Mardi Gras and ELA Fun

Where does the time go? I was thinking I still had plenty of time to prepare myself and my class for Lent, March 1st was still a ways away... We already had our school Ash Wednesday liturgy planned... and then... I saw Katie's posts from Look to Him and Be Radiant with her always awesome ideas for the upcoming Lenten season. Egads, I realized that I had to get busy!

MARDI GRAS fun comes first...

We celebrate Mardi Gras as a last blast of excessive fun prior to the solemn season of Lent. I looked through my Mardi Gras material to use on Monday and Tuesday of the coming week. We will use a scoot activity in fifth grade that incorporates Mardi Gras with Language Arts class. Scoot is such a fun activity since it incorporates English skills, such as practicing alphabetical order, while letting students get up and move around. Can't beat that for a class activity! Click HERE for more about this set of scoot cards.



I needed a bit more Mardi Gras fun for my fifth grade Language Arts students. We've most recently been studying adjectives, in particular, the degrees of adjectives: positive, comparative, and superlative. I decided to whip up something fun to help my students practice this somewhat ho-hum skill. Thanks to Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah Designs and a brand new FREE product, Mardi Gras Color By Code Clip Art set, I was able to craft a fun, engaging color by degree of adjectives Mardi Gras worksheet. Click HERE to read more about this worksheet or grab your own copy.


While I had fifth grade planned for some Mardi Gras fun, I still needed something for my sixth and seventh graders. Art with Jenny K. came through for me! I just love her material, as do my students! She and Brain Waves Instruction have been creating Reading Comprehension/Art passages for students in grs. 3-8. Just this past week, the duo offered a set with a Mardi Gras passage... PERFECT! Students read a passage, answer comprehension questions, then use the answers to help color a pop art Mardi Gras design. Check out this terrific set HERE; you'll be happy that you did.

Finally, I recently created a brand new ZAP! game to help my students celebrate Mardi Gras while still practicing their ELA skills. You can download this recent addition to my growing cache of popular ZAP! games HERE.

Meanwhile if you use brag tags in your classroom, HERE's a fun freebie Mardi Gras tag for you to share with your class(es) for the upcoming holiday. ENJOY!

Watch for Lenten/ELA activities posted shortly after Ash Wednesday.