Starwars Yoga

All things are Starwars lately with the latest release of whatever Starwars movie just came out (I was supposed to see it but I messed up on the dates I was busy and so I didn't see it.. I'm not too disappointed except that it was apparently important to John and mine relationship that I did see it).

ANYWAYS, 

A couple weeks ago I was in a grade 2 classroom (I was lucky and had a student teacher that day and apparently I can’t stop talking about it).  Anyways, we started the day off with a 20 minute yoga video.  The kids all went and got a foam square to sit and exercise on (and to let them know where their space was).  I was not at all into the story or the yoga but the kids were!

Timelines

Looking for some classroom decor that can also lend itself to learning?  How about putting up a timeline around the border of your room?

The Social Studies curriculum where I teach would work perfect for this (at least in grades 5 and 6)... the curriculum goes over things that happened in Canada over a span of time (starting with the ice age and ending at anything current).  

All the grade 5/6 classrooms at my school last year came with this timeline already put up around the room (I'm assuming previous teachers did them) but not a lot else was done with the timelines (I'm also guilty of not doing much with the timeline in my room).  In my room the timeline included pictures of all the prime ministers and students would often check who was leading the country during a certain time OR if we were talking about one of them they would find them on the timeline to see what they looked like.  

If I ever teach in a grade 5 or 6 class again I would put my timeline to better use though.

How?

Before I do anything with the timeline I think I would have students create their own personal timelines.  We did this last year and students struggled with it a bit... BUT I'm not sure you can fully understand how a timeline works if you don't understand how to make one yourself.  If I did this again I think I would make the basic timeline for them (sectioning off the years of their lives for them and photocopying it).  I had my students put in 10 life events on their timelines.. it could have been anything:  the birth of a sibling, a trip they went on, first day of kindergarten, losing first tooth... whatever they wanted to include I was fine with because I mostly just wanted them to familiarize themselves with timelines.

Over the course of the year whenever we talk about a major event I would put it up on the timeline... perhaps with a picture and a sentence or two to summarize what happened.  I think it would be good for students to help write this summary... I'm starting to think of making up some kind of  Interactive Social Studies Journal where this would be part of what they do (because it is similar to what we did last year for our math journals).

Whenever students did some kind of project that could fit on the timeline I would select one project and put it up on the timeline where it belonged... of course not all projects will fit up there so in that case I would take a picture of the project and put it up.  

I think that even just by doing these couple of things students will glance up at the timeline more often and have it be a more useful part of the classroom.

What do you think?

Do you have a timeline in your classroom?

How do you use the timeline?

This Week At School

I go into sub for one teacher regularly and he had me help set up their classroom Christmas tree!  Well, the tree was already set up the kids just put on ornaments.

And boy do they have a talented teacher in their classroom!

I was told the teacher coloured this (it was on chart paper)

He had me do some Christmas art... this was my example

A picture one of the students drew for me.  At first I thought it was of me (because in the morning she was having difficulty thinking up something to draw for the word "pretty" so I had her list some things that she thought were pretty.  She said myself, her and the Christmas tree... so I suggested she draw us standing beside the tree... I never saw that final product).

Then I spent not 1, not 2, but 3 days in nursery/kindergarten.

Still not loving those younger grades!

But I walked out with 2 paper bracelets and a ring... so one can't really complain can they?

And tomorrow there is no school!

Hope we all enjoy our Christmas break!

Classroom Christmas Party

Welcome here!  Today I'm linking up with my other blog:  Confessions of a Modern Day Mennonite to talk about Classroom Christmas Parties for Blogmas.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Because.. tomorrow is the last day of school before Christmas break (oh how it's flown by... or not)

For those of us that are throwing together a Christmas Party for our students last minute have no fear!... I'm here to help!

Kids are easy to please... all they want is to eat and to hang out (most of the time)

So...

Make a sign up sheet for what kids can bring to the party (baking, drinks, veggies, fruit, chips, and whatever else you want to show up at the party!)  I've never had problems with kids not being willing to sign up... in fact last year I made them sign up for one party each (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Spring Break, and end of the year) so that we wouldn't have an abundance of food and all go home feeling sick.

One year I looked up a bunch of Minute to Win it games on Teachers Pay Teachers.  There are tons that are free and the supplies are super easy to get your hands on.  We formed teams and battled each other in them.

One year I made my students sugar cookies in the shape of gingerbread men and we decorated them (this likely wouldn't take very long... but it could take up part of the time AND you could even get students to practice measurement by getting them to make the cookies (and icing).

Movies.  All mine ever wanted to do was to watch a movie.  And so, we often did that.

One year I had a karaoke machine show up to a classroom party (you can find a number of karaoke songs on Youtube)

A little while ago I posted about Just Dance.  I think students could still be into Just Dance even without the actual game... you can find it on Youtube too.

Get students to bring in any games they want to play.

When I was teaching grade 8 one year I wrapped a pencil up again and again so that it was in a box that a bunch of plates came in eventually.  I had students sit in a circle on the floor and roll a dice.  Anytime a certain number was called (like 1 for example) they had to put on a pair of oven mitts and try to unwrap the present... only using their hands.  They really liked it.  The pencil ended up breaking at some point in the madness though.

Print off some Christmas colouring pages and there you have it... you sir (or ma'am) have yourself a great party that took you no time at all to plan.

Are you having a Christmas Party in your classroom?
What are you doing for your Party?

Let me know in the comments!