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Happy New Year! The New Year is the time of year where adults make resolutions to improve their lives and get rid of their bad habits. Most children don't really have an appreciation for a resolution but they can have an appreciation for this holiday.

The New Year offers an opportunity to teach about time, calendars, and other cultures, including the Chinese New Year. As a teacher you can embrace this unit with a creative activity like writing a poem. It's also a great opportunity to teach time and math skills.

New Year's Eve also offers the opportunity to discuss traditions in other cultures. Every country has their own celebrations for the holiday. For example, celebrations in the US often include fireworks. In Austria the Blue Danube is played at midnight, rather than Auld Lang Syne.

Teaching Resources for New Year's Eve

Because the New Year is such a celebrated holiday, it's a great time for fun classroom activities. Worksheets and clip art can help you bring your message to your classroom. TeacherPlanet has a wealth of New Year's activities for your classroom as well. Check them out!

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New Year's Activities, Lessons & Printables

Fun new year’s activities for the classroom.

Starting back for the new year in January offers opportunities for reflection, setting new year’s resolutions, and learning about the history of new year’s celebrations and traditions around the world. Read on for ideas for celebrating the new year with your students or browse our collection of new year’s activities.

Learn about the history of new year’s celebrations

Browse our reference pages for materials on the history and traditions of celebrating the new year. A History of the New Year is a great read for middle school students guiding them through ancient celebrations in Mesopotamia to modern-day traditions. New Year’s Traditions is a handy reference article for grades 3 to 12 and includes lyrics to sing "Auld Lang Syne" with your class!

Explore new year traditions around the world

The new year is a great opportunity for students to learn about different cultures around the world. Students can discover Vietnamese , Hindu , Korean , and Chinese new year traditions with social studies printables and activities. Our collection of Chinese New Year resources includes fun arts and crafts activities along with social studies lessons and printables.

Write new year’s resolutions

The first week back is a great time for reflection and goal-setting. This New Year’s Resolutions Activity Packet has some lovely resolution-setting templates and activities for elementary students. We also have printables for grades K-2, 3-6, and 7-12. Discover more resources for new year’s resolutions.

Browse More New Year’s Activities & Printables

New year’s choice boards.

New Year's Choice Board for Elementary Grades

New Year's Choice Board for Middle School

The New Year & Social Studies Connected

New Year's Day

New Year's Eve

• Chinese New Year Dragon Puppet
• Tet, the Vietnamese New Year

Diwali, the Hindu New Year

• Sol-Nal, the Korean New Year

Sun Nin, the Chinese New Year

• More Social Studies Resources for the New Year

New Year's References

A History of the New Year

New Year's Traditions: Auld Lang Syne and Other New Year's Customs

Saying "Happy New Year!" Around the World

New Year’s Resolutions Activites

• My New Year's Resolutions (K-2)
• My New Year's Resolutions (3-6)

My New Year's Resolutions (7-12)

Student Goal Setting in the New Year

• New Year’s Resolutions Activity Packet for Elementary Students

New Year's Resolutions Activities for Middle School

Chinese New Year Resources

• All About the Chinese New Year

The Chinese Calendar

• Chinese New Year Videos & Activities
• Chinese Music
• Asian Music Resources
• Making an Erhu
• More Chinese New Year Resources for Teachers

Winter Holidays Teacher Resources

• Holiday Packet for K-6
• Christmas Teacher Resources
• Hanukkah - Teacher Resources
• Kwanzaa Teacher Resources
• December Holidays Resources for Teachers
• More Winter Holiday Resources

Recommended New Year's Resources

CHOICE BOARDS

Health and Wellness Activities Choice Board and Certificate

TEACHING RESOURCE

Chinese New Year - Videos & Activities

My New Year's Resolutions for Grades 3-6

New Year's Resolutions Activity Packet for Elementary Students

My New Year's Resolutions for Grades K-2

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25 School Activities to Ring-In the New Year!

October 11, 2023 //  by  Sharayah Lynn Grattan

As the year comes to an end, it can be fun and helpful to teach classroom activities with interactive resources that encourage students to dream big and set goals. From resolution ideas and journaling to critical thinking and crafts, there are so many ways to incorporate New Year’s traditions and celebrations into your lesson plans. We have 25 creative and high-engagement resources for any grade level to try during the holiday season and continue into next year!

1. Winter Blues Bulletin Board

Depending on where your school is, the holiday break may include cold weather and lots of snow! If you have a bulletin board in your classroom, it can be helpful to have a discussion with your students about ways to beat the winter blues and share the best ones on the board for students to try.

Learn More: Julia Nicole

2. NYE Wishing Tree Craft

Here is a simple and sweet craft you can try with your elementary grade students that will encourage excitement and hope for the coming year. Depending on how many students are in your class, you can build a small tree using branches or a big one to fit everyone’s wish stars!

Learn More: No Time for Flashcards

3. Oil and Water Firework Experiment

Are your students’ minds ready to be blown!? This easy science experiment teaches kids how oil and water react to each other, and incorporating food coloring makes these jars into mini fireworks shows!

Learn More: I Can Teach My Child

4. Countdown Clock Craft

Time to make the perfect bulletin board display to get your students extra excited for the New Year! There are some variations in designs, so you can have the kids choose what layout and colors and create their own to decorate the classroom or bring home.

Learn More: Buggy and Buddy

5. Matholutions

Math activities and concepts can be intimidating and overwhelming at times. To encourage students for the coming year, provide this template for them to write down an individual resolution they want to achieve in math. It can be specific or general, whatever will motivate them.

Learn More: Scaffolded Math

6. New Year’s Eve Mad Libs

Mad libs are a silly and creative sentence activity to help students think critically, expand their vocabulary, and share unique ideas with their classmates. There are plenty of templates available with different topics and styles to choose from and give your students to try.

Learn More: Woo! Jr.

7. Sparkly DIY Suncatchers

Let’s celebrate the beginning of a new year with these fun and festive suncatchers! You can trace and cut out the numbers for the year or come up with another design your students will love to decorate their classroom with!

Learn More: Playground Parkbench

8. DIY Light Up Circuit!

Show your students how to light up their big goals for the new year by helping them build a light circuit using conductive and insulating clay, a battery pack, and mini-wired lights.

Learn More: STEAMsational

9. The History of New Year

The journey up to our modern-day celebration of New Year began a very long time ago. Read the history of resolutions, holiday foods, fireworks, and countdowns, and share some fun facts with your students.

Learn More: History

10. DIY Finger Cymbals of Celebration!

Ask your students to bring in some old tin lids for this crafty and musical motor activity. Provide some festive decoration they can glue on their lids and elastic for their fingers to hold and clap together along with the music!

Learn More: Fun Family Crafts

11. Minute to Win It Games

Are you looking for some exciting and active games for your New Year’s class party? These time-limit games are super fast-paced and perfect to ring-in this celebrated holiday. A few games we like from this list are “a toss through time” and “kisses countdown”.

Learn More: The Idea Room

12. Bubble Wrap New Years Ball

An interactive addition to your cute bulletin board. This craft is super simple, and your students will be obsessed with it if you restrict the popping to one bubble a day. You can make this a countdown to the beginning of a relaxing holiday break.

Learn More: Free Kids Crafts

13. New Year Scavenger Hunt

What are props and decorations associated with New Years’ celebrations? Find a game online or create your own scavenger hunt for your students to search for items/clues around your classroom.

Learn More: Moritz Fine Designs

14. Fortune Cookie Resolution Craft

Time for an artsy goal-setting activity to inspire good habits, learning ambitions, and personal growth. Give your students strips of paper (scrapbook or construction paper) and prompts for resolutions so they can write their own in these DIY origami fortune cookies!

Learn More: Messy Little Monster

15. Resolution Bracelets

The end of the year is the perfect time for a resolution unit with meaningful activities that encourage students to constantly be improving themselves. Here are some easy DIY bracelet ideas, you can choose one or two designs and have students think of one good habit or resolution for each bead, loop, or twist in their bracelet.

Learn More: How Wee Learn

16. Happy “Noon” Years Dance Party!

The decorations are up, the resolutions have been made, and now it’s time to party! This video clip link has fun and kid-friendly dance music perfect for your New Years’ classroom celebration.

Learn More: Kidz Bop

17. Roll (Into the New Year) Story Writing

Here is a template you can use to improve your student’s writing skills in a collaborative and game-driven way. Provide a New Years’ related prompt to get the story started, let the dice roll, and your students’ imaginations do the rest!

Learn More: Ms. Jordan Reads

18. Self-Reflection Worksheet

In this interactive notebook activity, students will be given the chance to think critically about the year they have had. The good, the bad, and visions/goals for the coming year.

19. DIY Sparkle Playdough

Want to include some hands-on and tactile ideas in your New Year lesson plans? This homemade ball-drop playdough is the perfect activity that will have your students engaged and create all sorts of magic with this glittery goop!

Learn More: Homegrown Friends

20. New Years Interview

Now, this initial idea is for students to take home and interview their families, but another fun option is to have them interview each other! You can find a template activity sheet online or design your own with questions students will be excited to answer.

Learn More: Teach Mama

21. New Year Calendar Craft

For younger students who may still be learning about the structure of the year some components, you can include are seasons, months, birthdays, and holidays. Help them fold and cut a circle chart, then segment it into 12 sections and decorate it with personal touches.

Learn More: Nurture Store

22. New Years Word Search

Celebrate, clock, resolution, cheers! These and others are festive words that remind us of the excitement of New Year. Give your students a themed word search to get into the spirit and race against their classmates to see who finishes first!

