These aren't made to be placed on the mat. Students count how many cubes are on the picture then have to count them out and stick them together.

IDEAS for USING the WINTER BUILD-IT LINKING CUBE MATS

Below are some ideas for using the Winter Work Build-It Mats but it really is up to you on how simple you want to keep it or how much you want to extend the activity.

PAIRED with a BOOK (READ ALOUD)

Using the linking cube pictures in a center or whole class if you have enough cubes is a a great addition to a read allowed. There is a picture card for just about every them you would use in the primary classroom for January and February.

MORNING TUBS

The simplest way I have seen teachers use these cards is to add them to morning tubs. They change them out with their themes (weekly and monthly).

MATH CENTER

Regardless if you choose to use these in your literacy center or math center or use them whole class, the main thing is kids are doing a lot of math and counting with them and working on fine motor. They work well as a math center.

SOCIAL STUDIES CENTER

Some of the Winter Build It linking cube cards would make a great addition to your Social Studies units. If you are limited on the amount of cubes, I suggest multiple copies of the 1 card per week in a center. By the end of the week all of your students will have had the opportunity to build. It's really dependent on how you run your centers. Nevertheless, these would make a great addition to your social studies activities.

STEAM/STEM CENTER

Many teachers use these as for their STEAM/STEM centers. I'm hesitant to call them STEM or STEAM activities. Although students are building and stretching their creative muscles and creating something new and different from objects - these don't really solve a problem and students aren't going through the engineering process. They are creating and building but creating and building alone does not constitute STEAM/STEM. Keep an eye out though or subscribe below because I plan on creating some STEAM/STEM resources around these stories that help budding engineers learn prototyping skills. I'm super excited about the STEAM/STEM ideas and then of course adding the cards to your science, math, reading or morning tubs will compliment them! Even if you don't do STEM/STEAM, bookmark this because I will make it so easy for you to implement you'll wonder why you hadn't integrated STEAM before.

WRITING CENTER

This is stretching or expanding on the unit you are using. As a center or whole class, students can write about their image in their card based off of whatever genre you are working on. Fantasy, realistic, non-fiction, fiction, etc. They can draw their creation and write. It can be as simple as, "The penguin is _____." Or, Abraham Lincoln had a tall black hat. Students can build on that and add details. It's really dependent on the grade and age you teach and where they are at in their writing.

CONSISTENCY is KEY

It took me a little bit to get the importance of sticking with the same activities when I first started teaching (18 years ago - YIKES) to really understand the fact that using resources that are consistent helps the teacher in that you don't have to constantly re-explain the expectations and how to do the activity EVERY. SINGLE.TIME. Students gain confidence and independence when the activities are the same. That's why I made an entire years worth of these cards for every holiday, season, or theme you might need.

If any of these are something you think you your students will love and it will make your teaching life easier, you can click on any of the links below.

WINTER LINKING CUBES

ENTIRE YEAR OF LINKING CUBE PICTURES

If you want want to purchase any of the books, I have added the books below. They are linked with my affiliate link. That means if you click on the link and purchase the book, I earn a small (very small) percentage of the sale. Thanks for using my affiliate link! Just click on the pictures below!