Getting Through a Tough Week: Top 5 Activities

What do you do when you need a break, your students need a break, and there is still a week left of "quality instruction" before you get one?
As Christmas break quickly approaches, time to grab those last minute gifts is quickly running out. So why is it that the big clock in the classroom is barely ticking? Ahhh. Still a whole week of class time before winter break! Forget about how the time is dragging for THEM! What about ME, the teacher? How amd I going to make it through this last treacherous week before break?
Here are my "Getting Through a Tough Week" top 5 activities:
#1 Groupwork activities. You don't want to hear you, they don't want to hear you. Assign them into groups of four and have them read sections of an article or the text you are currently studying from. Don't forget about jigsawing. Make them teach each other!
#2 Presentations. Is there a project you already wanted them to present but you just didn't have time? Now is the time! I put my students in front of the class to fulfill the "speaking" portion of my curriculum. Their character creations were humorous and time zoomed by as we laughed at each persons creativity.
#3 Object lessons. I'm always trying to teach my students to escape their lables. So I labled them and asked them to treat eachother accordingly. Once they take that lable off, they can be themself! What bigger life message would you like your students to remember, but you never seem to have time to teach? Now is the time. Don't show a movie, every other is doing that. How many hours of TV is it safe to watch in one day?
#4 Random answers for random questions. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a sucker pop? How many people actually listen to Lady Gaga (and is she a he or he a she)? How were tootsie rolls invented? Why is the sky blue? I once gave my students a few minutes to brainstorm some questions that have been in the back of their minds for a while, they came up with some great questions. This gave me an opportunity to modle researching a topic. I turned on the projector and we found the answers together. I had them turn in our found class answers for credit!
#5 Ditch the worksheets. Have your students divide up into groups and play some games. Whether it's scavanger hunt for answers you've hidden around the classroom and they literally have to hunt for the answers, or a grammar game (check out grammar punk), the time will fly right by. I love playing poetry games with my students or desk top poetry created by Andrea! Playing a game will transform dead classroom time into fun learning time. I love learning and having fun at the same time!
Don't let yourself drag. Try something new and fun! One week before break is the perfect time. Replace the sound of the echoing clock "tick-tock" back to the familiar sound of learning in your classroom.

Bulletin Board--December

As I have mentioned before, I update my hallway bulletin board on a monthly basis.  I had an internal conflict with this particular bulletin board.  Many of my colleagues opted to decorate their boards with Christmas themes and images.  Though I celebrate Christmas on a personal level, at the same time I understand that several students within my school have different backgrounds and celebrate other holidays and have other traditions.  Understanding that I would not be able to address the plethora of traditions, I decided to take a common theme that can be found in any culture, background, religion, etc. 

On the Scholastic website I found several December bulletin board ideas.   I loved the idea that showed a world, wreathed by a holly garland with the words "Peace on Earth" next to it.  Associating holly with Christams, I was hesitant to include it on my bulletin board.  However, I did a little research and discovered the following things about holly: 1)It is one of the few plants that can thrive in the harshest environments, 2)People hung holly around their windows and doors in order to keep out evil spirits, and 3)The bright green leaves and red berries were a reminder that even on the harshest and darkest of days, Spring is always around the corner.  Using this information I conducted a mini lesson on symbols.  We discussed how the holly could serve as a symbol in our world today.  My students came to the conclusion that in our 'winter of discontent' (meaning the turmoil, wars, despair that we are smack in the middle), the holly serves as our reminder that 'spring' or a fresh start/new beginning is around the corner.  After we finished discussing the holly, we talked about the symbol of peace: the white dove.  We read a short story and viewed a music video.  Both were very different in content, but both had the same message: peace.  I passed out copies of a white dove (found on the Internet) and asked the students to fill their white doves with thoughts of peace for the upcoming year.

To create the world, I projected a cartoon image of the globe onto the wall and traced the outlines on green paper.  I cut out the pieces and glued them onto blue butcher paper.  I then stapled the bottom half of the world and then stuffed it with scrap pieces of paper.  Then, I finished stapling the rest of the world onto the bulletin board.  The stuffing helps make the globe stand out, and gives the board a nice 3D effect.