Learn More: Happiness is Homemade

23. Resolutions Jars

We have another creative activity that will have your students eager to accomplish all their goals for the new year! First, have your students bring in clear mason jars and provide paint for them to design and decorate. Then cut strips of colored paper to write each goal on.

Learn More: Happy Hooligans

24. New Year Charades

Everyone loves charades! It can be such a fun and collaborative exercise to improve students’ confidence, creativity, and teamwork skills. You can think of your own movies, books, and other categories on your own and write them on pieces of paper, or find a pre-made charades game online.

Learn More: Teach Starter

25. Pop-Up Art Scape

This group display craft leaves a ton of room for imagination and creativity in each step of assemblage. From the buildings in the background to the colorful fireworks, each visual addition brings this pop-up card to life. Get the template online with all the instructions and parts your students will need to build their own!

The new year means new beginnings — and new resolutions. Whether your students hope to become stronger readers or aim to be more compassionate toward one another, the new year is the perfect time to help them reflect upon what they need to do to achieve their goals.

These 31 new year writing prompts will inspire your students to reflect on the past year, set realistic goals and resolutions, and look ahead to a bright future to make 2024 even more successful!

1. What are your resolutions for this new year?

2. Why is it important to make new year’s resolutions?

3. What was the best thing that happened to you this past year?

4. What are you most looking forward to this new year?

5. This year will be a year of…

6. In what ways were your kind to your friends, family, and teachers this past year?

7. What can you do this new year to be a good friend?

8. What can you do this new year to show gratitude for your friends, family, and teachers?

9. This new year, I’m grateful for…

10. This new year, I can’t wait to…

11. What new adventures would you like to go on this year?

12. Can you describe your most memorable new year?

13. Why is the new year important to you?

14. Have you made a new year’s resolution before? What was it?

15. Does your family have any new year’s traditions? What are they?

16.  What can you do to make this new year even more special than last?

17.  Before this year ends, I will…

18.  The best book I read last year was ________ because…

19.  The book I’m most looking forward to reading this year is ________ because…

20.  This new year, I can’t wait to learn about…

21.  This new year, I hope I’m able to…

22.  What will you need to do to achieve your goals and keep your resolutions in the new year?

23.  What can we do as a class this new year to be more kind to one another?

24.  How can your classmates and teachers help you achieve your goals and resolutions?

25.  How can you help your classmates and teachers achieve their goals and resolutions?

26.  In what ways can you practice empathy this year?

27.  Describe a time when you helped a classmate or teacher. How did you feel afterward?

28. What was the most fun part of the year in class for you?

29. What are you most excited to do in class next year?

30. What can you do next year to be helpful at home and at school?

31. What was the most interesting thing you’ve learned this year?

Combining daily writing exercises with extended class or small-group discussion will help your students set realistic, yet meaningful, goals to make the new year even more successful than the last. By encouraging your students to really reflect on the new year and what it means to make and keep resolutions, they’ll be prepared to overcome any challenge they may encounter along the way — and help their friends and classmates do the same!

Shop workbooks that encourage writing skills below. You can find all books and activities — including writing workbooks and other writing resources — at  The Teacher Store .

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12 Classroom New Year's Activities for Students

Fireworks light up the sky. Bells ring. Horns blare. Revelers sing "Auld Lang Syne." It must be midnight on the first day of the New Year.

Many people see the New Year as an opportunity for a fresh start. They make resolutions to break bad habits, try new things, accomplish goals, and become better versions of themselves. Our New Year's activities for students allow them to have some fun and do a little self-reflecting while learning about the holiday. Which class activity will your students try?

New Year's Classroom Activities

Ring in the New Year with language arts, science, math, and social studies hands-on projects your students will love. Short on time? No problem! Just print one of our "New Year's activities for students" pdfs and pass them out. Be sure to check out our New Year's bulletin board ideas , our Chinese New Year activities , and our winter holiday games and crafts , too!

1. Roll a New Year’s Story

Challenge students to write a holiday tale using our “ Roll a New Year’s Story ” activity sheet. Three rolls of a die determine the story's main character, setting, and problem. Will the story be about an angry chauffeur in Times Square just as time starts moving backward at 11:59? Or will it be about a partygoer who escapes to an apartment rooftop after a confetti machine glitch threatens to cover the whole city in colorful strips of paper? There are so many silly story lines! Consider writing the story together as a class if you teach younger grades. Older students can partner up and take turns writing each line of the story. Finally, give students the choice of how they want to share their creations, whether it's by:

• Reading the story aloud to the class
• Acting out the story
• Putting on a puppet show (To make the puppets, they could simply draw the characters, cut them out, and glue a popsicle stick to the backs.)
• Creating a comic strip

2. This Year, I Will...

Tell students that people have been making New Year’s resolutions for thousands of years. The ancient Babylonians are said to be the first to make New Year’s resolutions. Some 4,000 years ago, they would promise the gods to pay off their debts and return borrowed farm equipment. Today, our resolutions are often rooted in self-improvement. We vow to get healthy, save more money, break bad habits, learn a new skill, and the like. Get students thinking about the resolutions they would like to make with our " New Year's Goals " printable, which asks kids to reflect on:

• One thing they would like to try
• One thing they want to become better at
• One bad habit they would like to break
• One way that they could be kinder

After students complete the organizer, ask: which resolution do you think will be hardest to keep? Why? What steps can you take to ensure you stick to your goals?

3. Wealth, Good Luck, and Long Life

How do people around the world ring in the New Year? Have your students do some research to find out. They can follow these steps:

• Choose at least five countries and research their New Year's Eve traditions.
• Take notes on how people in each country celebrate New Year’s Eve. Do they eat a particular food? (People in Spain eat 12 grapes at midnight to ensure 12 lucky months ahead). Do they follow a ritual or take certain actions? ( In the Philippines, some bang pots and pans to scare away evil spirits).
• Explain the meaning behind the foods they eat or the actions they take. Are they hoping for wealth, good luck, a long life, or a fresh start?

Invite students to report their findings to the class. Keep track of the countries students learned about by placing a push pin on each one on a world map. You can do this on a digital map, too. Finally, have students write a paragraph comparing and contrasting New Year’s traditions in two countries. Or, have them compare their family's traditions with those of kids in another country.

4. Drop the Ball!

On nearly every New Year's Eve since 1907, crowds have gathered in Times Square to watch the ball drop at midnight. Back in the day, it took six men to lower the 700-pound ball made of iron and wood down a flagpole, using a pulley. Today, the crystal-covered ball weighs nearly 12,000 pounds and a computer system controls the drop.

Challenge students to design their own pulley to stage a ball drop. Tell students that a pulley is made of at least one wheel and some rope. This simple machine makes it easier to lift a heavy object. Have students watch a video to learn more about the science behind how pulleys work . Ask: Can you think of some everyday pulleys? (elevators, blinds, theater curtains, flag poles)

Construct a Pulley

Materials: Styrofoam ball, paint, glue, tape, strips of colorful fabric or paper, pipe cleaners, long piece of ribbon, empty ribbon spool, small dowel or a chopstick

• Decorate the ball. Paint it, cover it with pipe cleaners, or glue fabric or colorful strips of paper all over the outside. Have more creative ways to decorate the ball? Go for it!
• Glue or tape one end of the long ribbon to the top of the ball. You can also use a push pin to secure it in place.
• Tape the other end of the long ribbon to the empty ribbon spool, then wrap the ribbon around the spool.
• Slide the ribbon spool onto the dowel or chopstick.
• Find a place to operate the pulley. A chair with slats could work, or have classmates hold either end of the dowel as you turn the spool.

For more science fun, try our 90-second experiments using common household ingredients. The experiments "Static Disco" (it's like a spooky dance party) and "Milk Soap Rainbow" (it's reminiscent of fireworks) seem particularly in keeping with New Year celebrations.

5. Craft Your Own Glasses

Tell students that glasses in the numerical shape of the coming year were patented by Richard Sclafani and Peter Cicero in 1990. You know, the ones that look like this 2👀1. Who needs to buy novelty glasses for the New Year when students can design their own? Challenge students to create festive spectacles using colorful pipe cleaners, glue, and an old pair of glasses or a cheap plastic pair, with the lenses popped out.

Design New Year's Glasses

• Have an adult pop the lenses out of an old or cheap pair of glasses.
• Take a pipe cleaner and wind it around the frames to cover them. The pipe cleaners will stay in place without any glue.
• Keep using pipe cleaners to wind around the frames until every inch of the frames is covered.
• Put your own style on the glasses. You might want to wind a different color pipe cleaner around the sides, letting them stick out in bursts to approximate fireworks. See the photo below for an example. You could also use pipe cleaners to form the year—2024 for example—and glue them to the top of the frames. Get creative.
• Now you've got snazzy glasses to wear as you ring in the New Year!

6. Make Some Noise!

You've just got to make some noise on New Year's Eve. It's a tradition. Depending on where you live, you might hear church bells ring, fireworks crackle across the sky, dishes smash, pots bang, and noisemakers toot. Get your students in on the fun by having them create their own noisemakers.

If you're teaching younger students, you might want to have them predict which noisemaker would be the loudest based on the materials used. Then have them put their predictions to the test.

