September is one of my absolute favorite months in the classroom. In my area, September means we’ve been in a school for a couple of weeks, and the kiddos are finally starting to get the hang of things. Once my students feel a bit more comfortable at school and have the routines down, learning can really accelerate. Plus, September is the beginning of all things fall, a fun and engaging topic for any classroom! If you’re looking for some inspiration for your room, come along and take a peek at 5 of my favorite September activities for kindergarten!
What to Teach in September
As I mentioned, we typically start school about mid-late August. This means we can spend the first couple of weeks learning the routines, getting comfortable with the rules, and simply adjusting to being in school. I intentionally choose activities for August that help facilitate these things, but I’m always looking forward to September!
In September, we focus on a few new thematic themes like apples and fall. I love using a central theme for our lessons since it always snags student focus and makes choosing books and group learning activities simple. We read lots of apple books, learn about seasonal fall changes, and play plenty of learning games that tie into these themes.
When it comes to our math and ELA concepts, we’re working on mastering skills that will lay the foundation for future success. In math, we’re typically focused on working with numbers 0-10, colors, shapes, and comparing numbers. When it comes to literacy, there can never be enough time to practice letter recognition, letter formation, and new vocabulary words!
I like to think of September as our first “real” month of working toward the standards. We absolutely start in August, but September is typically when those bells start going off, and my little learners start putting things together. This is such a fun thing to watch, as students progress in new skill sets! I aim to set the tone for a lifelong love of learning by using super-engaging activities during this time. Students will be so excited as they learn new things in a fun format!
Ready for the details? Here are 5 activities that are always included in my September lesson plan!
1. Snap Cube Centers for September
I’m a huge fan of prepping a bunch of snap cube centers for each month. My students love snap cubes since they seem like familiar building blocks they have at home. Snap cubes are highly versatile and definitely on my must-haves list when choosing learning materials for your classroom. We use snap cubes for fun learning games and center activities all year.
Fall Roll, Snap, and Frame activities use dice to roll a colored snap cube. Students will then find a matching snap cube and place it on the mat. Next, they color in one square on the ten-frame recording sheet beside the matching color. Students will keep rolling, matching, and coloring until the mat is full. The fun fall shapes on these mats make them a perfect addition to your September activities.
Fall Roll, Snap, and Graph activities use a similar method to play, but instead of filling in tens frames, students will fill out a graph. This is a great way to introduce the concept of graphing and representing data. I love to use this activity for the first time in small groups and have kiddos guess which color they think will have the most snap cubes before we begin.
And last up, I also use my Fall Snap Cube Centers during September as well. This resource is jam-packed with activities focusing on math and phonics concepts. The skills targeted in these activities include letter identification, letter sound identification, number identification, and subitizing. Each skill is practiced as children build fun autumn shapes by matching the correct color snap cubes to each space based on the code for each page.
I love these activities because they’re super simple to prep and can be used throughout fall. It’s a simple way to add some essential math and literacy skills practice to your September activities without spending hours prepping!
2. September Lapbook Activities
If you’ve been around here a while, you probably already know about my love of lapbooks. If not, let me give you a quick rundown. Lapbooks are a smaller version of an interactive notebook, and they’re absolutely perfect for kindergarten! They’re made with a manilla folder and then filled with various cut-and-paste activities centered around a specific subject. The best part is that they can be used for any topic and make a wonderful keepsake too!
I always include my apple lapbooks or my fall lapbooks in my September activities. If we have time, I like to use the apple theme lapbook towards the beginning of the month and my fall one towards the end. Once you try these in your classroom, I know you’ll be hooked too! Your students will love exploring the topic and building their very own mini interactive notebook. Some of the things we explore in these lapbooks are:
- Apple Life Cycle
- Apple Parts
- Favorite Apple Graphing
- Comparing Seasons
- Fall Facts
- Fall Leaf Investigation and more!
These activities are great for using in your small groups throughout the month. We typically do a couple of activities per day, and the students will gradually add each piece to their lapbooks. After about a week or so, they’ll have a complete lapbook project that serves as an excellent kindergarten memory book keepsake!
