Do You Need to Engage and Excite Students? Use these words!

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The words are, “Shall we play a game?“, which  is a throw back to an old 1980’s movie…”War Games”.  Sometimes trying to get our students excited about class work can be like a battle.  I have a very competitive group of students this year. They really love to outdo each other but I also want them to pull together as a team.

I tapped into that competitive streak to get them excited about doing classwork earlier this week.  I have a game I call “Captain and the Crew”.  It takes nothing more than a worksheet, white boards, markers, and erasers.  This game really appeals to them as it pits the class against me!!

As the teacher, I am the “Captain” of my class and my students are my “Crew“.  I handed out the worksheet and then wrote the words “Captain” and “Crew” on my whiteboard at the front of the room. The students work a problem independently.  When the lid is on the marker of all the students, we are ready to share our answers.

Students hold up their individual white boards to show the answer.  If everyone is correct, the students earn 2 tally marks.  If even one student is wrong, I earn 5 tally marks.  That’s not fair, you say? The students were more excited about beating me and me not being “fair” then really had them fired up!

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How did I use the worksheet?  I had the students use the worksheet problems as the questions for our game.  See the results of our first game below…

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I already have my students begging for a rematch!  Who knew a worksheet could be so fun?

Let me know what you think and if you use it in your classroom!Signature

 

 

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The Free Dictionary Game Students Will Beg For!

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Here’s the dictionary dilemma, teachers!  We want our students to increase their knowledge of vocabulary in all subjects, but too often our go-to assignment has students  looking up the words in a dictionary and copy the meaning into a notebook.  For myself, even I used to shudder at the idea of looking up  unknown words in the dictionary!

Engage students are learning students and the best is when they don’t even realize they are learning!!!  I was racking my brain for a new way to introduce the vocabulary in a novel I wanted the class to read.  It came to me like a flash!!!!  I find that most students get very competitive in a game situation and that is what led to, TA DAH!!!  DICTIONARY DASH!!  Even better, the game is free AND easy to implement!!!

Here’s how it works in my room.  I have my students get themselves into groups of three.  Each group gets a dictionary.  Because my students are so competitive,  I have the students put their hands on the closed dictionary BEFORE I write the word to be looked up on the board.  On the board I have drawn a chart.  Word/Part of Speech/Definition.   After the word is written  on the whiteboard, they can’t start their search until I say “Go!”

The first group to find the word yells “We got it!’ and they send one of the students to the board.   The chosen student writes the part of speech and the definition on the whiteboard.  I will check the student’s choice of definition to make sure it is the one needed for the day’s reading.

The other students are reading the meaning of the word as it is written on the board.  After that, the groups put their hands on the closed dictionary and the game continues until all vocabulary words needed for that day have been defined.

That being said, let me add a few pointers about the game:

  1.  DO NOT use this game every day in all subjects!  Anything done a lot gets boring and that’s what you’re trying to avoid!!!
  2. DO NOT use this game to look up EVERY vocabulary word in the lesson.  Why?  See #1!
  3. DO use it in subjects other than just Reading.  Students need to see the need for increased vocabulary in all subjects.

I have the students put the vocabulary words and meanings into their subject journal and glossary. We then jump into the lesson.

That’s it…that’s all it took to get my kids excited about using the dictionary!!  What’s the worst?  You lose a bit of time…What’s the best? A new game that takes little to no prep and excites students!   

If you try the game, let me know how it worked.  If you have some fun ideas for vocabulary, share those too!!!!  Thanks!

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Summertime and the dieting begins!

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Teachers are notorious for taking care of all the folks around them and neglecting themselves!  I am no exception. What to do, what to do?  This past year was particularly stressful as our school was under a microscope as a result of low test scores.  Eyes were upon us all year long.  Lessons were scrutinized, data analyzed, resources vetted.  I would like to be one of those”lucky” folks whose appetite disappears under stress, but not me!  I have forgotten where I parked, where I put my keys, and even left my laptop at home; but I have NEVER forgotten to eat a meal and then some!!  As a result, I put on weight this past school year and now I have decided to do something about it.

*STEP 1:   FRESH, FRESH,FRESH!!

I have begun to add all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables to my diet.  I  visit produce stands and take advantage of the local fruits and vegetables.  Luckily, I have a hubby who also likes to eat fresh.  We recently made a chicken avocado salad the was created without any mayo and it was so good!    You can find the recipe on my Pinterest board…https://www.pinterest.com/suemescall1/favorite-recipes/

*STEP 2:  EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE!!

This took some real thought for me.  I have spent previous summers catching up on my personal reading and crocheting, neither of which take a whole lot of calories to accomplish!  LOL!  I used to joke that I had only one allergy and that was to sweat!

