Looking for some fresh ideas to honor amazing women and their history? This post shares books and activities to celebrate Women’s History Month in your classroom. Plus, you can grab a freebie at the end of this post.
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Why Should Teachers Include Activities to Celebrate Women’s History Month?
For some, reading this question may invoke a strong, “Duh! Of course, we should celebrate women’s history month in the classroom!”
But unfortunately, others see historical events such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Women’s History Month as being “political.”
It may seem that these activities are not appropriate for the classroom.
I obviously disagree.
Not only do students–even elementary students–need to know the truth about our history, but they also need to be taught inclusion and respect for all.
The books and activities mentioned in this post will help you achieve both goals.
So let’s dig into some fun ways to celebrate this joyous month!
Interesting Women’s History Month Books for Kids
Starting off the list is Chelsea Clinton’s “She Persisted…” book series. If you haven’t read them, these books are great to introduce to your students during Women’s History Month.
Here are more books I recommend during Women’s History Month:
- A is for Awesome! 23 Iconic Women Who Changed The World
- Little Dreamers: Visionary Women From Around the World
- Finish the Fight!: Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote
- Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
- Little Feminists Picture Book
Although most of these books work best as read-alouds for upper elementary, the content of each one still works well for all students.
What About Virtual Reading Options for Distance Learning?
Itβs almost impossible to recommend any read-alouds without discussing ways to share them with students online.
For virtual teaching, I rely mostly on e-books through:
- Vooks (free 30-Day trial–affiliate link)
- Epic (permanently free for all Elementary school teachers)
- Kindle Unlimited Books (I pay $9.99 a month for unlimited book choices.)
For example, I Dissent by Debbie Levy is available for FREE right now using Kindle Unlimited.
With these e-book services, I can access Women’s History Month books online, then I share my screen with students we read the books together.
Biographies and Reading Passages on Inspiring Women
After reading the books mentioned above, I wanted more biography activities for my classroom.
So, I designed these Digital & Printable Women’s History Month Reading Passages for upper elementary students.
The Google Slides version shares the lives of 7 ladies who are celebrated during Women’s History Month for their contributions to society.
Each informational text passage allows your upper elementary students to learn more about these inspiring females.
Plus, students can type, drag, and drop on the different activities inside this resource.
The printable version works well for students who don’t have internet or if you are teaching face-to-face and prefer worksheets.
If you’re interested in using these biography activities in your classroom, click on any image to see more details.
Play the Card Game ‘Icons’ During Center Rotations
Another idea to celebrate this joyous month with your students involves playing cards.
Icons is game that highlights the achievements of famous women throughout history such as:
- Harriet Tubman
- Anne Frank
- Malala Yousafzai
- Victoria Woodhull
- Madam C.J. Walker and more!
Not only do the cards tell information about each woman, but also includes pictures and categories for the women.
Your students will also have token pieces with women’s faces and names that they must match with the game cards.
The player with the most matches wins!
Hands-on learning is one of my favorite ways to keep students engaged with learning.
This game provides a hands-on way for kids to learn history and works perfectly as a small group or center game during March.
Women’s History Month Crafts for Kids
A fun craftivity makes a huge difference in celebrating Women’s History Month. If you are learning in-person, your students will have a blast with this Ruth Badger Ginsburg collar.
Activities for Kids provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to make this “I Dissent” collar with your kiddos.
Of course, making this depends on the age and maturity level of your students, since you’re working with glitter and tiny pieces for this craft.
But it would offer a beautiful Women’s History Month bulletin board display.
Another craft idea connects to the first African-American woman to travel in space: Mae Jemison. Since March follows Black History Month, your students can continue learning Black History with Women’s History.
After reading Mae Among The Stars, or any other book about Jemison, you will need construction paper and art supplies to help students make this:
Since this is a very simple arrangement of shapes with sticky notes, students of most age groups can complete this craft.
Both of these craft ideas makes learning during Women’s History Month month even more interesting for students.
More Ways to Celebrate Women’s History Month
Sometimes we teachers just need a quick little activity or smaller ways to incorporate historical events into our lessons.
So Iβll wrap up this post with some random, but easy ways to celebrate Women’s History Month–whether you teach virtually or face-to-face:
- Play a Women’s History Month trivia on Kahoot
- You can also have students research one woman and dress up like her for a class presentation
- In addition to these, use Plickers to review facts about important women after your Women’s History Month read-aloud time
You can also use this FREE reading biography passage with your students this month.
There’s no need to enter an email for this resource. It’s available in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop for free. Please consider leaving a rating with feedback on it once you download it.
I always enjoy reading teacher’s comments about how they’re using this biography in their classroom.
Hopefully, these ideas will help you get the ball rolling on your March lesson plans!
Happy Women’s History Month Teaching