Create a Noisemaker

Materials: Clean plastic bottle (about 17 ounces) with top, acrylic paint, glitter, ribbons, scissors, rice, dried beans, popcorn kernels, pebbles, pennies

• Squirt about 3 tablespoons of paint into a 17-ounce plastic bottle. Put on the cap, then shake and turn the bottle to coat the inside.
• Remove the cap, place the bottle on its side, and let it dry overnight.
• Fill the bottle about one-third of the way with rice, dried beans, popcorn kernels, pebbles, pennies, or a mix of two or more items.
• Put the cap on the bottle tightly.
• Tie colorful ribbons around the neck of the bottle.
• Make some noise!

7. Make a Wish

Tell students that among the tons of confetti falling on Times Square on New Year's Eve are handwritten and digitally printed wishes from people around the world. Your students' wishes could be included, too. Have them write a sentence describing a personal goal, what the New Year means to them, or a wish for their loved ones or for the world. Here's how to get their wish printed on the confetti that will rain down on Times Square:

• Go in person to a mobile Wishing Wall in New York City
• Fill out the online Wishing Wall form
• Post the wish on Twitter or Instagram using #ConfettiWish

For some in-class fun, have students cut up colorful pieces of paper and write out New Year's wishes for their classmates. Hold a countdown, toss the confetti, and let students gather up the wishes.

Hold a discussion. Ask: Of the wishes you collected, which do you most hope will come true? Why? Which do you think a classmate, friend, caregiver, or family member would appreciate? Share it with them when you get the chance.

8. The Year in Numbers

Invite students to explore the upcoming year as a number. Is the new year odd or even? What number do you get if you add 100 to the year? What if you subtract 100? How many thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones make up the new year? Provide students a copy of the printable “ New Year's Math ” to complete these and other activities. Review their work as a class and invite students to explain how they got their answers. Finally, challenge students to create a visual representation of the year using base-ten blocks, tallies, counters, a graph, number sentence, or drawings.

9. Countdown to Midnight

This activity is for younger students. Ask: When does the countdown to midnight on New Year’s Eve usually begin? (10 seconds to midnight) Set a timer for 10 seconds. If you can, display the timer so the whole class can see it. Tell students they are going to count down from 10 to 1 as the timer counts down. Try it a few times. Then, tell students to partner up and make a list of things they think can be done in 10 seconds. (i.e., write your name, draw a flower, line up, separate into groups) Invite students to share their ideas. Have students predict which activities can be completed in 10 seconds with a thumbs up, and which cannot be with a thumbs down. Test out students’ ideas using the timer.

Give students practice calculating elapsed time using a digital or analog clock. Set the clock to various times, and each time ask: How much longer until midnight? Be sure to give students the opportunity to calculate hours, minutes, and seconds.

10. Word Play

What do you get when you put sugar on your pillow on New Year’s Eve? Challenge students to unscramble the words in our " New Year's Word Scramble " to get the punch line. To extend the activity, have students use the words to play "Continue the Story." Separate students into groups of five or fewer. Tell them each group is going to construct a story using all 10 of the unscrambled words. The first student starts the story with word #1 (year), the second student continues the story using word #2 (ball), and the last student will end the story with word #10 (Times Square).

Students can also continue the word play by creating their own word scramble with a different theme for a friend to solve. They might choose a winter theme like winter sports, winter comfort foods, or winter celebrations around the world. If they'd like to try a holiday-themed word scramble, they can choose one from our " Monthly Calendar Themes " blog.

11. Create a New Year’s Playlist

Challenge your high school students to create a New Year’s playlist that captures a mood. The mood might be inspirational, reflective, hopeful, therapeutic, celebratory, or it might convey the hope for a fresh start.

Tell students the list must include at least 10 songs. Have them write a paragraph explaining how the songs in the playlist reflect the mood. Remind students to give the playlist a title. Finally, invite students to share their playlists with classmates. Can their classmates identify the mood they were aiming for?

12. That's Debatable!

New Year's resolutions are easy to make but difficult to keep. Start a class discussion. Ask: What is a resolution? What resolution have you made? Did you keep it? Why or why not?

Tell students the question they are going to debate: Are New Year's resolutions worth making? Ask students who answer "yes" to stand on the left side of the classroom, and those who answer "no" on the right. "Undecided" students should stand in the middle. Invite students to explain their viewpoint. Students who are convinced by opposing arguments can change positions. Be sure to have them explain what convinced them.

If you're teaching online, pose the debate question using an online poll tool like Kahoot! As an extension, have students poll up to 20 people on the debate question and graph their results. Finally, challenge students to write an article with one of the following titles: "5 Reasons New Year's Resolutions Are Worth Making" or "5 Reasons You Should Stop Making New Year's Resolutions."

More New Year's Fun

How does your class say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new one? We'd love to hear from you! Tell us about your New Year's classroom activities and lesson plans, or if you tried any of our activities, let us know how they worked out. Connect with us on Twitter ( @HMHCo ) or email us at [email protected] .

Discover more lesson plans and classroom resources on Shaped . For real-world, experiential science instruction, l earn more about HMH's K–12 science programs .

Download our FREE calendar of activities!

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• Activities & Lessons
• Grades PreK-K
• Grades 9-12

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Sincerely Students

140 Best New Year’s Resolution Ideas For Students

The new year is right around the corner, and we all want to make it better than the last. In this post, I’ve listed out 140 (that’s right) New Year’s Resolution ideas for you. But remember, to really make it work, you have to plan and act upon your goal.

Each resolution you create is a project for the year, and to ensure that you complete it, you need to plan it out. And now’s the perfect time to do it. Check out this Ultimate Guide To Effective Project Planning before you jump into the new year, and you’ll be ready to make it the most productive year yet.

And now that you know how to reach your goals, let’s take a look at the top 140 New Year’s resolution ideas you should implement now.

Academic Resolutions

• Earn a certain grade in a certain class.
• Earn or maintain a certain GPA.
• Get a specific score on AP tests/SAT/ACT
• Start taking notes that are actually helpful.
• Complete all your assignments on time.
• Never miss/skip one class.
• Understand, not just pass, the class.
• Learn instead of memorizing.
• Take classes you’re actually interested in.
• Hold study sessions with others more often.
• Start and follow a study routine.
• Enter in a certain number of competitions. 
• Win a certain number of competitions.
• Win a certain number of scholarships.
• Win a specific scholarship.
• Take a few online courses on your own.
• Complete your degree in a certain number of years.
• Learn a new language.
• Learn how to code in a language.
• Build a project through coding.
• Go abroad for a while and learn the language.
• Get accepted into a certain college.
• Get accepted into a certain graduate program.
• Take and pass an extra-challenging course.
• Become friends with your professors.
• Start to set goals for each class.
• Read an extra-challenging text.
• Watch a documentary every month.
• Read at least 1 book each month.
• Complete a personal research paper.

Finance/Career Resolutions

• Earn a certain amount of money in 6 months.
• Earn a certain amount of money in 1 year.
• Find a side hustle you enjoy.
• Learn how to do your own taxes.
• Start a lifetime project.
• Start a profitable blog in a certain niche.
• Start a successful YouTube channel in one niche.
• Start your own business with handmade products.
• Start your own business with digital products.
• Become a self-published author.
• Get a job in a certain area of work.
• Get a job in a certain company.
• Get a raise or promotion to a certain position.
• Learn and start investing in stocks.
• Become an affiliate for a certain brand.
• Raise your credit score to a certain point.
• Save a certain amount of money regularly.
• Donate a certain amount of money regularly.
• Have a certain amount of money in your account by the end of the year.
• Pay off a certain percentage of your debts.
• Maintain a specific spending-saving ratio.
• Set and follow a monthly budget.
• Update and upgrade your resume.
• Intern for a specific company.
• Volunteer at a nonprofit organization.
• Start a nonprofit organization.
• Attend networking events regularly.
• Complete a money-saving challenge.
• Complete a no-spend month (nothing except necessities).
• Become a millionaire.

YOU’LL LOVE THIS POST: The Ultimate Guide To Studying From Home

Health Resolutions

• Have a self-care day every month.
• Practice self-love regularly.
• Start getting regular checkups.
• Drink enough water every day.
• Eat breakfast every day.
• Eat more greens in every meal.
• Be consistent with meals.
• Lose a certain amount of weight.
• Gain a certain amount of weight.
• Build confidence in your own body.
• Stretch every morning.
• Exercise a certain number of days every week. 
• Go outside every day.
• Meditate for 15 minutes every day.
• Try a new healthy recipe every week.
• Start a healthy diet.
• Swap out sugary drinks for tea and water.
• Swap out sugary desserts for fruits and vegetables.
• Build and follow a skincare routine.
• Find and follow a fitness/workout routine.
• Complete a fitness challenge.
• Try a new sport or exercise every quarter.
• Floss every day.
• Take vitamins every day.
• Go vegetarian for a certain amount of time.
• Build and follow a healthy sleep schedule.
• Create an uplifting morning routine .
• Create a relaxing evening routine .
• Move more and sit less.
• Allow yourself to take breaks more often.

Personal Growth Resolutions

• Start a gratitude journal.
• Start a diary.
• Start a dream journal.
• Learn and implement the Law of Attraction.
• Identify something you’re passionate about.
• Have a social media detox every month.
• Cut off toxic people around you.
• Make a few great friends.
• Have a good laugh every day.
• Call a friend/family member every week.
• Get rid of 2 bad habits each quarter.
• Set SMART goals every month.
• Set goals for all your projects .
• Improve your time management.
• Start thinking more before you speak.
• Become a better public speaker.
• Be proactive in your intentions.
• Learn how to make quick and better decisions.
• Learn to accept and deal with stress.
• Improve your posture.
• Stop procrastinating.
• Build a positive and optimistic mindset .
• Use a planner/organizer more often.
• Spend only a certain amount of time on YouTube/Netflix/social media each week.
• Make new friends wherever you visit.
• Become an expert in something.
• Organize your digital space every month.
• Organize your physical space every week.
• Find your own fashion style.
• Create a closet that fits your style.

