Unleash the Inner Critic

Tired of boring book reports? Have you heard enough of, "It was a good book. I liked it."?

One website can...

• Encourage your students to think more critically about the books they read
• Engage your students by asking them to review a book for an authentic audience
• Motivate your students to practice authentic revising and editing skills
• Give you a readabililty level for just about any book

This amazing website is

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/swyar/

Click on "Write a Review" and students can post a book review for other students to read. Students fill out a brief template that asks for the book title, author and genre, something interesting about the book, and why they did or did not like it. They are asked to give only their first name, their grade, and their state.

Click on "Read a Review" and students can not only read what other students all over the world have written, but they can practice revising and editing those reviews. There are book reviews from Kinder all the way to 12th grade. What a great place to get a DOL for the day!

Click "Books & Authors" from the tab at the top, then "Book Wizard" and you can enter the title of any book to search for readability level. Search by grade level equivalent, guided reading level, DRA, or lexile.

This website has many, many great resources! There's even a little tutorial on how to write a good book review! (http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/index.htm)

As always, please let me know what you think! If you have a spin on this idea or a similar suggestion, please share!

Word Buckets

Here's a quick creative writing activity that will enhance grammar and vocabulary as well as writing skills!

Bring a bucket to class and tell your students that you are going to create a word bucket.

Challenge them to fill the bucket over the course of the year with interesting words. Encourage them to use their favorite words - popcorn, squid, softly, bouncing, chocolate - whatever! Tie to grammar and ask the students to add only nouns, or only adverbs.

When you need a quick writing prompt, allow each student to randomly choose 3 words from the bucket. Then write for 10 minutes. The only rule is that you have to use the 3 words you chose!

For added interest, allow students to choose words for each other. Or pair up with another class and challenge them to use your 3 words.

In small groups students can share their writing, pointing out the 3 words they chose. 

This activity not only encourages students to have fun with writing, but it will increase their vocabulary and grammar skills as well!

$5 Summaries

It has occurred to me that all of my posts so far have focused on math. So here's an idea focused on reading (with a little math thrown in!).

After reading a story or other work of fiction, give each pair or small group of students $5 worth of play money in assorted denominations. Explain to the students that people who write for newspapers and magazines often get paid by the word. For example, if each word is worth 25 cents, then an article with 100 words would earn the author $25.

Imagine that a magazine is asking young writers to send in a summary of their favorite book. However, if the magazine publishers pay 25 cents per word, they can only afford to pay $5 per summary.

Challenge the students to write a summary of what they just read keeping within the magazine's guidelines!

You can change up the amount of money each word is worth and the total amount paid out depending on how much of a summary you want the students to write or how well they are able to add money.

You can also adapt this to use with non-fiction text when determining the main idea. For example, if each word is worth $1, can you write the main idea using only $5?

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:
it goes on.”
—Robert Frost

Get Outside!

Need another excuse to take your kids outside? Here are some fun math activities you can do outside on the playground to practice basic facts.

 

• Hopscotch Facts - Draw a hopscotch board on the blacktop with sidewalk chalk. On your turn, toss two markers. You must correctly add or multiply the two numbers before taking your turn.

• Skip Counting Rope - Borrow some jump ropes from the gym and skip count as you jump rope. The class can count with you as you jump. See who can jump the longest!

• Simon Says - Play Simon Says with math concepts! "Simon says make an acute angle with your arms." "Simon says make an obtuse angle with your fingers." "Simon says use your arms to show 3:00." There are lots of possibilities! 

• Shape Busters - Have students work in small groups to create shapes with their bodies. On index cards, write the names of several polygons. Make sure that the total number of sides equals the total number of students. For example, if you have 20 students, then a square, an octagon, a triangle and a pentagon would work - 20 total sides. Give one card to each team leader. That student must then assemble a team and create the given shape. For example, if the leader had "square", he/she must find 3 other people to help make the square. Mix up the cards, change the team leaders, and play again!

• Ferris Wheel Facts - Have the students stand in a large circle, imitating a ferris wheel. One person remains in a stationary spot on the outside of the circle with flash cards. The first person solves the problem on the flash card. If correct, the entire ferris wheel moves clockwise that number of students. If incorrect, the entire ferris wheel moves counter-clockwise that number of students.

Now that the weather is beautiful and testing is over, let's get outside and have some fun!

Geometry Scavenger Hunt

Studying geometry? Make geometry more authentic by taking your class on a geometry walk around the school!

Provide your students with a list of things to look for appropriate to what they are learning in math, such as 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes, angles, lines, symmetry, and transformational movements.

Lead the students on a walk through the school, including the garden and playground areas. Point out that geometry is all around them - squares in the chain link fence, perpendicular lines in the brick wall, acute angles in the tree limbs, symmetry in a flower, etc. Then have the students write down or draw the examples of each concept that they see on the walk.

For an extra challenge, have students write down as many examples of each concept as they can. You can turn this into a game!

Students can work alone or with a partner.

Have fun!

Fun Test Review

Tired of boring review for standardized tests? Try these fun alternatives!

Play "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" with those multiple choice questions. Divide the class into teams. Present the question and answer choices on the elmo/overhead to the first person on a team. If he/she does not know the answer, they may use one of the 'lifeline': phone a friend, poll the audience, and 50/50. Each team may use a lifeline only once. If the answer is correct, the team wins a point, or to make it more interesting, money. If the answer is wrong, the team loses points/money. The team with the most points/money at the end of the review wins!

Another game idea: write the letters A,B,C, and D on 4 objects, such as ping pong balls. Put them in a bag. Present the questions and answer choices on the Elmo/Overhead. The first student pulls out a ball and decides if that letter is the correct answer choice. If it is not he/she must explain why. Continue until the correct answer has been chosen.

Just two fun and engaging ways to review!

Number Lines

Here's a great idea for teaching number lines kinesthetically.

Using masking tape and a meter stick, tape out several large, blank number lines on the floor. Make sure each number line is different. For example, one might have only whole number hash marks, one might have wholes and halves, and another might have fourths.

On index cards, create a set of numbers (whole numbers, fractions or decimals) for each number line. To add a little difficulty, do not include a card for every possible number.

Allow students to work in small groups to place the index cards in the appropriate places on the number lines. Allow students to rotate through each number line.

This is a great way to differentiate.