Kids love gifs. (Not gifts . . . this time. GIFS.) Who doesn’t love gifs? So, let’s give everyone what they want. During a brain break, kids are looking to have a good time, be silly, move around. Find some inspiration at www.giphy.com and create your own mime game. Some of my themes included cats, dogs, penguins, Super Mario, Toy Story movies, Disney movies, Lego movies, and this stellar astronaut doing various far out moves.
I don’t think I’ve challenged myself enough this school year. Why not try a podcast? Ok! It sounded very involved, but once I decided on using www.podbean.com (free), the rest was business as usual. As a class we brainstormed topics to highlight our all-school novel study of The Adventures of a South Pole Pig (fun characters, closing assembly play, trivia, family events, etc.) The kids chose their groups and chatted about what to include. I provided each team with a template. The worksheet had them think of a unique opening for their segment (onomatopoeia, single word, song, etc.), share 5-8 details, and wrap up with a creative closing. We used my cell phone as our recording device, and I saved each section as separate files that I later merged into one podcast on the app. I was excited to have a real audience for this project (mostly parents) and incorporate writing and speaking goals. Kids can do such grown-up things!
Readers’ theatre plays are my JAM! It is so much fun to take a story (in this case a 288-page novel) and turn it into a play for kids to perform. Yes, it is very time consuming–script creation, costumes, props (full-size working sled!), scenery, musical accompaniment, choral song, and choreography. Plus with the timing of it all, there is a quick turnaround for the students to learn the parts because the closing assembly is right as everyone finishes the book. (I had to read the last week’s chapters on Monday and Tuesday in order to give my students time to practice the final pages of the script prior to the performance on Friday afternoon.) Two parents volunteered to make their children’s costumes, and that helped a lot! And our wonderful music teacher took my lyrics and set them to a beautiful melody. This production was quite a feat, but so magical! Aren’t they the cutest!
Our OSOB committee are creative rockstars! This was our second year participating in an all-school novel study. The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz is a sweet book about friendship and perseverance. With lush vocabulary, endearing characters, and an exciting locale (Antarctic), we had a winner. We kicked off the big event with a whole school assembly complete with a jumbo character puppet show of chapter 1 and a visit from Yukon Cornelius (ode to the Rudolph holiday cartoon). Once students return to their rooms, Yukon hauled the novel packages on his sled to every classroom.
The entire school building was transformed during our five-week event. Check out the large world map that documented Flora’s travels. My co-worker marked new places each week as we read the story. As visitors came to the lobby, they could see just where we were in the journey. What a great geography connection, right? That same outstanding teacher make vocab displays in several locations throughout the building for mini-lessons on context clues. The art teacher helped students construct adorable origami pigs that collaged into this full-size window display. We also had chapter trivia questions and a weekly trivia video. Every day students hunted for our stuffed Flora hiding somewhere in the school. Check out this Adobe Spark video I created to summarize the entire experience!
I love, love, love performing readers’ theatre plays with musical accompaniment with my third graders. Two picture books that I often use are One and Zero by Kathryn Otoshi. Not only do these stories have powerful messages, they include abstract characters–colors that become numbers. Thus, my students can wear a black shirt and jeans and hold the two-sided paddles to represent their characters. Each color/number is matched with a musical instrument and rhythm that corresponds to its personality (sunny, regal, calm). These books are mostly narration with a few memorized character lines, so I have three narrators and use Post-It notes on the back of the paddles for characters that may need a reminder. Plus, I train my narrators to “feed” the line to the actor if needed. For example, if the character doesn’t remember it’s his/her turn or just blanks on the script, the narrator will say, “One said, ‘If someone is mean and picks on me, I for one stand up and said NO.'” Then the student playing that role can repeat the line to the audience.
If you haven’t tried a readers’ theatre before, go with a pre-made script. Don’t worry about costumes, props, or adding music. You can add those extra elements when you and the kids feel ready. I’m sure that you will gain confidence as the students reveal their energy and creativity.
Writing is often the most dreaded tasks, according to students. So how can we make it more interesting, more inspiring, more fun? I got notion for a writing “idea box” from author Jerdine Nolen. In our basal reader, she had written a letter explaining that her story ideas came from everyday activities like washing the dishes and everyday objects like a hat. She had a box of items that she would look through to spark story ideas. Seriously? We can do this in our classroom for our students! Not only was it easy to prep, it was easy to explain and implement. I gathered some items that might lead to adventure stories (old camera, old phone, map, glasses, pirate doubloon, silk rose, stuffed animals, hourglass, etc.) I modeled how I chose the plastic gold coin and it gave me the idea for a time-traveling adventure. I read my fictional story about a boy who found this unique coin while walking to school. As he picked it up, he began to feel dizzy as if he were falling . . . into another world! If they wanted, students were encouraged to select an object from the tub and bring it to their workspace for inspiration while writing. Sometimes teams of 2-3 worked on a collaborative story. Other times, the students sat side-by-side to share an item but compose their own individual pieces. And occasionally, kids would want to incorporate more than one object from the basket. It was all ok by me! As long as they were motivated and writing, I was on board. I was pleased as punch when students finished their first stories and asked to get another object and begin a new one. Music to my ears!
