In 1972, Father’s Day became a nationwide holiday. Every third Sunday in June, we pause to celebrate the dads and father figures who show up for us all year long. You can use this holiday to reflect on gratitude before everyone heads off for the summer break.
Keep your classes engaged with these Father’s Day activities for students. From character studies to STEAM builds, these lessons celebrate every family dynamic while keeping the focus on critical skill-building. No paper ties required—unless they’re part of the structural engineering challenge!
[ELA Father’s Day activities for students](id-ela)
Key Takeaways
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Students can use Father’s Day texts to practice character analysis and connect traits to text evidence.
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Comparing articles about dads, mentors, and father figures helps students build informational text analysis skills.
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Novel studies can help students discuss family dynamics in a thoughtful, inclusive way.
We all know the standard Father’s Day school crafts, but you’re likely looking for something that does double duty. You want to celebrate father figures while hitting those essential literacy targets.
These ELA-focused activities help students dive deep into characterization and informational analysis. It’s a win for your lesson plans and their skill growth.
Analyze character traits with “Father Frost”
Analyzing characterization in fictional texts helps students move beyond simple plot recall. Using the Russian story “Father Frost” on Newsela ELA, students can examine how authors develop non-physical traits and how character actions influence a narrative’s outcome.
Step-by-step: From personal traits to text analysis
To help your students move beyond surface-level plot recall, try this guided sequence. It transitions them from personal reflection to deep textual analysis. This ensures they see characterization as a mix of explicit details and implicit actions.
Activity Sequence: Analyzing Character
1
Define & Reflect
Before opening the text, have students define "characteristic" or "trait" in their own words. Ask them to list three of their own physical and non-physical traits to ground the concept.
2
Annotated Read
While reading "Father Frost," students should annotate using the "Somebody Wanted But So" format to track character motivations.
3
Critical Response
Use evidence-based prompts like, "How do Irina and Nonna influence each other?" to push for deeper synthesis and character study.
Teacher’s Toolbelt: Comparing Characteristics
To help your students organize their observations during their second read, provide them with a structured way to track evidence. The printable Comparing Characteristics graphic organizer focuses on comparing Irena and Nonna, helping students visualize the contrast in their traits and the specific actions that define them.
Real-time feedback with Newsela Writing
Turn character study into a dynamic drafting session. Using Newsela Writing alongside the “Father Frost” lesson, you can provide immediate help for students to turn their observations into strong, evidence-based arguments. This allows you to offer guidance right when they need it as they pull their findings together.
Try creating a Newsela Writing activity using one of these writing prompts to help your students get real-time feedback on their drafts!
Newsela Writing: Character Study Prompts
Recommended Writing Prompts
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How would you compare and contrast Irina and Nonna's motivations?
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In what ways do Irina and Nonna influence each other's development?
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What universal lessons can we learn from studying these two characters?
Compare informational texts about father figures
Father figures show up in many ways. Some are dads, others are mentors, caregivers, or trusted adults who help students feel supported.
In this lesson, students will use two Newsela articles to compare father figures in school and community settings. As they read, they’ll look for key details about the relationships, the kind of support being offered, and the impact that support has on young people.
Build a comparative analysis activity
Set students up to compare two articles with one clear question: “How do dads and father figures support young people?”
Students will read informational texts and highlight details about each relationship. Then, they’ll use evidence to explain the impact father figures can have.
Support student thinking with evidence organizers
Give students a place to sort their ideas before they write or discuss. The Comparing Media and Evidence-Conclusion organizers can help students move from highlighted details to a clear comparison across the articles.
Use the Comparing Media organizer if you want students to track similarities and differences between texts. Use the Evidence-Conclusion organizer if students need more support connecting quotes, facts, or details to a written response.
Teacher’s Toolbelt: Downloadable Organizers
Share these printable organizers to help students sort evidence before they discuss, compare, or write.
Printable PDF
Comparing Media organizer
Help students compare what each article shows about father figures, side by side.
