Birthdays are an important part of students’ lives and most of our students will celebrate their birthday during the school year. This year, I did a mini-unit on birthdays to get the students excited for birthdays, to teach skills and to establish how we celebrate birthdays at school. Here are five benefits to having birthday-themed lessons in the classroom…

1. Celebrating Classroom Birthdays

Having a birthday unit in the beginning is a helpful way to establish ways to celebrate birthdays in your classroom. I know each school and classroom may have different rules for celebrations, so making sure parents are aware of these perimeters at the beginning of the school year is a good idea.  Due to allergies and dietary restrictions, we focus our celebrations on non-food experiences, such as singing “Happy Birthday”, creating a birthday card, giving students a special sticker and allowing them to make choices (e.g. choosing the GoNoodle video, leadership roles).

2. Incorporating Multiple Subjects 

The theme of birthdays can be incorporated among multiple subjects. For language arts, I used the Reading A-to-Z book, Birthday Party, to introduce the format of reading small group instruction using high-frequency words, vocabulary words and modeling reading behaviors. In math, we discussed the months of the year and counted to the number that matched their ages. Asking and answering questions about birthdays and our ages incorporated speaking and listening. Creating an art project that went along with the birthday theme incorporated independent function, listening and fine motor skills.

3. Creating Art 

We created some birthday cake art as part of our unit.  Our art project incorporated the different writing utensils we learned about the Reading A-to-Z book Write!. We painted the cake shape using a brush. Students chose between “chocolate” (brown paint) and “vanilla” (peach-colored paint). Then students cut candles out of scratch paper (based on their age), glued it to the cake and used a stick to scratch designs in the candles. Finally, students drew a flame using chalk and smudged the flame with their fingers to create a softer smokey effect. Of course, students shared their art by presenting in front of the class, working on their speaking and presentation skills.

4. Learning Personal Information

Learning personal information is a common skill we work on with students. Incorporating this skill within a birthday unit allows for additional practice opportunities for students to learn their birthday, date of birth and age. I had students answer these questions during our lessons and write their answers on the SmartBoard, which was a great way to incorporate speaking, listening and writing skills. For more activities and materials that focus on personal information, check out TAH’s Personal Information Mega Pack.

5. Practicing Social Skills

The birthday theme lends itself to teaching and practicing social skills. While reading Birthday Party, we discussed the vocabulary and activities that you can do at a birthday party. This was a great introduction to talking about how to get ready for a birthday party, expected and unexpected at a party and practicing taking turns. Having students sign a birthday card, creating their own card or composing a message to a classmate having a birthday is another life skill. They are practicing how to acknowledge others while knowing what they can expect on their birthdays. We also read aloud When’s My Birthday?, which gave the opportunity for me to ask questions to students about what they enjoyed about their birthdays and for them to answer. We were able to discuss if students had anything in common (e.g. birthdays in the same month, what they would like for presents). The students really enjoyed the read aloud, having a chance to interact with the story and talk about their birthdays.

For more birthday ideas and resources, check out There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Birthday Cake free book visuals and questions and Scrapbook Visual Craftivity. Stay healthy and safe!