Ahhhhhh. I just finished report cards. What a great feeling! Now I am moving on to something I actually WANT to do...blog! :)
We take time for Morning Meeting every day in our classroom. It is my way of ensuring that each child in Room 107 has been positively acknowledged every single day. This time always includes a greeting, which changes every week.
Throughout this past week, we did a greeting that I called "The Double Ball Roll." This.kids.LOVED.it! I loved it too because they all really had to pay attention, which cut down on any potential side conversations.
Anyway, this is how it worked. (Oh, I should mention each child in our classroom is assigned a number all year long.) Student #1 started with a soccer ball. He greeted Student #2, Student #2 greeted him back, then he rolled the ball to Student #2. This procedure continued with Student #3 and so on.
At the same time, we had the same procedure going with a second ball - the basketball - but this one was going in the opposite direction. Student #23 started with the basketball, greeted Student #22, Student #22 greeted her back, and then she rolled the ball to Student #22. Does that make sense the way I explained it!? I hope so!
I would love to hear how it goes in your classroom, if you decide to try it out!
One of our school-wide character traits is responsibility, so we built upon the idea this week. First, we read the book, Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss.
Then, we talked about how Horton showed responsibility. Next, the students decorated their own plastic eggs and were told that their task was to be responsible for it for 24 hours. They had to take it home, keep it safe, and bring it back to school the next day. (Let's just say about 50% of my class is responsible, according to this activity, LOL.) Finally, we did an independent writing activity in which the students explained again (this time through writing) how Horton demonstrated responsibility in the story. We used this free writing template from Jenn Bates.
Have you ever heard of the Naked Egg Experiment? I could not resist trying it out with my students! If you are not familiar, check out this article and video for an easy-to-understand explanation. Oh, and using some green food coloring allowed me to tie it into our Dr. Seuss Day when we read the book, Green Eggs and Ham.
Are you looking to engage your students, yet you need to focus your very limited instructional time on your required content? Yeah, me too. But I have one word for you: Kahoot!
I learned about this amazing, free website and app during the Wisconsin Teacher Blogger Meet-Up back in August, but finally got around to using it. I have no clue why I waited so long because it is EASY-PEASEY to get started!! There are literally thousands of public Kahoot games out there that you can use (instead of re-creating the wheel) and they are simple to find using their search feature. I even experimented with making my own Kahoot game this week that aligns with our Math curriculum and it was sooooo easy!
Seriously - check it out. My kids have literally begged me to play again. They are going to do backflips at the end of our current Math unit when they find out we are going to review the content via Kahoot. :) (Oh, I should mention that your kiddos need a device to play. Even if you do not have enough devices for every child, they can play in teams. My students played in partners on tablets.)
Our school district (and my amazing administrator in particular) is huge into character education. So he brought in the NED Show for a school-wide assembly. When I heard the NED Show was coming to our school, I was thrilled! My previous school district always did this, too, and it is such an awesome experience for all every time.
Anyway, out of the hundreds of children that attend our school, one of my own kiddos was chosen to answer a question and receive some awesome prizes from the presenter. Lucky (and excited) boy!
Thanks for stopping by! :) Be sure to swing by Kacey's amazing linky party to see what other cool teachers have been up to in their classrooms!
