Kansas Day

This blog is named "Teaching in Oz" due to the fact that I live in the great state of Kansas. When meeting people outside of this wonderful state always reference The Wizard of Oz, thus the inspiration for my little blog. Well... it's about time for Kansas to have a birthday  (January 29th)  and I thought I'd share a few ideas to celebrate {for any Kansas viewers or those who are curious}.

Several of these ideas will work for younger grades than I currently teach, but when I first started to scour the web for ideas, I thought I'd be teaching first grade. Although, I think we may have to do a little celebrating in 5th grade too!


Diane & Kelly from Made for 1st Grade created a wonderful packet of free activities including:

ABC Order for Kansas Symbols

Kansas Sentence Scramble

Map Search

Expanded Notation of numbers using KS basketball teams

Kansas Art tracers

Great activities especially for those in K-3!

In high school, I worked for the local library, categorizing and organizing materials from the start of our little town in the 1800's. I love history so I enjoyed this part of working for the library almost as much as leading Story Hour/Summer Reading program. What I didn't realize back then was what a WONDERFUL resource the Kansas State Historical Society is, especially for lessons with kids!

This lesson is Common Core aligned for grades 3-5, a small cost $2-3 you can have a lesson on Kansas crops that focuses on reading expository texts and sequencing. 

Click the picture to learn more!

I just noticed that there are lessons available from primary to high school.

The KSHS has compiled a list of ideas on how to celebrate that you can check out here. There are many more resources for teachers and students to check out. 

An art activity that I thought was cute was this "Sunflower Sculpture"

A snack that fits under the same sunflower theme that's a healthy alternative to the tasty "dirt" cups. To find out the how to, just click the picture.

This read aloud, written by a teacher, has beautiful illustrations that highlights the sights of Kansas.

The Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, has a page devoted to Kansas day that talks about some of Kansas' well known symbols. There is also a link that leads to free pdf lesson plans on specific state symbols. Click the picture to check it out.

Kansas truly is a beautiful state and a great place to live. Happy Birthday, Kansas!