This summer, I decided it was time to overcome my “allergy”.  I have tried to gyms and I have found that I just can’t seem to make the time to visit once school starts.  As a result of what I saw as throwing my money down the drain with a gym membership, I decided if I was going to sweat, it ought to have visible results beyond my weight loss.  I have started working outside at my home.  I have been pulling weeds, edging our yard using a manual edger, raking and putting new mulch in our gardens.  My yards are starting to look better and I am feeling better also.

*STEP 3:  WATER, WATER, WATER!!

I used to “pooh,pooh” people who told me that water could help a person lose weight.  Boy, was I wrong!  I have a drinking container that holds a lot of water and I have made it my mission to refill it at least 4 times a day with ice water from my refrigerator.  It keeps me hydrated as I work outside AND when I am inside reading my books or crocheting afghans for my grandkids.  I have found that when I have an urge to see if the food fairy has brought me some goodies since the last time I browsed,  I instead take a long drink of my water, the urge to snack is much easier to ignore.

*STEP 4:  EXPECTATIONS, EXPECTATIONS, EXPECTATIONS!!

The hardest part of this journey is knowing that since it has taken me a long time to put on this extra weight, it is going to take some time to lose it!  If you are like me, I want the extra weight off yesterday!  I remember the story of the tortoise and the hare…slow and steady wins the race.  I am letting my clothes let me know how well the weight is coming off and that is also a change for me.  I have been a scales junkie…letting the scales determine how my day would go. Yea!  I lost a pound…a great day!  Woe is me, no weight loss or even a gain!  My day carries a black cloud!  I am not going to let my diet decide how my day will go!

Thus, begins my diet journey.  I’ll keep you posted.  Share with me your favorite diet “tricks” and lets be kind to ourselves together!!

Sue

TpT Makeover Challenge!

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This week I have answered a challenge issued by Third in Hollywood, Teach, Create, Motivate,  Sparkling in Second Grade, and Peppy Zesty Teacheria to makeover my store, my blog and my products!

When I first started at Teacherspayteachers, I was unsure and nervous about how my work would be seen by other teachers.  I didn’t have a lot of money for graphics and fonts so I made do with what I had.  Well, with two years under my belt, I knew it was time to ramp up my products and hopefully catch the eyes of more teachers looking for products and activities.  This challenge has come at the perfect time…I have retired from public school teaching and moved to an independent school.  I am revamping my teaching, activities and lessons, so why not do the same to my Teacherpayteacher store also?

Here’s my response to the first challenge:  “My End of Year Memory Book” was first made as a quick idea for my students, but as often happens with things done quickly, the end result was not a true example of what my products were about.  I have changed my graphics and added more pages to my book.  Students can now write memories about their resource/specials classes and as with yearbooks, can choose their smartest, funniest, and tallest classmates to mention just a few of the memories.    Take a look….if you like what you see, here is the link to my store…http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Susan-Mescall.

 

 

 

Metric Manipulative

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Part of my math curriculum was teaching my 5th graders about the metric system. Now, I am may be dating myself big time, but I don’t remember learning about the metric system until I took Chemistry my junior year of high school! I must confess, also, that I did not do well at all in mastering the system…I flunked the test. So, when presented with having to teach my elementary students, I was racking my brain for ways to help them master the concepts.

I decided my students needed a visual manipulative to make the metric system more hands on for them…They needed to master the metric prefixes AND have an understanding of each of the prefixes and how they related to each other.
So…VOILA!!! I had my students create this quick reference…

 

I had my students write down the meaning of each of the prefixes on the back of each of the prefix cards.  Finally, both my students AND I had a better understanding of the metric system.  Where were these kinds of things when I was taking Chemistry!?  LOL

A Math Close Read!

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Ever have one of those days where a random thought during your lesson plan suddenly causes the light bulb to go off with your students?  Well, it happened to me last week and it was amazing!  I wanted to share it with you all.

We were discussing  “What questions can be answered by using addition and subtraction?”  The students were struggling to come up with words that made them think of using addition and subtraction when reading word problems, when the idea of treating word problems as a mini-story with actions occurred to me!

I reminded the students that they were experts in reading short stories and able to see the action of the story. We used their close read skills to examine story problems.   I, then, had my students brainstorm actions that they had seen in addition problems and what a list they came up with:

ADDITION: earned, combined, combining, saving, growing, altogether, getting more, put together,received, build up, getting larger, gathered, bringing together, total, in all, brought together

We did the same for subtraction using those same close read skills and here’s what they found:

SUBTRACTION: separating, giving away, putting into groups, throw away, break apart, spend, eat, used, gave away, left,

I had the students use their lists to examine the word problems on their homework sheets.  They were so excited to be able to identify what operation was needed to solve the problem!  How often are students excited to read word problems…not very!  Hands flying into the air, excited to share what they thought was the action and operation of the problems.

So where do my students go from here?  My goad for the list is that my students will continue to add to their lists as we go through the year.

