Leap Day only comes around every four years so I like to give February 29th some special recognition in my classroom! We have some Leap Day Fun and my students read about it, write about it, math about it, and just have some fun with it too.
Four years ago, I created a reading passage with questions and a math activity all about Leap Day and Leap Year. I’ve recently added some math questions, a writing activity, and a fun brainstorm activity of 29 “extra” things that students could do on the “extra” day this year.
What is Leap Day? First, I have my students read about why we have a leap day every four years. The reason ties in well with what we’re learning about the relationship between the sun and the Earth in fourth grade too.
The reading passage also gives students information about what other cultures used to believe about leap year and some of the legends and traditions that were started. To go along with this I also give my students a fun writing prompt, “Leap Year Luck or Curse”. They can be creative and have fun coming up with their own legend and tradition.
Since Leap Year only occurs every four years, it also lends itself to some fun math activities. I’ve created some math problems for my students to work together and solve.
Finally, students have fun coming up with a list of Leap Day Goals. They make a list of 29 EXTRA activities they can do on their extra day in the year. We have a lot of fun brainstorming ideas and sharing them with each other.
In Science, my class does an engaging and fun STEM Challenge designing and creating a Leap Frog Leap Day Catapult using the engineering design process. You can read my blog post about this activity HERE.
You can check out my Leap Day Fun resource by HERE, or by clicking on the image below.
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