RELATED POST: 10 Brilliant Habits To Organize Your Entire Life

Miscellaneous Resolutions

• Go to your favorite artist’s concert.
• Meet your favorite author/artist/celebrity.
• See your favorite show live.
• Visit a certain number of countries.
• Go skydiving.
• Film 1 second a day.
• Create a short movie with your favorite song.
• Create a documentary of your year.
• Create a scrapbook of your year.
• Start a new hobby.
• Write letters to people you love.
• Get your driver’s license.
• Go on a road trip with people you love.
• Learn how to write calligraphy.
• Be featured in a magazine/paper.
• Buy yourself gifts every month.
• Get your own apartment.
• Buy your own house.
• Adopt a pet.
• Make your year better than the last.

I hope this list was able to give you a few new ideas for your New Year! In case you forgot, visit the Ultimate Guide To Project Planning to learn the exact steps to prepare for and reach your goals. 

Leave a comment with your top 3 New Year’s resolutions! And if you’re looking for more posts like this, check these out:

• Ultimate 5 Day Guide To Become Insanely Productive
• How To Build Consistency In Everything You Do
• 20 Legit Ways To Make Money As A Student

Privacy Overview

Helping Students Make New Year’s Resolutions: A Step-by-Step Plan

January 1, 2016

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Just like the adults around them, our students may be looking at the new year as an opportunity for renewal, a time to assess their life and consider how they might want to improve it.

And we can help them. This week, since the topic of new year’s resolutions is likely to come up anyway, why not make a lesson out of it? Here’s a step-by-step plan you can use to help your students make the kinds of resolutions that could have a significant impact on their quality of life.

1. Get warmed up.

Ask students if any of them have made a new year’s resolution yet. Allow them to do a think-pair-share about this, then ask a few to share their resolutions with the class, if they have any. Also talk about your own, if you have one. This is just a casual conversation to get warmed up. If some students choose not to share, let them pass: There’s a chance they have some ideas, but they’d rather not announce them publicly.

2. Explore different kinds of resolutions.

One of the main goals of this lesson is to give students a better sense of the things in their lives they DO have control over. That’s an important message; one that can empower them to take ownership for their choices and start making big changes. And this message will be most effective if students are exposed to a broad range of possibilities, rather than limit themselves to whatever ideas they happen to come up with on their own.

So spend some time looking at the kinds of resolutions people make. You might brainstorm a list of possible resolutions on the board, then divide that list into categories. This would essentially be an inductive learning lesson. You could also have students do this in groups, or to save time, just prepare a list of example resolutions in advance.

The list could include categories and examples like these:

Health Resolutions:  eat less junk food, exercise more, get better sleep

Academic Resolutions:  set up a homework routine, keep school materials organized

Relationship Resolutions:  be a better listener, stop gossiping, spend more time with family

Personal Growth Resolutions:  learn a new hobby or skill, spend less time on devices

Once students have explored many possibilities, have them choose at least one resolution for the new year.

3. Explain how to turn a resolution into a goal.

One of the reasons some resolutions fail is because they aren’t specific or measurable. If a person resolves to “eat healthier,” that’s hard to measure and hard to track. With a broad resolution, it’s easy to fall into a gray area and eventually drop it altogether. So teach students how to take a vague resolution like “give my dog more attention” and turn it into a specific, measurable goal like “spend 10 minutes a day petting and playing with my dog.” Introduce students to the concept of SMART goals so they can craft a goal that meets all five criteria.

If a resolution is something more complex and long-term, like “learn how to cook,” have students think about what success with that resolution might look like: Maybe someone who knows how to cook can make a certain number of meals easily, so have the student decide what that number is and set a deadline for learning that number of meals. Or better yet, have them create a list of specific things they want to learn how to cook; this can serve as a checklist for the year.

4. Show students how to track their goals.

Explain to students that people generally have a greater chance of meeting their goals if they keep track of their progress in some way. Then show them how to do it.

Because students will have different kinds of goals, they will need different approaches to this tracking. Some will have the kind that require daily changes, like flossing every day or spending time each day with a pet. For a goal like that, they could use a daily record like this one, where they record “scores” they define themselves.

For a more complex, long-term goal, it may be more appropriate to set milestones that lead up to the bigger, broader goal. A milestone tracker like this one could help facilitate that:

5. Later, provide time to reflect.

Plan class time later on for students to do some written reflection on the progress they have made. Have them consider how well their plan is going, what factors may be getting in their way, or how the new changes are impacting their quality of life. The first time might be a week after goals are set, followed by two more check-ins spaced further apart. During these reflection times, share how your own goals are going, and talk to students about how sometimes we end up changing our goals based on what we learn about ourselves over time.

Suggestions for Success

Here are a few suggestions to give this lesson the greatest impact:

Make it ungraded. This is the kind of activity that has value beyond academics or grades, and students may be more intrinsically motivated to complete it if it is not tied to a grade. On the other hand, if you believe students will not do it without some kind of school credit, consider just assigning points for completion, rather than evaluating students’ work on it. If you have a student who doesn’t take it seriously, chalk it up to a maturity issue; at least they have been exposed to the ideas.

Allow time for discussion. Although students have likely heard about or made new year’s resolutions before, this may be the first time they have been given a structured opportunity to think it through. And it’s highly likely they have only ever heard people in their immediate circle talk about their resolutions; being exposed to the ideas of people they don’t normally spend time with can broaden their ideas about where they might want to grow.

Respect student privacy. Some of your students may be wrestling with serious issues, problems they may not want to discuss with anyone, including you. From the start of this lesson, let students know that if they would prefer to keep their resolutions private,  you will respect that. If you need to give points for participation, you might have students give you a very brief peek at part of their plan, just so you can see that they completed it.

Don’t use this as a sub plan. In order for students to take this assignment seriously, they need to be with someone they trust, so unless you know they will have a sub with whom they already have a great relationship, hold off on this project until a time when you will be with your students.

Want this lesson ready-made?

I have put together a New Year’s Resolutions lesson based on these concepts, including printable goal-tracking sheets and reflection forms, ideal for use in grades 6-12, but also appropriate for grades 4 and 5. The lesson also includes access to the forms in Google Drive, for paperless classrooms.

To take a closer look at the lesson, click the image below:

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction

Tags: teacher-student relationships , teaching strategies , whole child

I’m surprised you didn’t reference SMART Goals. I have a short PowerPoint that i use that includes this sentence prompt: I will/want (specific goal) to achieve (measurement—must have a Number) by doing (action plan) by (date: timeline). However, I love the idea of teaching students to create their own graphic organizer to create a visual, frequent reminder of their own progress.

Yep, SMART goals would be a great fit here. Thanks for adding that! Here’s an overview for anyone new to this structure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

Hi Jennifer, thank you very much for the great ideas you provide for me to be able to work with my students. As School Adjustment Counselor I teach lessons about social skills. This is wonderful, because I started my lessons about “New Year Resolutions”, so la informacion fue bien util y mis estudiantes (K-5) participaron y estaban bien entusiasmados. Gracias un monton, como decimos los puertorriquenos. Te lo agradezco y te admire mucho.

This is a great help. Thanks for sharing!

Love it! Will use it on Monday Jan 16th when my students return!! Thanks so much!!

Might you have any suggestions (or resources to point me to) for ways to tailor this for 2nd graders?

I taught 1st grade for many years, and I think a lot of the ideas in the post could easily be adapted for 2nd graders. Just make sure you know exactly what it is you most want your kids to be able to do in the end. Here’s where I might take this, just off the top of my head: I’m thinking I’d really want the kids to understand the meaning of a resolution, so they can apply resolution-making to all aspects of their lives, not just in the context of a new year’s resolution. I’d plan some sort of vocabulary lesson that would help them understand the connections among “resolution” and” resolve”(to make a decision or to plan a course of action) and “solution” (solve). In the end I want kids to be able identify a problem they’ve been wanting to fix for awhile and create a course of action as to how they will solve it. With this understanding, I could bring up the idea that a lot of people see the new year as a fresh start, a time to work on a problem and resolve it. You can pick out parts of the post that you want to apply in your lesson. Example: identify a problem, plan a way to resolve it, create a way to track progress, plan times of reflection. Provide some modeling and break the lesson into manageable parts (perhaps over the course of a few days). In the end, kids will show understanding that making resolutions is about problem solving that can be done at any time, in any area of their lives. Hope this gives you some ideas to latch onto!

Love this! I think it is so important for educators and parents to help young people build healthy habits early on in their lives so it becomes second nature in adulthood. Along with SMART goals, I recommend pairing this with habitwise.org. It’s a free, online program that teaches students to build habits using a principle from psychology called the habit loop.

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Last updated by Linda Kamp on December 11, 2022 • 10 Comments

5 Fun New Year’s Activities for the Classroom

Happy New Year!  I don’t know where the year has gone but we’re going to celebrate the new one! To help you celebrate with your class and ease back into the routine, here is a list of my favorite New Year’s activities to do in the classroom!

Fun New Year’s Activities to Do in Your Classroom

1. learn about the history of new years celebrations.

Singing Auld Lang Syne  And Other New Year’s Customs This old Scottish song was first published by the poet Robert Burns in 1796. Sung on New Years Eve after the stoke of midnight, Auld Lang Syne is said to be the most popular song that nobody knows the words to!

