"Quiz Quiz Trade"

In a previous post, I talked about a great and engaging idea I learned about in a professional development (from Kagan, I believe). This idea is really flexible and is not limited to just vocabulary practice. I plan to use it for math facts or even closure after a lesson. This would be useful for math facts, but it would also be a great review after a science or social studies lesson with questions or vocabulary they need to know. Each student will need an index card.  

How about a question like: "How many 10's in 130?"

Each student will write a question about the given topic, word with definition, or math fact  (something others can answer, or should be able to answer) on the card and put the answer in the bottom corner. (No names on the cards.)  

Next the students "mill around" the room and find a partner to ask their question to.  They ask their question, the partner answers (or tries to). The answer is confirmed and repeated, the second partner reads his or her question.  The answer is confirmed.  They tell each other "good job" or give a pat on the back and then trade cards with one another.

They find a new partner and ask the question from their new card. Repeat the process until the questions have gone around the room for a bit, maybe 4-5 minutes. 

By the end of the session, they have practiced, maybe learned something new and congratulated each other on their successes!  You could take the cards up to pass out another day and play again.  If you need to save time, you could have the cards written ahead of time.  The kids would probably learn more if they wrote them. 

Awesomeness! 

Vocabulary Chants Activity

I love this activity we learned with our ELL specialist this past week in PD.  He gave us several fantastic activities we could take to our class and use immediately (I'm sorry, but how often do we get not one, but FIVE great activities?!)  I will post on the others when I have a finished product to show. This particular one (I wish I had audio) is really easy, but I believe will be effective.  

First you have a great vocabulary word (such as a tier 2 word you've chosen from their text.)  Our presenter did not reveal the word to us, but it was egregious.  He divided the room in half visually so that all he had to do was point to half the room and they knew to repeat him.  He then pointed to row 1, gave them a signal, and they knew to repeat him, and so on around the room.

He says loudly, "What he did was awful."
Repeat: "What he did was awful!"
(Have two or three groups repeat the sentence.)

He says loudly, "What he did was evil."
Repeat: "What he did was evil!"
(Do that two or three times.)

He says loudly, "What he did was horrible,"
Repeat: "What he did was horrible!"
(Again, two or three times allowing each group and some individuals to repeat.)

He says loudly, "What he did was egregious."
(Repeat 3-4 times with different groups.)

He then asks the class, "What does egregious mean?"  The students (us) could immediately give him three synonyms for egregious.  Students could further connect the words using a sentence or come up with some antonyms.  It was a great, quick activity.  He suggested using it to "front-load" vocabulary.  I really loved this one!  More to come! Sorry no pictures- I was too "into" the activity to take pictures!

Great Cards for Stations!!

I have created these academic vocabulary cards to use in a station or by the whole class (pass the words out and match to your definiton!)   There are 66 cards!

Check them out at TPT or Buy Sell Teach! 

My kids are having fun spreading these over the floor and working with a partner to match them up!  Enjoy!



  

Great Books

I have my favorite books for sure.  I think I'd be sad if a year went by and I didn't get to use all of them! I have created some book units to go with some of them.  Ruby the Copycat is one of my all-time favorites. It'a about a new student, Ruby, who tries to fit in by copying another student.  She finds out that it's not a very good way to make friends. There is so much to talk about as her relationship with Angela changes over a few days of copying her.  The theme teaches kids how to be themselves and that everyone has something that they do well.  In my unit, there are prereading questions to discuss, story elements, an assessment, and Hannel's type questioning strategies.  Ruby has been my all-time best seller!  Get it on TPT or my new store at Buy Sell Teach!

Pinkie Leaves Home

 Another favorite is called Pinkie Leaves Home. A little penguin named Pinkie loses all of his feathers in an oilslick.  He solves his problem in a very "cool" way!  It features several settings and all of them help to lead Pinkie through the plot.  You can find it in my TpT store.  If you need to tie in science (environment/wildlife) to a great story, this book is wonderful!