Next week, we will be examining multiplication and division word problems.  I’ll keep you posted!!

Sue

My Favorite Thing For Back To School!

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I am a part of a group of bloggers who are sharing their favorite go-to item for back to school.

My first thought, when it came to blogging about my favorite go-to items for back to school, was I need them all!  How can I narrow down my goodies to just one or two things?  How could I pick?  So I gave my list a hard look and chose my MUST HAVE favorite!

My flash drive is my favorite, can’t live without it,  back to school MUST have!  It carries my lesson plans, activities, and any other educational items I might need,  in a tiny item that is no bigger than my thumb.  I remember a time when, if I came across an activity or an idea that I might use in a future lesson, a copy would be made, put into a folder and that folder was labeled and  put into a file cabinet.  I would have to remember where that activity or lesson was located and pull it out to be copied.  It would be put on my desk (the less said about that, the better!).  I would then have to copy my chosen activity or worksheet.  That’s a LOT of remembering…not my strongest suit! Too often, the activity or copies would be lost in the “dark” area known as MY DESK!   As I would pack up for the summer, I might run across the folder, “Oh, I totally forgot about this!”  and back into the cabinet it went for next year and my remembering process would have to  start all over again!

Or how about this scenario…I would see an excellent resource on the Internet years ago and I would have to print it out…See above for what would happen next!  When I was first shown a flash drive and how to use it, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  No more remembering papers or folder labels; I could search my flash drive for what I needed!  Not only that, I could simply create folders and put my ideas and activities in them.  No more papers to carry, file in a cabinet, or lose! No more forgetting copies,either.  I could simply plug in that wonderful little tool and make copies on my home or classroom computer.  My flash drive is almost the assistant I don’t have anymore!

My biggest school panic is when I cannot find my flash drive!  I kid you not, every night while school is in session and before I go to bed, I make sure I put my flash drive into a particular pocket in my purse, after I have finished working with it!!  I am not even that careful with my classroom key!  While school is still a few weeks off for me, I know I will be walking in prepared just about anything, thanks to my flash drive!

Be sure to check out the links below for many opportunities to win gift cards and also read what other teachers are sharing about their favorite back to school items.  Happy reading!!!

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Gettin’ Ready For Whole Brain Teaching!

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I have continued to read “Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids,” by Chris Biffle.  Actually, I am rereading as I have been meeting with a couple of colleagues who are also excited about implementing the WBT strategies.  I tend to rush through my reading when I get excited about the content.  So, with my friends, I am going back through and taking notes this time.

WBT has a lot of visual cues for students  and a set that I that I am definitely putting on my bulletin board are the cues for solving math problems.  As I will be the math teacher for all my school’s fifth graders, I was instantly on point! The titles of the cues are: *Prove It!   *Show Work  *Doofus/Trickster/Smarty  *Double Underlining   *Headings The two cues new to me were  Headings and Doofus/Trickster/Smarty.  “Headings” is a process of 5 steps that students work their way through to solve the math problem.

Slide3 My favorite, though, is Doofus, Trickster, and Smarty!  Students are taught to sort multiple choice answers into those 3 categories.  The names made me laugh and I know my students will get a kick out of them, too. Doofus answers are those answers that are so obviously wrong and easy to spot.  Tricksters are a step up from Doofus and can be harder to spot.  They are designed to fool students and are completely wrong.  The Smarty answer is the correct answer.   Once students label the anwers, they then must be able to prove their choice is correct. I knew I would want my own version of the cues, so I got busy yesterday and made a set.  Here’s how they turned out.  If you want a set, they are at my TpT store.  Just click on my TpT link and download them…FREE! Slide5   Slide4

Wow! It’s Been A Long Time!

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Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. It was a really busy year for me at school…my first year, in a long time, of teaching all the subjects! It took a lot of my time to create lessons for all subjects. I teach 5th grade and it was the first year in a long time that my grade level did not block! I had to play catch up in math, especially, as it had been many years since I had taught it. There have been many changes in the years, and then North Carolina adopted Common Core!

Much to my surprise, after a few stuttered starts, I found that I was enjoying math! I had always considered myself a reading teacher and to find enjoyment in math was a nice plus. Fast forward to today and I have just gotten the word that my grade level will be blocking once again, and I will be the MATH teacher for all three classrooms!

I have agreed to step out of my comfort zone of reading and science and jump into math. I have a trio of resource teachers who have shared with me that they will help me set up my lessons. I am going to be teaching my math class using small group instruction and differentiation. I am very excited as I begin this new adventure!

Before I finish this blog, I want to share with you a book I have been reading this summer…”Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids” by Chris Biffle. If you have experienced classroom management issues (and who among us has not?), this book is AMAZING! This summer, several of my colleagues and I have been reading and discussing this wonderful book. We are going to be implementing Chris’ideas into our classes. I’ll keep you posted on our progress!