The History of New Year’s Celebrations for Kids

Teach your students the history of New Year’s celebrations in three fun minilessons with real historical photos. Easily get back on track the first week after winter break with a 5-day lesson plan for students to learn the history, set new learning goals, and define and write resolutions. This high-engagement New Year’s resolution unit comes with both printable and digital resources on Google Slides.

Extend the learning into your literacy block with the leveled reading passages, comprehension questions, and print and digital quiz.

2. Learn New Year’s Traditions Around the World

3.   write new year’s resolutions .

January is the perfect time to refresh and reteach routines and procedures as well as to write resolutions and set new learning goals!  This New Year’s resolution writing craft includes graphic organizers for students to list their goals then turn them into resolutions. bulletin board display title lettering is also included to make an easy January hallway display !

3.   Record Resolutions From A  Character’s  Point Of View

  If Book Characters Made New Year’s Resolutions

Here’s another fun idea to add to your New Year’s activities. Have your students think like their favorite book character and make New Year’s resolutions with the ChatterPix app!  It’s super easy to use your iPad to animate a picture with a little talking mouth! This higher order thinking activity by Jen Jones from Hello Literacy   is both fun and timely for students to put themselves in a characters’ shoes while teaching point of view. This post includes a quick tutorial and a list of several books with strong characters to help you get started!

4.   Make A Happiness Jar

These Happiness/Gratitude Jars from Mommypotamus are ideal for the classroom! Use a large plastic jar, you know the ones you find at Walmart filled with cheese puffs? That one,  and keep a supply of note paper nearby. Students can write down moments that make them happy at home or at school and place them in the jar.  Read a few each day, or at the end of the week before dismissal. You can also read them during brain breaks!

5.   “Ring” in the New Year  

Help your students ring in the new year by surprising them with these New Year’s ring pops on their desks! I always like to put a little something on each desk to welcome everybody back after an extended break. They’re a great lead in to any New Year’s activities you’ll be doing and it helps break the “Do I really have to be up this early after I’ve slept in for two weeks?” cycle! Download the Free New Year’s Ring Pop printable.

These New Year’s activities are perfect for the classroom and will help get your students refocused after winter break!

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10 comments.

December 29 at 11:04 am

I love the ring pop idea!! This is a great post on integrating fun activities for the New Year into the curriculum! Thank you for sharing. I put up a bunch of balloons on the ceiling held by butcher paper. We do a countdown for NOON o’clock and then have a dance party! My kids love it every year!

January 9 at 9:37 pm

We celebrate Robert Burns every year here in Scotland. Our children in school learn his poems, sing, learn Scottish Dances, have haggis and shortbread (not the whisky of course!) You are correct in saying that many do not know Auld Lang Syne but I suggest you do a bit at a time and you will get there and will impress many!! (but, in Scotland we get a wee bit annoyed as many will pronounce Syne as Zyne…. so not a Z).

People come from around the world to be at the home of Hogmany. Edinburgh! They are packed into the streets below the Castle waiting for the Piper to start to play out the last seconds of the old year. It is counted down from 10 and then Mons Meg, the canon in the Castle, is fired as the New Year begins. Then fireworks display from the Castle. People celebrating at home sing Auld Lang Syne, most will shed a tear for sure as we hug and think of those not with us. With Covid this year, we opened our doors and shouted Happy New Year to all the neighbours, full joy and full of smiles at this time.

So, basically I’m saying, in a very long post, don’t be scared of Auld Lang Syne. Because as we teachers say, ‘practise makes perfect’.

And to all, a Guid New Year! Stay safe!

December 31 at 12:27 am

I LOVE the Happiness Jar! I think I am going to do that with my kiddos. We can read them on the last day of school. 🙂

You are AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your creativity with us. Love you BIG!

January 1 at 2:53 pm

Thank you and you're welcome Maribel! I hope you've found something you can use that will save you some time. Happy New Year to you and yours!

January 1 at 12:36 am

The ring pop idea is adorable!!! Thank you for sharing all the great links and ideas 🙂

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New Year’s Resolution Worksheets for Upper Elementary Classrooms

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Whether you are celebrating a new school year or a new calendar year, New Year’s Resolutions are a great way to teach your upper elementary students about setting goals.  These New Year’s Resolution Worksheets are a great way to guide your students through setting goals and writing about goals.

New Year’s Resolutions Worksheets for Goal Setting

You just returned from the Christmas holiday {or an even longer summer break}  and its time to get your students writing again.  Why not start with a fun and engaging goal setting activity!   Super Goals for a Super New Year is a great way to get your students thinking about and writing about goals.

Goal setting has been proven to be highly beneficial to people in all areas of life.  But why are goals so important?  By setting goals we identify what is important to us.  With the end in mind, we can then create a plan that will move us closer toward what we find important. And when we are part of creating the plan we take ownership in it.  Goals help us keep focused and make decisions. Whether it’s a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company of a potty-training 2 year old, goals are everywhere.

Teach your students this important skill and practice writing with these New Year’s Resolutions Worksheets for goal setting and writing.

Guided Goal Setting

Teach your students about the importance of setting goals and guide them through the goal setting process with these Super Goals worksheets.  Students will begin by choosing four goals for the new year.  Before setting the students off on their own, a whole class goals brainstorming session is a great idea.

Start by giving some general categories and then allow students to share some possible goals for each category.  Here’s some goal categories you might want to use:

• A goal for school
• A goal for home
• Getting better at a skill
• Trying something new
• Character goals
• Physical / Health goals

After the class has a created a nice list of possible goals, then allow students to choose four goals for themselves. I would suggest doing all of this in one day and then stopping.

The next day you will model how to plan steps for accomplishing a goal.  It’s always fun to choose a goal that the students really loved or something they find funny to use for modeling the planning.  The more they love the goal the more engaged they will be to the planning process.  Allow students to brainstorm different things they can do in order to help them reach their goal.  Explain that by following steps they can work toward their goal.

Once students understand the idea of creating steps to reach their goals, then have them go and fill in steps for each of the four goals they chose the day before.

Guided Writing

It’s never a bad idea to guide our writers through the writing process.  Not only does this help them learn and understand the steps, but it also helps them to build good writing habits along the way.  Use the prewriting worksheet to model how students will take their goal and the steps and turn them into a sentences and eventually a paragraph.  This is a great time to reinforce the concepts of main idea and supporting details.

Begin with the same goal the class used when planning together the day before.  Have students take the goal and turn it into a main idea sentence.  Then each of the steps will be turned into a supporting detail sentence.

After modeling, students will choose one of their four goals and complete the guided prewriting worksheet.

The next day it’s time to put it all together!  Use the sentences from the prewriting page to start writing the rough draft of the goal setting paragraph.  To get instant buy-in for this step, show students how easy it is to write the rough draft since most of the work is already done.  By using the sentences from the prewriting and some transitions, students can create a good rough draft.

After writing the rough draft, review the revising and editing step.  Use the same procedures you use for other writing here so that students have a consistent tool to use for this step.

When students are ready for the final draft, give them the Super Goals writing paper.  After writing their final draft allow them to color in the coordinating football and football helmet for a super cute writing display.

New Year’s Resolutions Display

The New Year’s Resolution Worksheets packet includes everything you need to create an eye-catching display of your student’s writing.

Your students will love seeing their Super Goals displayed on the class bulletin board or in the hallway.  This printable resource includes everything you need to make a Super Goals for a Super New Year display.  All you have to do is print and cut the letters and a couple of pictures.  The students will prepare everything else!

Your super duper football themed bulletin board will last the season too!  Football season starts in late summer or early fall and goes all the way through until February.  So no matter when you choose to do this activity, your writing display will be timely.

Save Super Goal Setting and Writing

Not ready to use these New Year’s Resolution Worksheets quite yet?  No problem.  Just pin this to your classroom ideas Pinterest board so you can quickly and easily find it later.

Looking for More Seasonal Learning?

If you love connecting your classroom learning to the seasons or holidays then you must check out these other posts. Here are many seasonal activities that will engage your students while still keeping them focused on the important skills and standards they need.

• Winter Project Based Learning Activities
• Valentine’s Day Activities for the Classroom
• Valentine’s Day Project Based Learning
• End of the School Year Activities for Elementary Classrooms

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New Year's Activity Bundle - Assignments, Games, and Activities for the New Year

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New Year's Activity Bundle - Assignments, Games, and Activities for the New Year: Ring in the New Year in your ELA classroom with this bundle of highly engaging resources that will hook all your students while also covering standards! There are assignments, activities, games and more that work great for the week after you return from holiday break. There are a variety of fun and creative activities to hold your students' interest!

Included in your New Year's Activity Bundle:

➡️ New Year's Around the World Nonfiction Texts and Assignments: Teach your students about how New Year's is celebrated around the world with these nonfiction articles that share the traditions, practices, and customs of different countries! The countries covered are Romania, China, Scotland, and Spain. Learning about New Year's around the world is an excellent cross-curricular activity as it connects well with social studies! This resource is a fun and engaging way to expose students to other cultures many may not be familiar with. Each text has a reading response assignment that asks students comprehension questions that require text evidence.

➡️ New Year's Resolutions and Goal Setting Lesson: Start the new year with this engaging lesson that will help your students set and achieve SMART goals and resolutions. Use the included presentation slides to guide the lesson and introduce students to resolutions and goal setting. The included graphic organizers will help students craft their own goals and resolutions for the new year! With a ready-to-share slideshow, graphic organizers, and a journal prompt response, you will have absolutely everything you need to help students start the new year off on the right foot!

