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Planning for May in your Upper Elementary Class: Holiday Activities & Ideas

Start planning for May in your upper elementary classroom with these May-themed holiday activities and ideas.

May is filled with many opportunities for celebration and appreciation in the classroom.

I have always loved May.

The weather is warmer, spring athletic seasons are in full swing, and we can start to get the kids outside more often for some much needed play time and fresh air.

May is also pretty darn close to the end of the year for most schools in the US, which means that in addition to May holidays and appreciation days, we are also celebrating the end of the year and the beginning of summer.

Let’s start planning for May in your upper elementary class by looking at some of the holidays and appreciation days that fall in the month of May.

May Appreciation Days

When you start planning for May in your upper elementary class, you may want to start pretty early because School Principal Day and Teacher Appreciation Week both take place within the first week (or so) of the month.

School Principal Day (May 1st)

Take some time to celebrate your school principal on this special day devoted especially to them.

Principals deal with a lot of behind-the-scenes work that many people never see, so on this day, find a way to make them feel special.

Ask students to create hearts they can write messages on and then tape them all over the principal’s door or create chains of gratitude to hang all over their office. To make these chains, ask all staff members and students to write a brief message of gratitude to the principal and then use them to create a super long chain. I love giving each grade level (or class) a different color of paper to use to create their pieces, so the chain is colorful and can be draped all over!

Of course, Principal Appreciation Day soon gives way to Teacher Appreciation Week.

Teacher Appreciation Week (First Full Week in May)

The first full week of May each year is Teacher Appreciation Week. This week is a great time to encourage students to think back on some of their most memorable experiences with their teachers and encourage them to find ways to say thanks.

Here are a few quick ideas to get the ideas brewing as you think of different ways to plan for Teacher Appreciation Week with your students…

  • Reverse PBIS:  Give each of your students 5 Tootsie Rolls to hand out to teachers and staff members who they notice doing nice things for students (they probably won’t have to look very far).  Encourage students to give the staff member the candy and tell what they appreciate about what the teacher did.
  • Positive Character Trait Bingo: Give students BINGO cards with positive character traits, and encourage them to find staff members or teachers in the school that exemplify each. Over the course of the week, they can ask staff members to sign their Bingo cards as a representation of that trait. Get creative with this one. 
  • ‘I Appreciate’ posters: Have students create an ‘I Appreciate’ poster for the teachers at your school. We often see this done from teachers to students, but this is also a great one to reverse. To complete this activity, get some chart paper, write “I appreciate,” and then the teacher’s name. Then under each teacher’s name, write something about them that either you or the students really like. Example: I appreciate Ms. McMillian’s pretty handwriting, or I appreciate Mrs. Kellen’s attention to detail.
Planning for May in Your Upper Elementary Class (Facebook Post)

8 Ways to Celebrate Silly May Holidays

In addition to appreciation days, May is also full of silly holidays that would be perfect for some in-class celebrations or activities. As you begin planning for May in your upper elementary class, consider some of these activities as well!

#1 | Holiday of the Day Writing Prompts

First, you can celebrate all these holidays with the May Holiday of the Day Writing Prompt bundle

The May Holiday Writing Prompt bundle provides a whole calendar of May holidays and important dates. Plus, each day includes a writing prompt you can use to kick off the holiday during morning meeting time. 

If you find that you L-O-V-E, love starting the day with these Holiday of the Day Writing Prompts, you can check out the full-year bundle here to do them with students all year long!

#2 | Build Airplanes on National Airplane Day (May 26th)

Challenge students to create their greatest paper airplanes during this silly May holiday.

Encourage students to research the best ways to make paper airplanes and then test their creations. You can make it even more educational by working through the scientific method, testing multiple plane designs, or even adding a little math. You can also keep it light by letting students decorate their planes with pom-poms and twisty ties. Whatever you think is best for your students!

#3 | Close Reads with Mystery Pictures for National Sunscreen Day (May 27)

This May-Themed Close Reads with Mystery Picture set has three passages that are all individually differentiated and ready to be used in the month of May. I specifically like using the third passage in the set, “Sunscreen: A Problem & a Solution,” as a supplement to National Sunscreen Day on the 27th! 

Planning for May in Your Upper Elementary Class (Pinterest Pin)

#4 | Design a Scavenger Hunt (May 24th)

Late in May, we celebrate National Scavenger Hunt Day!

On this silly May holiday, encourage your students to create their own scavenger hunts, demonstrating some of the skills you’ve been working on throughout the year.

Or you can make a scavenger hunt for your students!

Either way will be memorable and special.

#5 | Write Poetry (May 12th)

Right there, In the middle of May, 

we celebrate National Limerick Day

Celebrate a little bitty

With a poem that is 5 lines and witty

Because that there’s the limerick way! 

#6 | Clean Up and Give Back on May 10th

May 10th is National Clean Up Your Room Day. Encourage a little giving on this day by encouraging students to clean up their rooms and bring in one item to donate to a local community closet or shelter.

#7 | May the 4th Be with You

Yep!

You guessed it. May 4th is National Star Wars Day, and we are celebrating in an epic way with green, blue, and red popsicle ‘lightsabers’ just because it’s springtime, and we need a little fun!

#8 | The History of Cinco de Mayo

Learn more about Cinco de Mayo by working through these Cinco de Mayo Close Reads leading up to the 5th of May.

Cinco de Mayo is a pretty big holiday in the US, but what actually happened on the 5th of May in Puebla, Mexico, all those years ago? These 3 close-read passages will provide students with some good history of the holiday and give them some reading comprehension practice as well!

End-of-the-Year Activities

Finally, we don’t want to forget about all the fun end-of-the-year activities you can also be doing in the month of May. Depending on where you’re located, your school year may actually end in May, so this Sticker Style activity may be a great May activity to try! 

We also have many posts from years past about End-of-the-Year activities to try with upper elementary students, so take a look through some of the posts below for even more ideas!!

I strongly encourage you to involve the students as you begin planning for May in your upper elementary classroom. Upper elementary students are super creative and may have even more fun ideas to share!  

For even more monthly ideas, check out the full-year list of monthly blog posts below!

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