3. Writing Centers for September
Next on my September activities list, let’s talk about writing centers! In September, I switch out everything in my back-to-school writing center for September themes. My main goal in setting up a writing center for any month is to choose highly engaging activities that will draw students in! Oftentimes, the writing center is noted for not getting much love from students, but with the “write” activities, you can change that! Some of my favorites for September include:
- Vocabulary Cards: These are great for students to refer to as they explore the monthly writing center activities and learn new words centered around our September themes.
- Picture Cards: This set of cards with a picture and word to be used in multiple ways, such as write the room, writing a story, making a list, sight word sentences, and more!
- Spin a Silly Story: Always a student favorite, kiddos will spin two pictures and use them to create a silly story in this activity.
- Directed Drawing & Writing: Students will follow the step-by-step directions to draw the picture, then add details to the picture, and finally write a sentence about what they drew.
- Build and Write: Students will use play dough to create the picture, trace the word and write a sentence about the picture.
In kindergarten, I like to introduce a few activities at a time and use some of the writing center lessons in a small group format. For example, the build-and-write playdough mats are SO fun to use in small groups! I like to use bright red play dough to match our theme and ask lots of questions about what students are building to generate some conversation.
These writing activities also present a lot of great opportunities to observe and assess writing skill progress throughout the month!
4. September Pattern Block Mats
Pattern blocks are another fun way to engage your students all year long. When planning my September activities, I always include a few pattern block center activities that align with our fall themes.
They’re great for fostering visual discrimination skills, learning shapes, and even counting! I have two main go-to’s for pattern block fun in the fall.
My Spin and Match Fall Pattern Block Games are focused on identifying and matching pattern block shapes to build a fun fall picture. Students will use a paperclip spinner to spin for a shape.
Then they find a matching pattern block and place it on their mat in the correct spot. They continue until their picture is complete. This game comes in a couple of options for differentiation, as well as a coloring option too!
We also use these Fall Roll and Match Pattern Block Games in September to continue working on identifying shapes. These activities offer the added bonus of using dice to count too! This is a great way to introduce students to the concept of rolling dice, and strengthening those subitizing skills! I love using nice, quiet foam dice for these games during center time and as a morning tub activity.
5. Fun Fall Shape Games for September
Shapes are an essential math concept in kindergarten, so we spend a lot of time working on recognizing them and learning their names. This doesn’t have to be boring though. No endless flashcards here! Instead, we use a variety of hands-on learning games that students absolutely love! I also love them since they’re easy to prep and versatile. There are so many shape games and activities in my Fall Shapes resource, but some of our favorites are:
- Shapes BINGO: Students can play in small groups. They will cover up the shapes called until one person has a straight line or the entire board covered.
- Bump: Students play with a partner. They will spin a shape, cover it up on the mat, and try not to get bumped off by their partner.
- Count & Graph: Students will play independently. They will look at the collage of shapes and count and graph the number of each shape.
- Shape Discrimination Cards: Students will play independently as they look at the picture in the middle and cover up all the matching shapes around the sides.
- Puzzle Cards – Students can play independently or with partners to match the shape to the picture and put the puzzle pieces together.
I love that these activities target essential kindergarten math standards in a fun and unexpected way. My students love practicing recognizing and naming shapes, counting, graphing, and representing data when it’s in the form of fun games! We use them for morning tubs, math centers, partner games, and more throughout September and into the fall.
Putting Your September Activities Together
For me, the most important part about planning September activities is ensuring there’s variety. Time and time again, I’ve learned that if I want my students to be engaged and excited about all we’re focusing on, it must feel fresh, fun, and new! I achieve this by sprinkling a few activities and games from each category through each week in September. This helps touch on a variety of math and literacy concepts while also making sure my students don’t get bored.
I hope these ideas were helpful to you as you begin planning your own September activities and lesson plans. You can take a closer look at all of these activities in my TpT shop, along with many other fun fall activities!
Save These September Activities
Pin these September activities on your classroom Pinterest board to easily keep track of them.