➡️ New Year's Reflection Paper Fortune Teller Game: Use this fun New Year's class activity to engage your students in reflection and goal setting after the holiday break. This New Year's reflection game can easily be folded by your students with the included instructions. After it's folded, they can work with a partner to play the game and answer questions designed to have them reflect on the past year and set goals for the upcoming year.

➡️ New Year's Parts of Speech Hidden Mystery Pictures: Help your students learn parts of speech during the New Year's with these fun hidden mystery grid pictures. A color code is provided and each box has a word that students must color based on what part of speech it is! Students must know their parts of speech to know which color to use. Included are 4 different New Year's puzzles that reveal an image of a calendar, firework, disco ball, and clock! The student handouts and answer keys are both included.

➡️ New Year's Figurative Language Assignments: These three ready-to-use figurative language assignments include a variety of New Year-themed sentences that incorporate an example of metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, oxymoron, or onomatopoeia! An answer key is provided to easily mark or review the assignments with students!

What Teachers Are Saying About The Activities in the New Year's Activity Bundle:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I have used this for several years, right after returning from the holidays. It is a great, educational way to ease back in.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is such a great resource for having students learn a sense of culture and diversity . My 8th graders really enjoyed reading about the different cultures and traditions. I used this as a group activity where I had small groups of students read and complete the questions for each country, then they had to do a "mini" presentation and teach the class what they learned. They loved being the teacher.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Such a fun activity to do either before holiday break or in the first days coming back to school after holiday break.

Pair this with our New Year's Reading Mystery

> Who Set off the New Year's Fireworks?

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New Year’s Activities for Elementary Students

Free New Year activities ideal for elementary students! Included in this post are New Year’s videos, crafts, and games, as well as New Year goal setting activities.

It’s hard to believe we are approaching the start of another NEW YEAR! While September usually feels like the “New Year” for teachers, January is a great time to check-in, reflect and set new goals and resolutions. 

And while we may ring in the New Year when school is out of session, I have found celebrating it with my students in January is a really nice way to welcome back students after the holiday break!

In hopes of taking a little off your plate this holiday season, I’ve shared a series of holiday round-up posts of engaging videos, games, crafts and activities you and your students can use to celebrate the holidays. 

My earlier round-up posts focused on Thanksgiving and December activities . I hope you found them helpful! I’d love to hear which activities were most successful in your classroom! 

In my final round-up for this series I’m sharing all things New Years!  Let’s take a look at what I’ve found….

New Year’s Videos for Kids

New Year’s Countdown Video This 10-minute video includes singing, dancing, fireworks, and a countdown to the New Year!  It provides lots of opportunities for movement!  

Happy New Year This sweet and short video will help kids start thinking about all they accomplished and learned in the past year!  It could be a great video to watch before doing a goal-setting activity . 

The Night Before New Year’s   A fun read aloud from the “The Night Before Series”.  In this one, it’s the night before New Year’s, and the whole family is determined to stay up until midnight! Will they make it until the clock strikes twelve?  

Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas   Another great read aloud that will teach students how many different cultures celebrate the New Year with food!

New Year’s Crafts for Kids

Firework Salt Painting This simple art project allows students to create their own New Year’s night sky filled with colorful fireworks! 

3d Paper Firework Craft  Paper, scissors, and glue are all you need to create this festive & fun fireworks craft!  It could lead to conversations about shapes and makes a great fine motor activity! 

New Year’s Games for Kids

Use these free New Year’s Bingo printables in a center or better yet, if you need an activity to keep kids busy for a bit while you perform back from break assessments, have students create their own bingo boards with the blank templates provided by Artsy Fartsy Mama!

Learning that feels like a game..YES PLEASE! Kids have been crazy about Mad Libs for decades. WooJr. is sharing several FREE New Years Mad Libs Printable Games . Perfect for kids 7 and up!

Finally, I’m excited to share with you my very own New Year’s Goals resource !  It’s filled with meaningful activities designed to get your students reflecting and thinking about their goals for the coming year!  The resource includes FREE YEARLY UPDATES so you can use it year after year! 

Let’s take a look at what’s included in the resource…

• iPhone Best Selfie Writing Mini Book – Students love getting creative with this fun mini-book.  It gives them the chance to express themselves and share their current interests, as well as set goals and resolutions for the New Year.  

•New Year Goals Flipbooks (2 options)- In this activity students get the chance to reflect back on what they’ve accomplished in the last year and set a variety of specific goals for the new year. 

•New Year Writing & Craft (2 options with both primary and regular lined paper) Here students color, decorate, cut and paste, as well as write about their goals for the coming year. 

•New Year, New Goal printable – In this activity students set a goal and make a PLAN for how they will achieve it!

•New Year’s Crown- The perfect accessory for New Year! 

•Bulletin Board Letters (2 options)  Your January bulletin board is all set to go with the help of these letters! 

Give YOURSELF a gift and grab my New Year’s Goals Resource,  It’ll be a stress-free, engaging and a meaningful way to return to work and start the New Year with your students!  

I’ve just added these New Year’s activities to the bundle:

• Happy New Year Riddles and Word Search – these printables are perfect for morning work, inside recess, or as a New Year center. Print them for free below!

DOWNLOAD these Free Happy New Year Riddles and Word Search here

I hope the resources I’ve shared in my round-up posts have been helped to lighten your load this holiday season!   Have a relaxing holiday break and wonderful New Year!

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New Year’s Lesson and Extra Credit Activity for High School

January 5, 2016

Well, it’s a new year, why not bring back my “Teaching Tuesday” posts. 😉

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m a sucker for New Year’s resolutions. I also find the first day(s) after winter break incredibly hard to engage students and get them to focus on our normal content. I think we all need to “ease in” a little. With that in mind, this year I put together a short New Year’s goal-setting and a 30-Day Challenge Extra Credit Assignment to use in my classes. This was a great way to get my kids talking and writing again as well as thinking about their long-term plans and tangible steps they can take to get there. The whole “lesson” took about 45 minutes – which was the perfect way to ease back in before reviewing grammar and distributing a new novel – and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

If you’re looking for something to do with your high school students to start the new year (or the beginning of the school year), here’s a quick activity you can adapt and use right away:

Link to Printable PDF:  30-Day Challenge Assignment

I started by polling the class to see who had made New Year’s resolutions this year. To be honest, I was shocked at how few students actually did. (Apparently this isn’t nearly the trend among teenagers that it is among 30 something mom-bloggers. Who knew? 😉 We talked about why people make resolutions at the beginning of the year, and what keeps people from following through with resolutions. I also had a few volunteers share about a time when they did  make (and stick to / see a real change from) a resolution in the past. Next, I asked students to write a letter to themselves to be read a year from now. I told them to reflect on what worked and what didn’t work in 2015 and to write out what they want the next year to look like. In addition, they were encouraged to claim two goals for the new year: one personal and one academic. A few volunteers shared. (I just had them write these in their journals since I will have [most of] them again next year and they will likely still be writing in the same composition book; but, if you wanted to go a step further you could collect them to return in June OR – even better – have students self-address them and mail them out next December.) From there, I showed the 3 minute TED Talk from Matt Cutts titled: Try Something New for 30 Days . It is short and motivating. We talked about it for a minute, and then I asked students to look at the goals they wrote down in their journals and brainstorm one or two daily habits they could implement right away to get them closer to reaching those goals. (For example: if someone wanted to read five novels this year, he/she might set a goal to read for 20 minutes each day for 30 days.) Finally, I handed out the above extra credit assignment and challenged the class to join me in spending 30 days committed to something. Interested students must turn in a 250 word “contract” outlining their goal and the logistics as well as its importance and relevance to their larger goals next class. Then, after completing the challenge successfully, they will submit a 500 word reflection essay at the conclusion of the challenge to earn 10 points extra credit on the next quarter.

Fun right?  My students definitely got excited about it, and we had a lively discussion on how to set goals, what makes them measurable and attainable, and different ideas they had for themselves. There were definitely some old favorites like committing to take a photo, studying SAT vocabulary, running a mile, or writing in a journal every day, and some new ones like doing 100 push ups (ha) and trying a different make-up tutorial every day. I’m anxious to see how many students will officially commit on Wednesday. And, then, from there, only time (30 days to be exact) will tell how it goes… 🙂

Do you do anything special with your students to kick off the new year?!?

P.S. I’m committing to grading papers for 30 minutes every single day for 30 days. Stay tuned. 😉

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January 5, 2016 at 10:48 AM

Love this idea. I teach a once a week Values class at my school to third graders. I might do a modified version of this. Love #teachingtuesdays!

January 5, 2016 at 1:04 PM

January 5, 2016 at 8:13 PM

Speaking of teaching Tuesday posts…

I want to start by thanking you in advance. I unloaded to you once last year, and you created a post that replied to MANY of my issues/questions. I have a feeling that you will do the same for this one because 1) you remember what it’s like to be me 2) you are quite honestly an amazing e-mentor, and I know you will feel called to help me even though you like .02 seconds of free time.

1. Just started teaching all higher -level courses this year (honors 9th and 10th) instead of on-level. I have MANY students who are just smarter and more intelligent than I am. There’s about two of them who know it, and they’re in one class together. I know that most of my feelings and issues stem from my own insecurities. I know I stumble over words and can’t figure out how to say what I am trying to say because I see them smirking and making fun of me (even though it’s the last period of the day, and I’ve taught the class already). And, I know that it says more about them than it says about me – that they think they have nothing to learn from those who are not smarter than or as smart as them… but do you have any other advice to get through/deal with this?

