March is a month of budding potential in the upper elementary classroom. It’s a time when the academic year is in full swing, students are eager for a change after the winter blues, and teachers are looking for engaging March classroom activities to keep the learning environment exciting and educational. From springing into new seasonal reads to adding some St. Patrick’s Day charm in lessons, here’s a pot of gold full of ideas to enrich your upper elementary classroom.

Using Morning Message Slides for March Classroom Activities

A new month deserves a fresh start each day, and what better way to begin than with visually appealing morning greeting slides that welcome your students into a world of excitement and learning? These March Morning Greeting Slides aren’t just about aesthetic appeal – they’re a tool for setting the tone for the day and the month.

This classroom tool is sure to help your mornings run smoothly and efficiently. I don’t know about you, but when the day starts off on the right foot – the rest of the day seems to follow right along. Not only will these morning slides allow you to take care of all the morning administrative tasks, but they will also allow your students to strengthen their skills of working independently.

You can find step by step instructions for editing and personalizing your morning greeting HERE and HERE. It’s super easy and only takes a minute or two! Just add your morning routine, change the picture if you’d like, and post for your students.

By March, students should know exactly what to expect when entering the room. Am I right? 😉 Projecting a daily morning to-do list on the board will help your routine become a well-oiled machine.

Each slide also includes a quote and journal topic that can be used for daily writing. Change my BITMOJI to yours and customize the morning note to fit your classroom needs. It’s quick and easy to edit and will free you up to take care of your other morning duties.

Grab these March BITMOJI Morning Messages and start your day off on the right foot!

Writing March Book Reviews

Get ready to ignite enthusiasm in your students with this engaging March Book Review Writing Activity! Encourage them to dive into the books they love and share their thoughts with others. With the help of a guided planning page and checklist, crafting a comprehensive book review becomes a breeze. From summarizing key points to expressing personal opinions and providing compelling examples, students will learn to create reviews that captivate readers. Plus, with a simple process in place, they can seamlessly refine their reviews into polished final versions.

These book reviews also serve as an eye-catching bulletin board display! Other students can explore the reviews and, hopefully, discover their next captivating read.

Are you looking for a way students can share their favorite books all year? Grab the BUNDLE and enjoy new book reviews each month!

Close Reading Ideas: March Classroom Activities

With “the big test” right around the corner, March is the time when we really want to see our students mastering important reading skills and strategies. Close reading is an excellent way to do that! With close reading, students use repeated readings to focus on different skills as they deepen their comprehension.

These March themed close reading activities will not only make reading fun and relevant to the season, but they will help improve reading comprehension skills, too. Your students will love reading about March Madness, St. Patrick’s Day, Women’s History Month, Daylight Saving Time, and more.

It’s not too late to try close reading!

When I first started using close reading, what I saw in my students compared to previous years was nothing short of astounding. For years, I encouraged my students to read a passage more than once and apply the strategies we had learned. For years, it was like pulling teeth. Then, we started using close reading strategies.

Instead of suggesting it (which just sounded like more work to them), we actually put it into practice with monthly reading passages. This became the norm. When students were left alone to complete a passage, I saw them using close reading strategies without being asked. Needless to say, their application of different reading skills and strategies improved, as did their overall comprehension.

If you are unfamiliar with close reading, you can find out more about it in this blog post. While it is a great tool as we prepare our students for the testing season, it’s an even better tool to help them become better readers.

No Prep St. Patrick’s Day Math and Reading Skills Review

No-prep skills review packs are a go-to in any classroom for fun and engaging math and language arts skills practice. Students love them, and they are a great way to review and practice previously taught skills.

Try using these themed activities for morning work, early finishers, homework, and even small group instruction when students struggle with a particular skill or concept.

This St. Patrick’s Day No Prep Packet includes a variety of math and language arts concepts. Here are just a few things your students will work on with these March classroom activities:

• reading comprehension
• idioms, adages and proverbs
• vocabulary & context clues
• fractions
• classifying shapes
• lines of symmetry
• multiplication and division

What sets these activities apart is their focus on quality skills practice. So, be confident that your students are developing and reinforcing important skills while enjoying themselves.

FREE St. Patrick’s Day Limerick Activity!

One of my favorite March classroom activities is teaching students about limericks. Limericks, which have their roots in Ireland, are a great activity to connect with St. Patrick’s Day. Students will love learning about the format and structure of limericks and writing their own. Grab this FREE Limerick writing activity for your classroom today! Enter your name and email address below, and I’ll send it straight to your inbox!

Spring Main Idea Practice

March is the perfect time to start using spring-themed resources! Use this time to reinforce the skill of identifying the main idea and supporting details, which are crucial for reading comprehension. Provide students with passages about spring-related topics and guide them in the process of finding the main idea and supporting details.

These spring reading passages and graphic organizers are designed to give students the practice they need to master identifying the main idea and supporting details. The included graphic organizers can help students map out a text’s main idea and supporting details. This strategy solidifies understanding and provides a helpful reference when it’s time to write about the topic or discuss it with peers.

These short spring-themed reading passages with graphic organizers make it easy for students to pinpoint the main idea. Supporting details are strategically placed so students can easily practice identifying small details supporting the main idea. With repeated practice, your students will eventually be able to explain how the details of the passage support the main idea. They are perfect for small group instruction, early finishers, homework, morning work, and more!

St. Patrick’s Day Digital Stickers

Don’t forget your stickers if you’re teaching virtually or assigning digital work! With digital stickers, you’ll never run out! These St. Patrick’s Day themed digital stickers for Google™ or Seesaw™ are the perfect way to connect with your students through distance learning or any digital assignment. Simply copy and paste the digital stickers onto student work in Google Slides™, Google Docs™, or click on the camera to add a sticker in Seesaw™.

Students can also collect their digital stickers in their very own digital sticker book! This Digital Sticker Book includes a 6-page realistic-looking digital sticker book with editable tabs. It also comes with 20 digital stickers you can use! Easily provide a fun way for students to collect and save their digital stickers!

Save these March Classroom Activities

March marks the beginning of spring, but it can also bring its fair share of challenges. Ease some of the pressure with these convenient, ready-to-use activities, allowing you to focus on what is important in your classroom and at home.

Not ready to plan out your entire March classroom acitivites? Simply save this post to your favorite classroom Pinterest board. Then, you can revisit it whenever you need engaging and skill-focused activities for your students throughout the month of March!