Celebrating Easter

As most of you already know, I teach in a small, private Christian school.   So, as you might imagine, the weeks leading up to Easter are a very special time!   We spend a good portion of our instructional time teaching and learning about Jesus and the incredible sacrifice He made for us on Good Friday... and also celebrating the true meaning of Easter morning!  I just LOVE this time of year!  I mean, what could be better than celebrating the fact that God loves us so much, that He sent His one and only Son to die for us (and our sins) on the cross...so that we can live eternally in Heaven forever!  #blessed

Now, I understand that many of you will not be able to use the ideas I'm blogging about in this post in your classroom, as you may teach in a public school. (I spent my first 10 years teaching in public school myself.)  However,  I'm going to share them anyways...for my private teacher followers... and perhaps for you to use at home as "mom/dad/aunt/grandma" with your own kiddos!

Here are a few of the Christian Easter activities/resources from our classroom last week...

Easter "Write the Room" Activity

I just LOVE Alessia Albanese's "Write the Room" activities!  She is my go-to girl for these activity resources.  Check them out HERE!  (If you don't have this type of center in your classroom, I would highly suggest giving it a try!  The kids LOVE it!) Let me explain, in case you don't know how a"Write the Room" center works.   You place different "cards" around your classroom (can be theme words, like this one... or it can be math equations, or anything!)... and then the kiddos who are assigned to that center grab a clipboard and recording sheet and search around the room for the hidden cards.  When they find them, they write the words (or answer to the math equation or whatever) onto the recording sheet.  Here is a example of the recording sheet I use.  (I always use a two-sided recording sheet.  I always designate which side of the page the kids MUST start with... and then they flip to the second side if they finish the first.) 

  

   

OH!  Please note that Alessia's Easter Write-the-Room Set includes a FULL Easter, 

non-religious, set of cards/recording sheets too! 

Book Nook/Reading Center Activity

At my "Book Nook" center, my students typically work on making different types of interactive emergent readers, which they complete and then place in their familiar reading boxes.  This week, we used this little gem!  The students read the sentence on each page... then cut out and glue on the corresponding picture.   The set even comes with a pre-made "answer key" booklet which you can leave at the center too, if you choose.  You can find this awesome resource in "Let's Learn S'More's" TPT store!  Click HERE for more details!

Easter Art Activity

We also complete this little Easter art activity. The kiddos simply painted the background paper with liquid watercolors, then cut out the black silhouette hill and crosses.  The liquid watercolors dry quickly.. and you can glue on the ground and crosses about ten minutes after you paint!

I'll be the first to admit, that the pics I took today of this year's projects are NOT the best!  I took them with my phone, and the lighting was just not right!  They looked all washed out!  So... right under these 3 pics from this year, you will find a few pics from last year.  They are MUCH better!   

  

    

Easter Story Video

We watched this very age-appropriate Easter video on YouTube.  It is VERY child friendly/developmentally appropriate in regard to Jesus' death on the cross.

Walking with Jesus... Palm Sunday Skit

Last year I had a "grand" last-minute idea to create a Palm Sunday "walk-through" skit of the events of that special day.  You know,  "bring it to life" for my kiddos!  Ok. Ok.  If you know me, you know that any excuse to use costumes is just my "thing!"  Here are a few pictures of this year's Palm Sunday walk-through.   

NOTE:  Be sure to check out my Easter post from last year too... as the photos from last year were pretty epic too!  CLICK HERE to view last year's post! We used different costumes last year.  {We are undergoing a new building project and... well let's just say some of our play props are in inaccessible storage.}

Do you celebrate Palm Sunday or Easter in your classroom?

If so, I'd love to hear what YOU do in your classroom to make Easter come alive!

Easter Blessings!