2. I’ve been teaching new preps every single year for the past three years. I cannot wait to teach the same course two years in a row. With that being said, every year, I feel like I am learning new texts and content the entire year (every night I am reading ans prepping just for the next day to stay ahead) just so I can teach my students the next day. I. am. Exhausted. And, I feel terrible saying that because I am not even a mom lol. Do you have any tips to make this process easier?

Also, how do you generally introduce/give background information when starting a new novel? I know it depends on the novel and content, but any tried and true methods that really gets students engaged?

January 6, 2016 at 2:46 PM

I love this idea! Is there any way that you can give me an editable copy since today is January 6 and that’s when the contract on the form is due?? If not, I can re-type it up, but I just thought I would ask! 🙂

January 6, 2016 at 7:57 PM

This is such a fun idea! I teach science and we have a state test at the end of the year so I find it hard to have too much time for more fun things like this. It makes me wish I taught something a little more exciting…but anyways, we did have a chat about the best things that they did over break and I at least let them get some of their energy out before we jumped right back into cells.

January 3, 2024 at 2:16 PM

This was such a great lesson plan idea! I used this with all my classes (11th, 12th, AP, and Honors English). So many of them are excited to start their 30 day challenge, and I even told them I will be doing it with them! I will be doing a personal one: write 500 words a day, and an academic one: (idea from yours) grade for 30 minutes for 30 days!

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New Year’s Resolution Activity (Digital + Printable)

The time after the long holiday break is always a great time to “restart”, review expectations, and start fresh and new. On this post, I want to share a free printable and digital New Year’s resolution activity that you can use with your 4th and 5th graders. This is a great way to connect the new year with your classroom expectations and goals.

About the New Year’s Resolution Activity

After the holiday break, we always spend some time that first day back discussing the new year and resolutions. We talk about different examples of resolutions that people in our lives may have or other common resolutions people make. We talk about the connection between resolutions and the new year, and why so many people choose to make these resolutions during this time.

To help with this discussion, I use a quick and simple non-fiction text (which is available in the free download). It gives some background to the students about what resolutions are, the tradition of resolutions, and how they are connected with the new year. It also goes over a few common resolutions that people make.

Next, we brainstorm together as a class the different resolutions that we can make. I like to do this in three categories:

• resolutions that we can make at school
• resolutions that we can make with our family or at home
• resolutions that we can make with our friends.

We brainstorm a list of possible resolutions together as a class. The students then choose (or come up with a new resolution) one from each category that they want to resolve to be better at or something to resolve to do less of.

I do like to also do a class resolution. To do this, we discuss possible resolutions and then decide on our class resolution. I post the class resolution where we can check in every now and then to make sure that we are making progress towards our resolution and accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish.

This is also a great time for students to quickly reflect and revisit on their own personal resolutions and whether they are making progress towards those. Because as we know, sometimes resolutions are easily made and just as easily forgotten. Revisiting a class resolution every now and then brings that back and makes it a little bit more meaningful for the students.

Download the FREE New Year’s Resolution Activity Here

Click here or on the image shown to download the free New Year’s resolution activity (print + digital).

Need help assigning the digital version through Google Classroom? Click here!

Want More Digital New Years Reading Activities?

Do you want more digital New Years activities to engage your students + review reading comprehension skills? This New Year-themed reading comprehension resource is perfect to review key 4th and 5th grade reading skills and engage your students this winter. It includes engaging topics such as New Year superstitions, New Year traditions, and more!

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New Year Reading Comprehension Passages and Activities

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January 1, 2021 at 4:07 pm

Again, thank you! Do you have anything on non-fiction reading or writing or perhaps biography writing? Happy New Year! JoAnn Kelly

January 2, 2021 at 11:28 pm

Thank you for your generous sharing. I’m a first time classroom teacher (involuntarily moved to the classroom after 15 years as a school librarian) and your blog has given me great inspiration and ideas.

I also wanted to say that I appreciate the clean lines and lack of cutesy images in your documents.

Happy New Year!

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The Chief of Staff of the Army announces the following officer assignments:

Maj. Gen. Jason E. Kelly, commanding general, U.S. Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to deputy commanding general for Civil Works and Emergency Operations, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.

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Brig. Gen. Kareem P. Montague, deputy commanding general (Support), 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, to deputy commanding general for Interoperability, Land Forces and Operations Command, France.

Col. (Promotable) W M. Bochat, commandant, U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School, U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to commanding general, 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

Col. (Promotable) David P. Elsen, deputy chief of staff, G-2, U.S. Army Pacific Command, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, to director of Intelligence, J-2, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii.

U.S. Army Reserve

Maj. Gen. William S. Lynn, commanding general, (Troop Program Unit), Army Reserve Medical Command, Pinellas Park, Florida, to deputy surgeon general for Mobilization and Readiness (Individual Mobilized Augmentee), Office of The Surgeon General, U.S. Army, Falls Church, Virginia.

Brig. Gen. Michael L. Yost, deputy commander for Professional Services, (Troop Program Unit), 3rd Medical Command (Deployment Support), Forest Park, Georgia, to commanding general, (Troop Program Unit), Army Reserve Medical Command, Pinellas Park, Florida.

Brig. Gen. Todd W. Traver, deputy commander, (Troop Program Unit), 3rd Medical Command (Deployment Support), Fort Gillem, Georgia, to deputy commander (Troop Program Unit), 807th Medical Command (Deployment Support), Salt Lake City, Utah.

Brig. Gen. Katherine A. Trombley, deputy commanding general, (Individual Mobilized Augmentee), Reserve Affairs, U.S. Army Combined Arms Command, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to commander (Troop Program Unit), 9th Mission Support Command, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Brig. Gen. Mark W. Siekman, commander (Troop Program Unit), 9th Mission Support Command, Honolulu, Hawaii, to deputy commanding general, (Individual Mobilized Augmentee), Reserve Affairs, U.S. Army Combined Arms Command, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Brig. Gen. Ronald D. Sullivan, chief judge, (Individual Mobilized Augmentee), U.S. Army Legal Services Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to commanding general (Troop Program Unit), U.S. Army Reserve Legal Command, Gaithersburg, Maryland.

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'The Office' is getting a spinoff — more than 10 years after the NBC series ended

Peacock announced the new mockumentary comedy series Wednesday. While the show doesn't have a name yet, it's about a publisher trying to revive a dying Midwestern newspaper with volunteer reporters.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Kentucky Derby post positions: Most wins from each spot at Churchill Downs starting gate

Over the course of an exhilarating two minutes on Saturday, horses will jockey (no pun intended) for position over 1 1/4 miles of Kentucky dirt, with the winner of that frenetic sprint earning a place in history as the champion of the world’s most storied race.

The winner of the 2024 Kentucky Derby , though, won’t just be determined by whoever crosses the finish line first at Churchill Downs . Historically speaking, it will be influenced by where the winning horse began the race.

Among the dozens of factors that go into prognosticating the Run for the Roses is the race’s post position — that is, where on the track’s 20-horse starting gate each competitor is before they take off.

For those who closely follow the sport and try to correctly bet on the winner of the race, last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby post position draw was an event of significant interest. Where a horse starts the race doesn’t foretell whether they’ll win it. But based on nearly a century’s worth of results, it can prevent even a top contender from galloping into the famed Winner’s Circle.

To get a better sense of what horses might be well-positioned to win the 2024 Derby, here’s a look at post positions of previous winners since the starting gate was first used in 1930, how many winners have come from each post position and more:

Kentucky Derby best post position

Post position No. 5 has produced the most Derby winners, with 10 wins in 94 starts, along with eight second-place finishes and four third-place showings.

The last winner from the No. 5 post position came in 2017, when Always Dreaming came in first by 2 3/4 lengths. For all of its historic success, however, the post position hasn’t had a top-three finisher since Audible came in third in 2018.

This year, Catalytic will occupy the No. 5 post position, though the horse isn’t among the race’s favorites. As of Thursday morning, Catalytic was at 42-1 odds to win.

REQUIRED READING: Who can beat the favorite in Kentucky Derby 2024? These are four horses to bet on

Kentucky Derby wins by post position

While the No. 5 post position has been the home to the most Derby winners, it doesn’t hold that distinction by a wide margin.

Post position Nos. 8 and 10 have each produced nine Derby winners, just one behind the lead. Mage, the 2023 Derby champion, came out of No. 8. Post position Nos. 1 and 7 have each been home to eight Derby victors.

Beyond post position No. 10, a horse’s chances of winning the Derby decrease noticeably. Only one gate from Nos. 11 through 20 has produced more than five Derby winners, while six of those 10 spots have been home to two or fewer champions, including post position No. 17, which has never been the starting spot for a Derby winner.

Here are the number of Derby champions that have come from each post position:

• Post No. 1 : 8 winners
• Post No. 2 : 7 winners
• Post No. 3 : 5 winners
• Post No. 4 : 5 winners
• Post No. 5 : 10 winners
• Post No. 6 : 2 winners
• Post No. 7 : 8 winners
• Post No. 8 : 9 winners
• Post No. 9 : 4 winners
• Post No. 10 : 9 winners
• Post No. 11 : 2 winners
• Post No. 12 : 3 winners
• Post No. 13 : 5 winners
• Post No. 14 : 2 winners
• Post No. 15 : 6 winners
• Post No. 16 : 4 winners
• Post No. 17 : 0 winners
• Post No. 18 : 2 winners
• No. 19 : 1 winner
• No. 20 : 2 winners

REQUIRED READING: Brown: Louisville trainers, with 5 horses in Kentucky Derby 150 field, out to make history

Kentucky Derby post positions 2024

What might that history of finishes from various spots on the starting gate mean for the 2024 Derby?

