February Lesson Plans

Black History Lesson Plans

President's Day Lesson Plans

Valentine's Day Lesson Plans

Winter Olympic Lesson Plans

Inventors Lesson Plans

Word Problems Lesson Plans

Weatherman's Day Lesson Plans

Reading Comprehension Lesson Plans

February Teaching Ideas for Your Classroom

February is an exciting month to plan teaching activities for. The month is peppered with interesting calendar days that can be shaped into various arts and vocabulary lessons. It's an easy month to plan for because the new year's rush is still there. If you can ride this wave of energy for February, teaching activities should be a breeze.

Before we get into the lesson plans centered around calendar days, let's tackle the three important things the entire month focuses on. It's the month of library lovers. It's the National Children's Dental Health Month. And most importantly, it's Black History Month.

Library Lover's Month

Because the entire month is set to celebrate the love of reading and the joy we get out of it, this could be the guiding theme of all activities to follow. It's an effective way of cultivating a passion for reading by adding another theme into the mix.

A few activities to celebrate reading could be:

1. Share your favorite book with the person on your right. Tell them why you like it and after they are done reading it, ask them what they liked about it the most.

2. Bring a fiction book to class that taught you something. This activity is an interesting and thought-provoking way to make the students ponder over their reading list and reflect on the stories they have read. It could be about the importance of kindness from Beauty and the Beast or the idea of compassion and forgiveness from The Chronicles of Narnia.

3. Discover a book written by a writer who is not from your ethnic background or country. It's an ingenious way of sowing the seeds of curiosity and tolerance and ensuring that students do not exist in bubbles.

National Children's Dental Health Month

Oral health can never be overlooked. This theme can be woven into different teaching areas.

4. Invite a dentist or an orthodontist to speak with the class about oral health. This talk can be a great science lesson where students learn about the mechanics of how the mouth. The talk is also a subtle way of introducing diverse careers that are out there.

5. This theme is an excellent opportunity to develop exercises to expand the vocabulary. Since the mouth is primarily used to smile, talk and eat, you can come up with written exercises where the students learn about synonyms for these words and the different contexts for their usage.

Black History Month

This theme explicitly teaches the importance of history. To appreciate the current world, we need to know how it was before the change happened. It is crucial to share that Black History Month is also celebrated in February because it coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

6. Let the students research and learn about key figures in global African communities and their descendants. Their contributions should not be forgotten, and such lessons help the students realize how different the world we inhabit today is.

7. February is a great month to recognize the African diaspora's literature, music, and food. It keeps learning light-hearted and fun, yet significant in how it allows for multicultural appreciation.

Presidents' Day

The celebration of our country's Founding Fathers and the first president has multiple avenues of teaching and learning.

8. The students can create a small production of how the USA came into being or any other significant moment from George Washington's life.

9. A team quiz or trivia game can be crafted around all the US presidents. Learning material for this activity can be shared with the students from before. The competitive nature of this activity is sure to catalyze learning.

10. Make the students write letters to the current president. Tell them they need to tell the president about one American thing they are proud of and one thing they want the president to fix. This activity teaches the importance of honest and open communication with the leaders of our country.

11. Dress up like a president! This activity is research-dependent and encourages students to look up information about the American presidents. Take this fun history lesson a step further by making them come up in front of the class and talk about how the particular president they are dressed up as made America great.

Valentine's Day

Perhaps the easiest day to plan for!

12. The enthusiasm with which this day is celebrated should be matched by knowing the day's history. Ask the students a few questions about the origin and the story to exercise their critical thinking.

13. This day was made for arts and crafts. Let the students indulge in paint and glitter and come up with a present or a card for their loved ones.

14. Days with specific themes are great for vocabulary lessons. Prepare vocabulary sheets introducing them to other words related to love. Elevate this activity by introducing a challenge: they can't say the word 'love' for the entire day and have to use synonyms when talking about things they adore and people they admire.

Polar Bear Day

International Polar Bear Day is on 27th February. Given the rapidly changing world around us, this is an important day to teach the students about climate change and the conservation status of polar bears.

15. Before misguided adults corrupt them, teach your students about the realities of climate change and how temperature zones are changing globally. Your students should know how the ice caps melt and why some areas are experiencing droughts. Help them understand how we can come up with small ways to make our world greener and more sustainable.

16. Teach them about the conservation status of the polar bears and other animals in the world that have gone extinct.

February activities are inherently fun with loads of learning opportunities. From literature to science, history to present-day actionable projects, the month is ripe with lessons and fun stuff that the students will surely enjoy.