Swap the Squiggle Writing

My class had the greatest time doing Swap the Squiggle writing.

 The idea is to take a random squiggle and create a picture to write a story about. But my twist on this popular idea is to "Swap the Squiggle" which involves a group/team effort in creating the final picture. I have found that this activity helps motivate reluctant writers. What fun! These 15 squiggle writing prompts will be sure to engage your students.

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Here's one of the cutest prompts generated today. 5 people worked on this picture.

A story was written about a girl stepping in gum.


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Swat It Games Giveaway

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So my Dollar Tree shopping spree landed me with these Jumbo fly swatters.

My first thought was that these were some overkill fly swatters for a tiny fly.

But I'm not using them to kill flies.

I'm using them for my Swat It team games.

More games to come too! I'm working on one for place value as well as Sight Word sets. So go grab your Jumbo Swatters!

Display the concept cards on your board, split into teams, and call off questions.

Teams have a swatting good time to hit the answers first!

I'm having a giveaway for these games

1 winner will win all 8 games I've made so far

7 winners will get to choose 1 game of their choice

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Skee Ball School Style

One of my favorite childhood games was Skee Ball.

I could spend hours upon hours playing it at the beach arcades during summer to collect as many tickets as I possibly could manage.

So I made a school style Skee Ball for PE.
I made 3 sets, as I plan to use them relay team style. Each student on the team will toss a tennis ball into the marked buckets. At the end of each round teams will total their point value using white boards.

This would also be a great summer party game too.

The red, white, and blue tubs came from Dollar Tree.

I laminated the numbered labels to then hot glue onto painted clothespins.

Wala! Just clip the pins to the tubs and play SkeeBall to your heart's content!

Here's an online SkeeBall version too!

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Listening Skills in the Classroom

Here are some ways I support listening skills in my class.

I Have/Who Has or Follow Me activities are such a hit with my students and you target content area learning while you are at it.

The basic guidelines involve giving one prompt card to each student. One student begins by stating "I Have ________ Who has ___________?  Whoever has the answer to that prompt shares their card until you've looped around to all the cards.

Here's a site that lets you generate your own cards

My Zoom Around the Room game is a favorite too. Students race to answer a category type question. I use it for a quick time filler and always leave it in my sub plans for an additional resource as needed.

I posted about it {HERE}

What ideas do you have for listening?

~Enjoy

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A is for Assessments: Fun Ways to Evaluate Student Learning

I'm sharing my bag of tricks for great assessment ideas for the classroom.

Here are some of my favorites:

 

Grade the Teacher 

 

This is by far my absolute favorite way to assess my students in the classroom.

It is so versatile and engaging and can be used for any subject. Plus it builds critical thinking and reasoning skills. Students get to "grade" the teacher's work, which is purposely filled with errors for them to find. It's great for an exit ticket and error analysis. Plus, students don't even realize they are doing ALL the work by correcting and reteaching the teacher! It is such a hit with the students. Grab it at my TPT store.

 

Carousel Writing

Create a set of questions related to a topic of study. Write them out on chart paper. These questions will be used as brainstorming sheets for a pre lesson assessment, and then again for a post lesson assessment.  Group students at one of the chart questions and have them discuss and record ideas. Upon a designated signal pass the charts to a new group and continue the same process. Each group will respond and add to all question charts.  The neat part of this is if you do the same questions as a post Carousel Writing you can see growth in ideas.  The samples below were for a science unit on Living Things. The pre lesson Carousel brainstorming was in red and the post lesson was in green.

Stoplight Vocabulary

This idea comes from the book Getting Into Words by Shira Lubliner.

Use this web link printable to color code vocabulary word familiarity in stoplight colors:

Red: If you don't know the word
Yellow: If you have heard the word, but not sure of its meaning
Green: If you know the word and can use it in a sentence

What are some fun ways you assess students?

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Memory Game for Student of the Week Activities

This team building game is great for building classroom relationships and was inspired by a familiar baby shower game. Of all the games played at baby showers...grabbing baby pins in rice, stealing clothespins from shower guests, and wrapping toilet paper around the  mother to be, I must admit that the baby item memory tray game is my favorite.  

I use this concept in my classroom as a Get to Know You activity at the beginning of the school year, but it can also be used as a part of your star Student of the Week activities. Students bring in 15 small items that are special in some way to them to display on a memory tray. The tray is passed around to classmates as they study and memorize the items.

Once the tray is out of sight, give students a {classmate memory tray worksheet} to fill out. Afterwards the star student gets to share about the items. I used to always do "Me Bag" sharing for Back to Schoolbut this now takes its place. The classmate memory trays build classmate connections as well as recall and memory skills.  Can't beat that! 

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A Spin on Squiggle Writing- Creative Writing Idea

Raise your hand if you've done Squiggle Writing at some point in your classroom.  If not, then you've got to learn about this "oldie but goodie". It's been a standby, staple lesson in my classroom for years (30 years to be exact). 

Here's the nitty gritty directions. Basically you draw a random squiggle on paper and let students create an illustration out of it. Then they follow by writing a creatively, cute story.

Now, here's my spin on the traditional Squiggle writing.  Instead of having it be an independent activity, I've made it interactive and called it "Swap the Squiggle". The low down here is students start with their own squiggle for a brief amount of time to begin decorating and on a teacher signal move/swap their squiggle with another classmate. Ideally, you would swap the squiggles several times and then end by returning it to the original squiggle owner. Then the story writing begins! All of my classes have 

 L-O-V-E-D my "Swap the Squiggle" because it's a team effort and the end illustration ends up being a squiggle surprise. 

I've included 15 squiggle writing paper templates for writing fun. Grab it HERE

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The BEST Brain Break Game

This is a must have Brain Break game in my classroom. Students don't even realize they are learning in this fast paced category game.  Students compete in pairs to name a category answer. The winner gets to race/advance around the room until beat by another opponent. It's a great listening skill game as well.  The 100 + category cards I've made are open ended making this a game to come back to AGAIN and AGAIN. It's perfect as a quick time filler which my students beg for.  

I always leave a copy of this game in my sub tub and I don't know how many "Thank You's" I've gotten from appreciative substitutes! 

Sidenote: I also modify this and use it for transition times like waiting in line. When I do, I just call off a category and call on random students to share their ideas.  Do you have more great transition tips?
       

                                        You can RACE to grab your copy here.

 

 

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Cool Compliments and Study Jams

My end of the year is FAST approaching.  I love to do an activity  I call "Cool Compliments". This one is perfect for the end of the year since classmates have learned lots about their friends. First we discuss what compliments are: positive and uplifting comments. Then each student tapes their "Cool Compliment" poster to their back and the fun begins. With pens in hand, students form writing trains around the room. Bending, squatting, leaning and smiling while feeling the warm fuzzies being written on their backs! The poster is then taken off and read.
What a keepsake.

Another similar idea I use ALL year long as a wonderful review tool for ANY topic is Study Jams. Tape a "Study Jam" sheet on their back with a topic indicated and let them study and review for a test!
What a perfect way to engage their learning in a hands on way. And students have a ready made study guide to take home.

Both the Cool Compliment and Study Jam sheets are here.  Have fun!

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