Here’s a look at which horse is starting from which post position:

• No. 1 : Dornoch
• No. 2 : Sierra Leone
• No. 3 : Mystik Dan
• No. 4 : Catching Freedom
• No. 5 : Catalytic
• No. 6 : Just Steel
• No. 7 : Honor Marie
• No. 8 : Just a Touch
• No. 9 : Encino (Scratched)
• No. 10 : T O Password
• No. 11: Forever Young
• No. 12: Track Phantom
• No. 13 : West Saratoga
• No. 14 : Endlessly
• No. 15 : Domestic Product
• No. 16 : Grand Mo the First
• No. 17 : Fierceness
• No. 18 : Stronghold
• No. 19 : Resilience
• No. 20 : Society Man
• No. 21 : Epic Ride

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Pope Francis appoints new bishop in Tennessee after former bishop’s resignation under pressure

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Pope Francis has appointed Reverend James Mark Beckman as Bishop of Knoxville, Tennessee, almost a year after the previous bishop resigned under pressure following claims he mishandled sex abuse allegations.

The Vatican announced the appointment in its Tuesday noon bulletin. As is usual, the announcement made no mention of his predecessor or the circumstances under which he left the post.

Bishop-elect Beckman is a priest of the Diocese of Nashville where he has served as pastor of Saint Henry parish since 2015, according to the announcement. He earned his master’s degree in religious studies from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in 1989 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1990 for the Diocese of Nashville.

Pope Francis accepted Bishop Richard Stika’s resignation last June, closing a turbulent chapter for the southern U.S. diocese that was marked by a remarkable revolt by some of its priests. They accused Stika of abusing his authority during his 14 years as bishop of Knoxville and protecting a seminarian accused of sexual misconduct.

They appealed to the Vatican for “merciful relief” in 2021, citing their own mental health, sparking a Vatican investigation that led to Stika’s resignation.

In media interviews, Stika strongly defended his actions and his leadership, saying he worked to bring unity in the diocese.

Cat-sized and hornless, this newly discovered deer genus roamed the Dakotas 32 million years ago

Researchers have found a new genus of deer in fossils found at Badlands National Park in South Dakota, the National Park Service announced Thursday.

The deer presented by the researchers is markedly different from the animal most know today, as reconstructions suggest that it would have been about the size of a house cat.

The Park Service said in a press release that the tiny, hornless deer lived in South Dakota about 32 million years ago, during the Oligocene Epoch. It belongs to an extinct family of deer that are considered relatives to the modern-day chevrotains , or mouse deer, typically found in the tropical forests of central and western Africa and southeast Asia.

Scientists from the park, the American Museum of Natural History and California State Polytechnic University published their findings in the Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science .

New deer found by park visitor, brings career full circle

Research into the deer was prompted by the discovery of a nearly in-tact skull by a visitor and reached the scientists through a report filed by Geoscientists-in-the-Parks intern Tiffany Leone in 2016.  

“It's a really neat example with this paper to be able to highlight citizen science, because this is the only skull of this animal ever found,” Mattison Shreero, co-lead researcher from the National Park Service said in the press release. “And if somebody had walked away with it, or if they just hadn't reported it and it had eroded away, we would have never known about it.” 

The deer genus, Santuccimeryx , was named to honor the work of Vincent L. Santucci, the Senior Paleontologist and Paleontology Program Coordinator in the Geologic Resources Division of the National Park Service.

"I am both personally and professionally grateful to be associated with this important new fossil discovery from Badlands National Park, where I began my career as a paleontologist," Santucci said in the press release.

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Angels acquire former Mets fan favorite Luis Guillorme from Braves

Joe calabrese | 10 hours ago.

• New York Mets

Former New York Mets fan favorite Luis Guillorme is being shipped out to the West Coast.

Guillorme, who signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract with the Atlanta Braves as a free agent on January 5, was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for a player to be named later (PTBNL) or cash, the team announced on Thursday.

OFFICIAL: The Angels have acquired INF Luis Guillorme from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. pic.twitter.com/oAYXTifAw4 — Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) May 9, 2024

The 29-year old utility infielder who turns 30 on September 27 was drafted in the 10th Round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft by the Mets. He spent his first six seasons with the organization from 2018-23 before being non-tendered – along with Daniel Vogelbach, relief pitchers Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod and Trevor Gott– last November.

Guillorme primarily as a bench player put up respectable numbers across six seasons in Flushing. Despite not being a consistent starter, Guillorme slashed: .261/.344/.333/.677; he recorded 33 doubles, five home runs, while drawing 91 walks in 823 total plate appearances. His average dipped noticeably last year (.224/.288/.327/.615 in 54 games in 2023), allowing the Mets to move on from the veteran more easily this past offseason.

The former Braves killer never found playing time in Atlanta. While the move on the surface was designed to be one for depth, the 22-12 Braves, currently in second place in the National League East – two games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies and five clear of the 18-18 Mets – boast possibly the best infield in the Majors with Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia and Austin Riley. Guillorme’s at-bats (.150/.190/.250/.440) have been ineffective, and David Fletcher is expected to become the primary utility infielder off the bench for the Braves.

The Angels have acquired INF Luis Guillorme from the Braves in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Anthony Rendon has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. — Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) May 9, 2024

In conjunction with the Guillorme acquisition, the Angels will reportedly transfer third baseman Anthony Rendon to the 60-day injured list with a high-grade partial tear of his left hamstring. Los Angeles also lost Mike Trout, again, in April to a torn meniscus; he underwent surgery May 3 and expected recovery timetable is 2-3 months, which sidelines him until approximately August.

The Mets signed Joey Wendle to a one-year, $2 million contract last November after cutting Guillorme. Wendle, who has actively been tasked to upgrade Guillorme’s former roster spot and bench role on this team, is batting .250 (eight hits) with one walk across 33 plate appearances in 14 games with New York this season.

JOE CALABRESE

Carthage bridge work set

CARTHAGE, New York (WWNY) - An aggressive maintenance project on the bridge which connects Carthage and West Carthage will start up next year.

The state Department of Transportation tells 7 News the bridge over the Black River will be rehabbed next spring.

The work will include new bridge joints, and taking off the top layer of the bridge’s driving surface and replacing it.

When this starts next spring, traffic will be down to one lane.

The project would be done in the fall of 2025. The project goes out to bid later this summer.

Copyright 2024 WWNY. All rights reserved.

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Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Stabbings of 3 Homeless Men in Manhattan

Trevon Murphy, who a family member said had a history of mental health problems, killed one man and injured two others.

By Maia Coleman

A 42-year-old homeless man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Wednesday for stabbing three homeless men in Manhattan, one fatally, in a string of attacks during the summer of 2022.

The man, Trevon Murphy, pleaded guilty in January to one felony count of murder in the second degree and two counts of attempted murder.

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, had said that the attacks were committed against the city’s “most vulnerable” community members.

“New Yorkers who face the painful and difficult experience of being unhoused shouldn’t have to simultaneously fear for their safety,” Mr. Bragg said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr. Murphy, who has a history of arrests and has struggled with mental illness, was arrested in July 2022 on charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the three stabbings, which took place over the course of a single week in July. All three men whom Mr. Murphy stabbed had been sleeping outside when the attacks occurred, according to prosecutors.

Mr. Murphy’s lawyer, Kevin Canfield, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

According to police statements at the time of Mr. Murphy’s arrest, he approached a man sleeping on a bench by the Hudson River in the West Village on July 5 and stabbed him in the abdomen. The man later died at Bellevue Hospital, the police said.

On July 9, Mr. Murphy stabbed another man who had been sleeping on a bench on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 49th Street in Midtown, prosecutors said in a news release announcing Mr. Murphy’s guilty plea in January. Mr. Murphy stared at the man for about 20 minutes from a nearby bench before attacking him, prosecutors said.

In a third incident on July 11, Mr. Murphy stabbed a man who had been sleeping at a basketball court on East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, prosecutors said.

The two men attacked on July 9 and July 11 survived, according to the police.

Mr. Murphy was arraigned in August 2022 and indicted on charges connected to two of the stabbings, including the fatal one. The charges were later updated to reflect the third stabbing.

A cousin of Mr. Murphy’s, Tameka Wilkerson of Knoxville, Tenn., said after the attacks that Mr. Murphy had been struggling with mental health problems for years and sometimes heard voices.

A few months before the stabbings, Mr. Murphy was placed in a general homeless shelter in Queens despite a history of paranoia and delusions, according to records and previous interviews by The New York Times.

Homeless people suffering from severe mental illness have been charged in a series of high-profile attacks in New York City in the past five years, though such attacks are relatively rare. The incidents have shined a light on a broken system of emergency psychiatric care for homeless people, in which hospitals repeatedly discharge patients without stabilizing them.

In a 2023 Times investigation , reporters scrutinized acts of violence carried out in recent years by people who were homeless and mentally ill. Reporters identified 94 instances in the past decade in which breakdowns of the city’s social safety net preceded the violence.

One in four severely mentally ill people in the shelter system had not been placed in a mental health shelter, according to a 2022 audit by the state comptroller. Some of those who were placed in less intensive shelters went on to kill themselves or others, The Times investigation found.

The investigation lists Mr. Murphy as one such case.