Preparing for all of those End of Year Reviews!

 Spring is coming which means lots of review!
The "Kahoot" quiz, a technology based review, I'm going to share is extremely interactive and engaging while still heavily monitored and run by the teacher! Pictured below are some snapshots from the site as well as a few notes. The thought bubbles will explain the teacher side of the site (orange frames) and the student side of the site (purple frames.) I've also included some ideas on how to smoothly run this in a classroom...they are listed below the pictures!

Ideas...

• If available, each student could have their own device. However, for larger classes giving one Chromebook, I pad, etc per group works just as well!
• Instead of having students choose a Username, have them type in their computer number or their student number. This controls goofy/inappropriate usernames to be displayed as well as confidentiality. Group numbers or names would be another idea!
• When the "Score" screen comes up, cover the projector. This may seem silly, but the scores are displayed after EVERY question. When students see that they aren't in the top scores displayed they quit trying. Keep everyone engaged and display the score at the END of the review! 
• There will be some goof balls in the class who will purposely answer incorrectly to see the graphs change on the data. In order to stop this I made sure that if the question had any incorrect responses displayed in the data we had to pause and have a discussion about why "such and such" wasn't the correct answer. I also tallied how many times the class answered 100% correct and matched it with an incentive. 
• MAKE A PRACTICE QUIZ FIRST...or at least a few practice questions! Having the students, and yourself, learn to maneuver through the site is a bit tricky at first. But after a couple of questions they really get the hang of it! 

Mrs. B and the Classroom Zones

I enjoy substituting for Middle School, each teacher is so different! If I've learned anything from Junior High it's this...the more organized YOU are, the more organized your STUDENTS will be for you! It's interesting to see the same students rotate to different classrooms and how they magically "change." If the class is organized and structured, so are the students. If not, well...let's just say the kids know it and that's when the "change" happens. I found it surprising to sub for Teacher A where the students were on task and well behaved and the next day, subbing the same students for Teacher B and thinking, "You weren't like this yesterday." Routines, procedures, organization and consistency are just as important for Middle School students as it is for Elementary students, if not more!

I've shared a few ideas for organization in previous posts and I'd like to share a couple more. Mrs. B teaches 3 Block classes of 6th grade Language Arts. Her organization for students in each of those classes helped me have a very productive day while she was absent.

There was 1 clipboard for each class, each with a class photo list and seating arrangement. 

Mrs. B used this clipboard to keep track of tardy's, table points, individual points, etc.

Now for the Classroom Zones. The pictures below are pretty self explanatory, but to elaborate Mrs. B introduced classroom zones for noise level control. The zones let students know the expectation for the classroom throughout a lesson, project assignment, partner work, individual work, etc. Super easy to implement as well as remind, "Remember, we're in a yellow zone." Take a look...

Only one color would be showing at a time, of course :)

One more thing to share...Mrs. B was very generous in sharing materials, but VERY serious about making sure they were returned. (The students were as well!) They were in charge of counting Sharpies, erasers and White Out's. All had to be returned before anyone could leave. 

Mrs. F and "Danish Rounders"

While subbing for middle school PE we played a form of kick ball called "Danish Rounders." This game is definitely different, however the 7th and 8th graders really enjoyed playing. I hope your students do as well!

Mrs. T & Mrs. P and the Daily 5 Centers

I've been to two classes recently that use Daily 5 during their Literacy Block. I found a few good ideas for setting up and carrying out Daily 5 routines that I'm going to, hopefully, remember for the future!

In the first classroom, Mrs. P had a bulletin board for her Daily 5. She has her first grade students select their Daily 5 choice by moving a mini clothes pin that have their name on it. My favorite part of the bulletin board were the specific posters for each choice. Listed on the poster was a description of the choice and then two columns of instructions. The first column listed what the student does when selecting that specific center and the second column lists what the teacher does. I especially like the part about what the teacher does, it reminds students that we are ALL working during Daily 5! 

The second classroom was third grade and Mrs. T had a Daily 5 Report the students fill out each week. There are 15 Daily 5 sessions a week and she has come up with a way to monitor who goes where and when. What a great way to ensure that students are rotating to each center!!  

To interpret the Daily 5 report, Mrs. T has 3 twenty minute sessions a day, 5 days a week. That's 15 sessions :) The students rotate to 3 different centers in one day and check them off on their report as they go. The number of times a student visits a center is preassigned by the teacher. The tickets are turned in every Friday and graded. I love that Mrs. T uses this card to manage where students can/should go to accomplish Daily 5 choices! Her system can be implemented into any classroom, changing the centers and stats would be easy to ensure these Daily 5 Reports have the "just right" fit for your Literacy Blocks!

Mrs. T and the 3rd Grade Zooland

Today, I subbed for third grade, walked into the classroom and this was the first thing I noticed...

No, this isn't stuffed animal jail but a project for their Animal Unit. This idea is going to be short and sweet, all I have is a few pictures, one poster and a discussion from 3rd grader about Zooland.

Me: I'm curious, what are all these stuffed animals doing in the classroom?

Student: We're starting Zoo World! (Later I found out it was Zooland)

Me: That sounds fun, what is Zoo World?

Student: We all brought an animal to study and then we're going to invite other classes to our zoo and teach them about the animal we've been taking care of.

 She didn't elaborate much about their study and/or lessons. I did find the letter sent home about Zooland...and will hopefully have the chance to create a zoo someday!

Mr. P and the Bathroom Pass Notebook

Having students leave class to use the restroom is never convenient. No matter how many times you remind them to use the restroom before school, during lunch, at recess ,etc. it's always going to be a hassle. For teachers who choose to monitor the restroom ins and outs, I've seen two ways to do this...

First, the Printed Bathroom Pass. Here are a list of reasons why I'm going to pass on bathroom passes.

1. Having to print them out.
2. Watching students frantically search for their pass.
3. "I lost mine and I really have to go!"
4. Tearing off passes one at a time.
5. "I don't have any more and it's an emergency!"
6. Printing them again.
7. "I had a bathroom pass but then I traded someone who really needed it and they didn't give me one of their new bathroom passes like they said they would." 

Second, the Bathroom Pass Notebook.  I saw this in Mr. P's 4th grade class and thought it was a great way to monitor bathroom in and out's. It works like a sign out sheet, here is an example.

• Bella has 3 bathroom passes for the week. 
• She may leave the classroom at a teacher-approved time.
• Before leaving, Bella finds her name and writes the date in the first column. 
• The two empty columns indicated she has two more bathroom passes that week.

I like the notebook because I don't have # 2,3,4,5 and 7 happening during a lesson! I don't throw away little pieces of paper I spent time printing and cutting out! (Okay, #5 WILL happen, but a teacher can tell a real emergency from a fake one!)

•  Laminate one sheet, rinse and reuse!
• Keep it in good view! Wouldn't want a little rascal signing out on another student's name...
• No roll over minutes ;)
• I'm sure there are many more...let me know if you have one to share!.

P.S. The picture of the toilet paper comes from my favorite inspirational speech about teachers...

Mrs. S and Battleship

While substituting for a Middle School PE class, I observed a game called BATTLESHIP. I love this game for many reasons! First, this game requires teamwork. Second, this game can accommodate for many different class sizes. The class I observed had 42 students and I tried this with a 5th grade PE class I substituted for that had 26. Third, this game is separated into teams - the teams get a break now and then, but the play is quick enough that they stay have to stay on their toes and be ready. Last, the game is like Dodge ball - what student doesn't like Dodge ball?!

If you're looking for a fun game to play with your PE class, a new game to play as a class incentive, or for a rainy day activity..try BATTLESHIP! Lesson plan attached below...