Ideas for Starting the Year! Let The Good Times Roll!

The first week back is the hardest! Most likely, you’ve come off two weeks (or less) of either getting your life together, relaxing, or taking care of those pesky tasks that you can’t quite accomplish during the school year– I have been there! It can be equal parts exhausting (getting back into the routine) and exciting (New Year!). This is why this teacher from the trenches, is providing you with 10 activities you can do with you class what won’t cause too much stress!

There’s a little easter egg packed in this post! When you find it, enjoy!

Updated: Just added this one! Click here for template and guide.

Banner featuring the text '10 Activities & Routines To Start The Year Off With A Blast!' with a modern design, including colorful shapes.

These activities and routines have worked well for me—the queen of easing back into the fray. For context, I teach levels I, IV, and V this year, so please adapt these suggestions to fit your own group of students. I also recommend modeling and providing clear examples of expectations whenever needed.

Before beginning any of the activities below, I give students a Blooket, Quizlet, or Gimkit to review key structures. This creates a buffer and usually helps them feel more confident and ready to engage– it gives me more time to settle in as well.

For upper-level classes, before we jump back into talking about what we did over break, I love doing short surveys, or a “Find a person who” activity. Mis clases locas have a ton of these types of activities. Click here for the post winter break activity.

Alternatively, you can also create 10 to 12 common activities (e.g. vi una nueva serie, visité a mis primos, etc), project them (I prefer to have one activity per slide) or just verbalize them and have students raise their hands if they have participated in the activity.

2. For this same activity, you write out each of the activities (I’d use 8.5 x 11 printer paper and marker, keep it simple!), and then post around class. Then have students choose one to stand near. After everyone is situated, invite the class to share out what they did over break. See the example below.

A colorful graphic displaying four Spanish sentences: 'Yo vi una serie nueva,' 'Yo ayudé a mi familia,' 'Hablé con un amigo,' and 'Limpié mi cuarto,' each within a different colored square.

Cover image for the short story 'Las Vacaciones' featuring two hikers with walking sticks, designed to highlight preterit and imperfect tenses.

3. This resource is a reading about one person’s vacation. It prioritizes the first person in the preterit (and imperfect for background information), my students always appreciate a storiefied review. It’s a good primer for review.

4. Prior to discussing their much deserved break, students can draw images depicting two things they did, and then talk about it with a classmate. Or the classmate can guess and articulate what their partner did over break (make it interactive).

5. My favorite is two truths and a lie! Students write their activities using that format. I’d always share a few of mine first to get things rolling!

Dos verdades y una mentira (My three… can you guess which on is a lie?).

Durante las vacaciones vi dos series en Netflix.
Durante las vacaciones leí dos libros.
Durante las vacaciones planifiqué mis lecciones para el Español IV.

6. Write 3 New Year’s Resolutions: one personal, one academic, and one related to language growth in Spanish class. They then share with other students and use phrases such as Ojalá que se te cumpla (n) or Ojalá que las logres to wish the other person well in attaining their goals. This helps solidify the use of the subjunctive, even if students have not been formally exposed to it yet.

7. Show a short film or episode from a series if allowed in your district. For my Spanish I students, they love Go Vive a tu Manera on Netflix.

Promotional poster for the Netflix show 'Go! Vive a tu Manera', featuring a group of young people engaged in various activities, including dancing and playing sports.

Click here for the slide show I use to introduce Go, to my students (Netflix).

Also, Tierra Incognita is a popular show on Disney. Click here for a resource for support materials for viewing the show. The resource is by Señora Jota Jota

We will definitely watch an episode (Go) the first week back. My upper-level students love “Alta Mar” and we’ll be watching a few segments as well.

9. Review your norms with students! To do this once a year is not enough. They need a constant reminder. Click here for the resource. I add the message to the stream on Google Classroom; it’s also have them posted on a bulletin board in class.

A colorful graphic announcing tips for educators on revisiting classroom norms and procedures for the new semester.

10. Relaxing coloring activity or word search. I have used the book below from Amazon. Click here for link.

Cover of a large print Spanish word search book for adults, featuring a woman meditating with the title 'Sopa de letras en español para adultos con letra grande Un día a la vez... Mente sana'.

11. Sustained Silent Reading and Light Convo! I do this the second day back after the icebreakers and such. Here’s my plan:

5-10 minutes book selection (I have 30 students and I send 10 at a time)
8 minutes reading
Check in and share with someone about your book
8 minutes reading
Share with another person about your book
10 minutes- share as a class

Need help building a classroom library? Check out readersbyacquintero.com

A promotional graphic featuring a collection of illustrated book covers by A.C. Quintero, surrounded by text urging educators to complement their curriculum with engaging readers.

Don’t have a classroom library? Check out this list of digital read for your students!

Additional Activities for Class to Bring in the New Year!

New Year Themed Resources

And for New Year’s, there are two activities, including “No te metas con mis metas,” a reading paired with a goal-setting activity that helps students reflect and plan for the year ahead and Año Nuevo, Metas nuevas which centers on the future tense in Spanish.

Promotional graphic for a new Spanish classroom resource titled 'El Ritual de la Maleta', featuring activities to learn about end-of-year traditions in Colombia and Latin America.

Click here for you freebie!

New Year activity sheets for a Spanish class, featuring festive decorations such as confetti and black and gold balloons.

Comprehensible Novels for the Classroom

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