Happy New Year! It’s a great time for change and making resolutions. Maybe one of your resolutions is to use social-emotional-learning (SEL) and character development (CD) to make 2022 the best year ever! If so, The Character Tree is here to help with this list of January themes and how you can use them to celebrate SEL/CD!

• Technology
• Ratification Day
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Squirrels!
• National Opposite Day
• Libraries
• Puzzles

TV’s and Phones and Drones, Oh my! January 6^th is National Technology Day! Use one of our 1^st grade episodes like Curiosity and Mars Rover to help teach your students that learning about technology can be fun

January 14^th is when the United States commemorates the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the American Revolution. Students can learn about one of our Founding Fathers in the 1^st grade episode Citizenship & Benjamin Franklin.

The third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Use Perseverance & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to show how Dr. King persevered through tough times and didn’t lose sight of his goals.

Does your class love Grey Squirrel as much as we do? If so, watch any episode on January 21^st and let your students know it is National Squirrel Day. Your kids will love it!

January 25^th is National Opposite Day, or Backwards Day. What a fun idea! Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci could write backwards? Watch Curiosity & Leonardo da Vinci and have your students try to write backwards themselves!

That’s right – shelfie not selfie! January 26^th is the day to celebrate how our books are organized. Picture books are a big part of The Character Tree. Post a picture on social media and then read about some of our favorite books here!

Every one of our 1^st grade episodes comes with a word search puzzle in its Supplemental Materials. On January 29^th, celebrate National Puzzle day by watching the free sample Kindness & Mr. Rogers and then do the Kindness Word Search!

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