Download the PDF
Printable PDF
Evidence-Conclusion organizer
Help students connect article evidence to a clear claim before they write.
Download the PDF
Explore family dynamics through Novel Studies
Father figures look different from story to story. Use Novel Studies to help students talk about these relationships with care. As students read, ask them to notice how family dynamics shape the characters’ choices, challenges, and sense of belonging.
Novel Studies: Father figures and family dynamics
Choose a Novel Study that gives students a meaningful way to discuss families, care, and character development.
[Social studies Father’s Day activities for students](id-ss)
Key takeaways
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Students can read about the history of Father’s Day and explain why the holiday became nationally recognized.
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Father’s Day texts can help students compare traditions, family roles, and communities across time and place.
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Biographies and current events resources give students real examples of how dads, mentors, and father figures support others.
Use Father’s Day to help students explore how holidays begin, why traditions matter, and how father figures can shape people’s lives. These Newsela Social Studies activities keep the focus on history, evidence, and thoughtful discussion.
Teach the history and significance of Father’s Day
Help students move beyond just making Father’s Day cards and into learning the history behind the holiday. With Newsela Social Studies, students can read about how Father’s Day began and why it became a national holiday.
Use this lesson to help students find key details about important people, dates, and traditions. Then have them explain what Father’s Day is and why it matters using evidence from the texts. Resources inside the text set include:
Build background with a Father’s Day text set
Start with the text set to help students explore how the holiday began, how people celebrate it, and why it matters. Students can choose two resources, highlight key details, and explain the holiday’s significance with evidence.
Lesson setup: Father’s Day Text Set
Use this quick sequence to help students read for key details and explain the history, traditions, and significance of Father’s Day.
Reading focus
What is Father’s Day, how do people celebrate it, and why is it significant?
Step 2
Highlight key details
Step 3
Explain why it matters
Use evidence from the Text Set to explain:
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What is Father’s Day?
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What are common Father’s Day traditions?
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Why is Father’s Day significant?
Support reflection with a thank-you note extension
End the lesson with a short gratitude activity. After students learn about Father’s Day traditions, invite them to write a thank-you note to a father figure in their life.
This extension gives students a personal way to reflect while still practicing a real writing skill. For support, have them read the “How to write a thank you note” article before they draft.
[Seasonal science activities for Father’s Day](id-sci)
Key takeaways
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Students can connect Father’s Day to engineering by designing and building a toolbox from recycled materials.
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The activity gives students practice with structure, measurement, problem-solving, and the engineering design process.
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Teachers can add a reflection or gift-giving extension by having students include notes of gratitude inside the toolbox.
Bring Father’s Day into science class with a hands-on STEM activity. Students can use recycled materials to design a toolbox, practice the engineering design process, and connect the activity to sustainability and structure-building.
Try a toolbox STEM challenge
Give students a Father’s Day activity that feels hands-on and purposeful. In this STEM challenge, students use recycled materials to design and build a small toolbox.
The activity aligns with the engineering design process by asking students to plan their structure, measure pieces, test how parts fit together, and make changes as they build.
Use the challenge as a seasonal science activity, a makerspace project, or a low-prep end-of-year build.
Collect recycled materials for your toolbox
Start by gathering simple materials students can reuse from home or the classroom. This keeps the build low-prep and reinforces a key science idea: Materials can often have a second use.
Follow the engineering design process to build a toolbox
Walk students through the build one step at a time. They’ll plan the toolbox shape, build the skeleton, and decorate the finished design.
As they build, ask students to notice what works and what needs to change. That revision step is where the engineering thinking happens.
Keep Father’s Day learning meaningful
Teaching Father’s Day with Newsela helps you move beyond a one-size-fits-all holiday activity. You can choose texts that reflect different families, father figures, and traditions, so more students can see their experiences reflected in the learning.
You also keep the lesson grounded in real learning. Students can build literacy skills, explore history, discuss family roles, and connect science to hands-on STEM challenges.
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