Let these August holiday activities and ideas help you as you decide how you will start the year with your students.
Teaching in August is like teaching with magnifying glasses on. You are focused and zeroed in on each and every move your students make.
August is a month of procedures, directions, and relationship-building. It is also a great time to focus on pre-assessments and learning as much as you can about how your students are faring after being off for the summer.
For many teachers in the United States, you are either already working with your students by the last week of August or finishing up your preparations for your students to join you after Labor Day. Either way, it is back-to-school time, and we are all here for it!
Let’s kick off the month with some fun by focusing on some August holiday activities!
Holidays to Celebrate in Your Classroom in August
To celebrate the many holidays on this list, consider starting your day with a daily writing activity from our Holiday of the Day Writing Prompts for August. These writing prompts will give students a little background information about each holiday and encourage them to do a corresponding writing activity.
If you love these August Holiday of the Day Writing Prompts, take a closer look at the bundle to celebrate the daily holidays all year! This may be just the daily activity you’ve been looking to add to your morning meetings!
National Coloring Book Day (August 2nd)
On National Coloring Book Day, consider sending a coloring book to each of your students to prepare for back-to-school time. Make your own book using simple clipart and a little bit of Canva magic. In your hello note coloring book, you can also tell your students some things about you to help get them ready for the year.
If your students are in your room, ask them to bring in their favorite coloring book. Practice following directions by asking students to color in the book using very specific methods. (i.e., Color one shape using polka dots, use stripes to decorate your drawing, or don’t use red anywhere on your picture). Simply list the rules on a half sheet of paper and then hand them out to each student to consider as they complete their coloring.
National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (August 4th)
On National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, we have activities and ideas that are bound to be pretty sweet.
To begin, spend some time talking about different types of chocolate chips, and let students taste and compare different chocolate chip varieties. Maybe even watch a video about how chocolate is made.
You can also bake your own mini batches of chocolate chip cookies. Most recipes are easy to follow and can be completed in a single bowl. This activity will allow your students to practice measuring.
National S’mores Day (August 10th)
Do a S’more activity. Take a picture of each of your students with a sign that says, “I want s’more ________.” Then ask them to fill in the blank. Take their picture and post it to the class’s Facebook page or send a quick email to the kids’ parents with their child’s photo. This activity could be a great way to inspire some community early in the school year.
Make s’mores using either marshmallow creme or marshmallows heated carefully in a microwave. It seems appropriate to have a s’more on National S’mores Day!
Play in the Sand Day (August 11th)
It seems pretty obvious that on Play in the Sand Day, we suggest you give your students some time to play in the sand, whether that sand is out on the playground or kinetic sand they can use at their desks. However, we also have fun reading comprehension suggestions for this holiday as well.
In our August Close Read set, there is a passage all about sandcastles. Play in the Sand Day seems perfect for working through that activity!
World Elephant Day (August 12th)
Celebrate the elephants on this holiday by reading books with elephant characters, watching videos about elephants, or even asking students to bring in any elephant stuffies they may have at home.
Some books that may make it onto your elephant reading list include The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate or Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems.
National Tell a Joke Day (August 16th)
Get out the joke books and fill the room with funny surprises on National Tell a Joke Day.
Give students some time to find some funny jokes. After sharing them with the class, ask them to write their jokes on sticky notes and then coat the walls of the school with their jokes to bring joy to other people throughout the day.
Pluto Demoted Day (August 24th)
And then there were 8. Spend some time learning about Pluto’s rise (and fall) as a planet. Discuss why scientists believed Pluto to be a planet in the first place and how they know it is not a planet now.
You can also have a little fun with the day by celebrating the number 8 in honor of the eight remaining planets in our solar system.
National Beach Day (August 30th)
It’s National Beach Day, but depending on the day of the week, many of your students may not get a chance to visit a beach on this day. Instead, have a Beach dress-up day.
Encourage students to wear their sunniest outfits (within reason) and bring beach towels. Spend some time learning outside while soaking up some rays!
You can do some activities with beach balls or have students do sand or shell art and generally make the day about celebrating the end of the summer.
August Holidays Activities and Ideas (Resources)
To celebrate the themes of the month and get a ‘read’ on your student’s reading skills, consider adding these August Close Reads with Mystery Pictures into your back-to-school activities. With passages about camping, sandcastles, and bees, these passages are interesting but also educational. They also let you see how your students do with passage-based reading comprehension questions. This makes them great formative assessments to try out early in the year.
If you like the idea of close reads, you may also like the Back-to-School Close Reads.
These close reads include back-to-school themes. In the first fictional passage, students will read about how a young girl from Russia and an American girl each view their first day of school.
In the informational passages, students will learn how crayons are made and what classrooms look like worldwide in different countries.
Each of these close reads comes with a mystery picture and several reading comprehension questions your students can answer about each passage. Each passage also comes in differentiated versions, so you can assign the passage you feel is most appropriate for your students’ reading levels.
Digital games are also great to have ready to go early in the year, as students can work on the games while you meet with and assess other students.
This Back-to-School Sticker Style activity is a no-prep activity that students can access on their own computers and work through at their own pace.
In addition to being digital, this review activity is also self-checking, so students will get immediate feedback as they work through the activity.
Lastly, the Back-to-School Game Show for ELA Skill Review can either be used as an individual or small-group digital activity or with the whole group to get a feel for where your students are thriving or struggling regarding reading comprehension. You can even use the slides to create and play other games! In the blog posts below, we discuss many ways you can use the Game Shows throughout the school year.
Hopefully, these August holiday activities and ideas are getting you excited about jumping back into the beginning of the school year, and you’ve found a few ideas you want to try implementing with your students this year.
For even more monthly ideas, check out the full-year list of monthly blog posts below!
- January Holiday Activities and Ideas
- February Holiday Activities and Ideas
- March Holiday Activities and Ideas (Coming Soon)
- April Holiday Activities and Idea
- May Holiday Activities and Ideas
- June Holiday Activities and Ideas
- July Holiday Activities and Ideas
- August Holiday Activities and Ideas
- September Holiday Activities and Ideas
- October Holiday Activities and Ideas
- November Holiday Activities and Ideas
- December Holiday Activities and Ideas
