2 Facts & an Opinion

Have you all heard of the game 2 Truths and a Lie? I saw a bunch of you planning it during a linky party recently and so wish I had time to join up but I have been swamped! Good thing this is my last class before student teaching so I will have time to play with all of you.

Anywho....

I was racking my brain for an idea on fact and opinion when I realized you all had the perfect answer for me! A game, A game! 2 Facts and an Opinion or 2 Opinions and a Fact. Whichever... they both work!

So that is what I did! The next day I grabbed the students reading textbook (we use StoryTown) and started reading random sentences from stories we previously read. Which of the 3 sentences I just read is an Opinion?

I did several samples and then I choose a "teacher" for each table group. The teacher then read the sentences to their group from any story they wanted and asked which one was not a fact or not an opinion depending upon the version that they choose.

We played 5 minute rounds and then I switched teachers. Total of 2 rounds (15 minutes is all we have between specials and lunch). This helped my students A LOT. They aced the fact/opinion unit.

No prep work. Nothing to print or laminate. Just grab any book and go!

National Geographic

So my last class was all about Social Studies and Geography. It is finals week so I can finally share with all of you some of the great resources I discovered during the course.

Did you know National Geographic has an Education Website? 

It Does!

This site covers current events! It has lessons plans, videos, a map creator, pictures, student resources, access to standards, and so much more! I have added it to the resource section of my own classroom website for my students to use. 

This is a brand new resource and still in BETA format. So if there are any suggestions of changes, things you want to see, etc...just let them know. 

ENJOY!

The Vocabulary Scoot Boogie!

My current course (in case none of ya can tell) is all about literacy in the classroom. I have been focusing on this a lot and only have 2 weeks until the class is done! I have learned some amazing new things and wanted to share another one of my favorites with all of you.

I call it... 

The Vocabulary Scoot Boogie!

I added the "Boogie" part for Halloween.

According to my 5th graders... 

the Boogie Monster attacks those who

fail vocabulary tests. 

You have been warned!

Bwahahahahaha!

My mentor calls it... 

Vocabulary Rotations

YAWN!!

Shhh... 

don't tell her I changed her title!

I like mine better! =P

Anyways....  It is another type of fun game-ish activity. 

You will need: Half-size anchor chart paper, a sharpie, and each group of kids will need a package of colored pencils or markers. 

I learned how to make fancy-schmancy picture collages!!

You need 1 piece of paper per vocabulary word. Then with a sharpie right the word in the middle of the page. Break up your students into groups - you will need 1 group for every vocabulary word and 1 activity for each group. 

When I helped with this activity... we had 9 vocabulary words so 9 groups and 9 activities. Each activity or rotation is 2 minutes long. Set the timer... it helps. 

~~ TIP ~~

This teacher has a timer that is magnetic so it sticks to the whiteboard!

Genius and so easy to use. 

No more losing the timer!

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Each group was given 1 piece of paper and students were required to stand during this activity and only talk to those in their group regarding the topic. Since it was a short time limit, they had to work quickly to complete the task. 

Why stand? So students were not sitting at other students desk and disturbing others personal space. I would have never thought of that!

Rotations: Each activity goes along with the word in the center of the page. You can switch them out to what you are focusing on but here are the 9 rotations we used. 

Rotation 1: Write the definition

Rotation 2: Use the word in a 7-up Sentence

Rotation 3: Draw a picture

Rotation 4: Spelling Pyramid

Rotation 5: Synonyms

Rotation 6: Antonyms

Rotation 7: Part of Speech

Rotation 8: Syllabication

Rotation 9: Presentation

There are 3 things that are ALWAYS done. Students always write a definition, draw a picture, and present the word. 

Presentation: After each group has traveled around the room to the various words, the last group has to present it to the class. This is how the vocabulary words are introduced each week. The last group has to determine if what the other groups did was correct. 

If you look at the pictures above... you can see a big red x over a word. This is where the students were trying to come up with synonyms for revolutionary. They struggled. The answers were hilarious and the presenting group said that their answers were wrong but they couldn't come up with anything better. 

Soooooo.... the computer was turned on and together the students used an online thesaurus to try and correct it.  During the assignment, they had access to a physical dictionary and thesaurus but they were not very helpful. 

There is a winner. The group who traveled and answered all the questions correct AND were the quietest AND stayed on task... won a piece of candy. This was hard for me... I would change it up. 

I would assign each group a color to work in so I could see who's work was whose at a glance and not have to continually ask. I would also make sure groups were more evenly matched in academic abilities. 

What are your favorite activities for teaching vocabulary? 

Sink or Swim

I feel like this is the story of my life at the moment but alas it is actually a game I played with my son's class the other day. His teacher let me sneak in for a few hours to observe his teaching style for an assignment. Shhh! It was not an authorized observation hence the sneak part!

I have never been in a classroom with a male teacher before so was very excited! The first thing I noticed was that his room was plain rather than cute. I am used to the "girly" classrooms and this was "manland" as my son told me.

When I spoke to my son's teacher he rearranged his entire days worth of lesson plans for me. He said women over complicate things so I wanted you to see what you can teach with little to no resources and planning. He spent 5 minutes planning his day!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that he did this for me and I learned so much. Anyways... onto the my day of "not over complicating things" aka... Sink or Swim!

So do you see that pile of index cards on the floor... you will need one of those to play. Split the class into half. There is no talking during this game. The teacher divides the students into 2 teams and every player on the team has their name written on the board. Each team also has the 2 answers available written on their side of the board.

No talking is allowed or you are sunk (sit down). A student picks a card from the pile. They choose an answer. If they are correct... they pick to either swim (save) a teammate who was sunk before or sink (sit down) an opponent. Each player standing at the end gets 100 points. If the entire table is standing they get 500 points. If all 4 tables on a team is standing at the end they get a 10,000 point bonus! Points are used to win awards and are awarded by table.

Game lasts for as long as you have time. Kids get to wiggle and move but no pushing. Teacher can sink you for inappropriate behavior or talking and you can't be swum back in except by the teacher. The kids loved it and begged to play!

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UPDATE: I received several emails asking for more specifics on this game. So here ya go! =)

 After teaching a grammar lesson on pronouns where students learned to recognize pronoun usage as the subject or object of the sentence, this game was played. The 2 answers are: subject or object. The pile of index cards has a pronoun written on it. The student has to state by pointing whether the pronoun applies to a subject, an object, or both.

There can be more than 2 answers but you need to keep the answers to a minimum. Imagine using this to identify different types of triangles, classifying animals, determining types of sentences, etc... Basically, anything that you would classify into categories can be used for this game!

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Per this teacher all you need for an entire school year is a few thousand index cards and a bunch of sharpie markers and you can be set to go! One of my favorite parts is that he taught everything in chunks. First it was taking notes, then a memory game... then sink or swim.

Lots of fun and easy to plan! What are your favorite classroom game?