teach. - Playing Around Produces Learning

In order to prevent myself from being "the sludge," I've had to step back and examine my teaching style. What I realized, my students and I needed to have more fun. I had to dig deep and get REALLY creative to plan lessons that would ignite the child and passion of learning inside all of us. I had to pull out my inner Ron Clark and Kim Bearden. 

Most of my day is spent teaching within the inclusion model, so getting creative had the potential to be challenging. Lucky for me, I work with an amazing group of teachers who wanted to infuse their classes with fun as much as I did. Feel free to steal these ideas, and allow yourself and your students to have fun.

Room Transformation (Stolen idea from Kim Bearden at The Ron Clark Academy & initiated by fifth grade inclusion teacher, Mr. Carwile.)

This fifth grade inclusion class had been studying nonfiction text features. The classroom teacher wanted to spice up the test review, so he transformed his classroom into an operating room. Lights were dimmed, a heart rate monitor graphic was projected, and each student received an operating tray with necessary operating tools. The operating tools included: scissors, tweezers, mask, gloves, magnifying glass. Each group of surgeons were given a stack of magazines to perform surgery on. Student surgeons had to find as many different text features as possible. Once all surgeons had surgically removed their text features, they had to add them to the nonfiction text feature chart under the appropriate categories. As teachers, we were able to analyze which text features were identified most often and which ones were not identified at all. It made it easier for us to know which text features to focus our review on. The students LOVED this activity.

Math + Pie Face = Most Engaged Students EVER!

The third grade teacher I collaborate with for inclusion is a team player. To review for a math test, we divided the class into two teams. Students were presented with a review problem. Students took turns being the mathematician (the problem solver). The other team mates had to check the mathematicians work and were able to give the mathematician the go ahead or to provide the mathematician with feedback in order to correct errors. Once the team agreed on the answer, the team presented the answer to myself and Mrs. Clardy. If the answer was correct, the mathematician got to spin the spinner. We would click the Pie Face the number of times provided on the spinner. The students LOVED seeing us get Pie Faced, and it was the perfect incentive for hard work. Plus, it was an amazing lesson in teamwork. We gave guidelines and expectations and allowed each team to problem solve and work out any disagreements on their own. Don't worry, we did step in if disrespect was observed, and we used it as a teaching moment. Our students ask to play Pie Face all the time! P.S. You will have students who will try to eat the whipped cream. P.P.S. Our students communication skills have grown leaps and bounds.

Santa's New Suit Writing Activity

Santa's red suit smelled like candy canes. His shoes were as green as a Christmas tree. His hat was as soft as a pillow.

All teachers know the week before Christmas break, or Winter break, is cray-cray! What I've learned, the busier you keep the kiddos, the better the week goes. My third and fifth graders had been studying figurative language in the general education classroom. Plus, I had been working on getting their thoughts onto paper. Last year, I found an activity, Santa's New Suit, on Teachers Pay Teachers by Nicole Shelby at Teaching with Blonde Ambition. The activity is free and includes everything you need: a short story about Santa's suit disaster, a letter from Mrs. Claus, a brainstorming bubble map, a graphic organizer, publishing paper, and Santa outlines to use for creating his new suit. The students really enjoyed the writing prompt, so I decided to use it again this year and add to it. Since my two goals were for students to use figurative language (to show not just tell) and to practice getting thoughts onto paper, I didn't kill myself to get to the publishing piece. This could easily be a two week or more project, but due to other skills I needed to cover, I condensed this activity into one week. It was difficult, but we managed. 

For my third graders, I read the letter from Mrs. Claus. I even created an envelope addressed to Mrs. Granger at Palmetto Elementary from the North Pole. When I showed my students the envelope, their mouths fell open. They couldn't believe Mrs. Claus had personally mailed a letter to me asking for their help. So, this all on its own, got them very engaged. For my fifth graders, I just read the short story to them and gave them directions and models. They are a little more difficult to trick, but they love creating Santa suits as much as the younger ones. Once I shared the letter or short story, I provided some writing samples where the author used figurative language to show the reader rather than just tell the reader about specific animals and objects. Then, students brainstormed. I allowed them one and a half class periods to brainstorm, because I wanted to conference with each student as they brainstormed. We worked on getting phrases/ideas onto the bubble map and discussed how the phrases could be expressed as a complete sentence. Once students had some good phrases/ideas on their bubble map, they used the graphic organizer to organize their details and to get them into complete thoughts. Students had about one and a half class periods to complete this, and I continued conferencing. The last day day, we focused on introduction and closing sentences, and students added them to their graphic organizers. Again, I continued to conference with students as much as possible throughout the entire process helping them to create complete sentences, organize their thoughts, and revise/edit. The classroom teachers and I read through the pieces and chose the writing piece with the best figurative language and details. We read the writing to the student's entire class, and the class worked together, using the details from the writing piece, to create a rough draft of Santa's new suit. The teacher and I provided a table of supplies. As we re-read the writing piece, the class worked together, using the supplies and our model (We had a very nice staff member agree to be our model.), to create the suit. The students had a great time, and our model provided many laughs for everyone involved.

Standing on Table & Not Everyone Wins

What student doesn't need extra practice with reading fluency and reading comprehension? Each week, I give my pull out reading group a short poem. On Monday, I read the poem aloud, and we discuss its meaning. Students point out any words they have trouble reading or understanding and together we use strategies to decode the word and to determine the meaning. I try very hard to spend ten minutes or less on this. The chosen poems are short and usually 4-6 lines long, however, I am very intentional in my decision making. Most of the time, the poems will have words using a skill we've been working on or will play well with the comprehension skill or topic we've been covering in small group. The students are responsible for keeping up with their copy of the poem and responsible for practicing fluency. On Fridays, each student has the opportunity to read the poem and earn a special reward. They even get to stand on the table and perform in front of their peers. The first few times, I projected the poem on the Smartboard. Now, they are responsible for bringing their copy to class. If they forget it, they have to ask a classmate to share with them, or they lose their chance to perform. I no longer project the poem for them. Also, students sit on the classroom carpet and the table acts as a stage. Students are encouraged to use hand motions, make eye contact with their peers, and read with expression and emotion. In order to receive the special reward, students must read the poem with zero errors. If they make one tiny error or skip one tiny beat, they do not earn the reward. Typically, only 1-3 out of 8 students earn the reward per week. In the beginning, there were some tears from students who didn't receive the reward. Now, we all understand it takes really hard work and there's always next week. They also have learned a hard but realistic lesson: not everyone wins. This activity has become one of their favorites. They never forget their poems on Friday anymore, and it's the first thing they ask me about on Monday. Even the shy students, who couldn't get past the first few words the first week due to nerves, are now performing their hearts out. This does require some safety training and clear expectations, but it's so worth it.

Hopefully, you've found at least one activity you can steal and run with. I do have a few more fun tricks up my sleeve, and I'll post them when I'm able to bring them to full fruition.