I live in Los Angeles and we began 2025 with a bang…or more like a flash of flames… I will always remember how all of Los Angeles was enveloped in a reddish-orange glow because of the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires on January 7, 2025. It seemed like we were living on Mars instead of our usual sunny California.
It took 24 days before the Pacific Palisades and the Eaton fires were declared fully contained. By then, 31 people had lost their lives and 200,000 people were evacuated. More than 16,000 structures were destroyed which resulted in 52 billion+ dollars in damages.
And yet, as with many disastrous events, the good in people also brought hope amidst the ashes… People opened their homes to the victims of the two fires. Food stations were quickly set up to provide food and water. Clothes and household items were donated so that people who had lost everything may attempt to get back to normal if they were fortunate to find a new place to live.
Thankfully, for me, my house was fine. However, I had three friends whose homes burned to the ground. It has been ten months since the fires and they are still living with relatives and friends.
Your students may not live in Los Angeles, but there may have been other events in their lives that they had to deal with in 2025. The best part about January 1st is that no matter what happened the year before, everything gets to be reset in the new year.
A discussion about your students’ New Year’s resolutions is a great way to spend the first day back from your Winter Break. Explain to your class that a New Year’s resolution is a promise to do something differently in the new year. Have your students work with a partner or in a small group as they come up with resolutions for the new year. Once you come back to a whole class discussion, your students may see that there are others who have similar goals in the new year. They are not alone.
You may also include ways to hold everyone accountable for their New Year’s resolutions. Display their resolutions on a bulletin board and right before you take down their responses, have a class discussion on how they are doing. Some students may have already accomplished their goals, while others may use the opportunity to jump-start it again.
To help with these class discussions, go to https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2026-New-Years-Resolutions-Activities-Google-Slides-Easel-Activity-2275550 and see the 2026 version of New Year’s Resolutions & Activities | Google Slides | Easel Activity. It includes cards, a poster, and two types of bunting banners that may be used to display your students’ resolutions on a bulletin board or hung on a string. Students may respond to the 10-page goal setting activites that may be accessed on Google Classroom as an Easel Activity or printed using the PDF version. If you purchase this TPT product, it will be revised every November with the pages updated for the coming year.
As for me, my New Year’s resolution for 2026 is to continue what I started in 2025. I am trying to clean out all of the closets in my house. I figure in ten or twenty years, I will not be able to carry large boxes out to my car, so it is better to start downsizing now. It is also nice that I could see my family and friends enjoying items that I have given them now instead of having them collect dust in my closets. With January 1st bringing a new found energy, I hope my 2026 resolution will not be the same in 2027…😍🤦🏻♀️ 😍🤦🏻♀️😍🤦🏻♀️…
Add your New Year’s resolution to the comments below and we will see how well we did in 2027…
Wishing you a happy, healthy, and safe 2026,
Two Little Birds
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Click on the links below for more ideas for your classroom. The authors are my blogging friends who are members of Teacher Talk, one of the marketing teams from The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. Go to https://bit.ly/TBOTEMC if you would like to join Teacher Talk.