To help students learn more about each other at the beginning of the year, I hold a “Me Museum” event during the first week. Students are given a profile sheet (1/2 page) with a few questions to answer such as name, birthday, favorites, and goals. In addition, they are asked to bring in three items that represent who they are or what they like. On the sharing day, students create tent cards to explain the items and the importance. They set up their desk space with the profile sheet, objects, and tent cards. Then everyone walks around to look and read like one would in a museum. We have rules such as no touching and only positive comments. The principal and other teachers who work with my students are invited to pop in as well. I like to take a picture of every display and look back at them in more detail at a later time. Much of my focus is on managing behavior during the event, and it’s a lot of new info to absorb. I really want to recall these displays in future conversations with my students and photos is the best way for me. When it appears that the kids have had ample time to peruse, we have a whole-group conversation about similarities and eye-opening discoveries.
Arrrgh, mateys! Captain Multiply here. Arrr ye ready for a wee math review game? Well, come aboard me ship, The Array, and let the adventure commence! Captain Add has stolen me treasure. He thinks that addin’ is the only way to get the right answer. But we know better, don’t we, mateys! Your mission is to follow the clues on me map and use your amazing multiplication skills to locate me treasure. If we find it, I shall share all of me spoils equally with you.
It’s room transformation time–mostly with costume, voice, music, thematic question cards and worksheets, and a REAL treasure. Ok, it’s chocolate covered gold coins. But the kids don’t know that when we set sail during this multiplication review game. After introducing the activity with my Irish pirate character, I show the students their “mates” for the challenge and call each team up to collect their clipboards with the “map” worksheet. Earlier in the day when the class is out (music, PE, or art), I tape up the 18 “clues” (which are multiplication questions) at various locations around the room. The cards include X story problems, repeated addition equations, and drawn arrays. Teams record their responses on the map. When they have completed all 18, they can check with me for verification. Any incorrect answers can be fixed as other teams finish up. Groups that have all correct responses are given the challenge to support another team (not give answers, but suggest strategies). Once everyone is done and returns to the ship (their seats), I ask the crew for information on the location of the stolen treasure. I always place the final #18 card where the chest is buried, usually my lidded ottoman or closet. When I have a team “dig it up” for us, the whole class is surprised to learn that there is an actual chest with gold coins. I have a sign that reveals there are 100 (or another multiple for the number of students that year), so they can have the extra challenge of dividing that number equally. 100 / 25 = 4 gold coins each. The sweet reward at the conclusion of this activity is three-fold: candy, knowledge, and confidence.
Listening skills + mystery drawing = art! These penguins are just adorable and truly reflect each student’s unique personality. It began as a directed drawing activity. The students didn’t know the final product would be this Antarctic bird. They had to listen to my directions (such as draw a large oval in the bottom half of your sheet or draw a triangle on top of the circle) and sketch with pencil. Eventually, they figured out that we were creating penguins. They had extra time to add accessories like a scarf and mittens. A few students included ice skates, glasses, etc. They colored using crayon and placed several snowflakes in the negative space. Finally, we used blue watercolor pain to create the wintery background and reveal the falling snow. After a night under our heavy dictionaries (so many uses), they were ready to display in the hall!
For our family gift, I guide my students in creating these collage winter scenes. Since there are a variety of religions represented in my classroom, I wanted to find something that wasn’t focused on Christmas. Even families that don’t celebrate any holidays can appreciate this craft. We start with making the blue watercolor background on white cardstock. As they dry, students use overlapping tissue paper squares (glue stick) on a large trapezoid shape of white construction paper that we later cut into the three trees. Torn and crumbled brown butcher paper makes the textured trunks. A small and mini doily cut in half make the snowy hills. And we finish off the collage with Q-tip dots of white tempera paint for the snowflakes. I prefer the kids use a glue stick rather than goopy glue on the construction. After a night under some heavy dictionaries, I frame each one ($1 each at The Dollar Tree). The students use a silver Sharpie marker to sign and date their works of art on the black cardboard frame backing. (Parents will want to remember the year and grade when looking at it in years to come.) The kids also wrap the gifts and create cards before taking them home the week before winter break. Colorful. Creative. Cute.
Kristen Foley 