Websites for classroom videos

I have recently been working on my short story unit and have come across several good websites that I wanted to share. The first is Watch Know Learn. The site has short useful videos from all over the web, not just YouTube. They can be downloaded and embedded into whiteboard presentations. My school has YouTube blocked and since you can't download the videos, I am often limited on what I can use. This site has a wide variety of subjects and even has a section dedicated to the Common Core. Check it out.

Time Fillers

Our school has a homeroom class at the end of the day. It is a full class period and I often find my kids are finished with their homework early. This can lead to trouble so I like to have fillers to keep the peace. On Fridays, I will show the week in review at flocabulary.com. This has a seven-dollar-a-month subscription fee but I use several of the videos and songs on the site.  The week in rap covers the top news stories for the week and a new one is available every Thursday. My kids remind me that we need to do the "Week in Rap".  The website can be found HERE They also offer a Free 30-day free trial!

Writing by Numbers

This is a fun creative writing assignment that I do with my seventh graders. Students pick four numbers in advance and then find out who their characters are the setting and the plot. Even my most reluctant learners are thinking, and excited about writing. Try it in small groups, or independently.  Students will be eager to share their final product so try to set aside some time for them to present their stories. Below is a copy of the student handout and a PowerPoint to display. Have fun, and let me know how it went.

Get directions and a student handout HERE.

Click HERE for a copy of the PowerPoint to display on your board.

The Kids Should See This!

Something a little different to get your kids writing. This is a very interesting website that has short educational videos.  They are science related but I think they would make good journal starters by having them write a response to what they just watched. They would also be a good filler for that class that has a few minuets left at the end. Just click the link below to take a peek.

The Kids Should See This

More Interactive Notebooks

Today I have just a few pictures of how some of my notebook activities are coming along.  So far with language arts, I have found that it is easier to just go page to page when you are reading a novel. Novels can go so fast that I had a few blank left-side pages. With mini-lessons, the left-side and right-side activities work the best. I guess it just depends on your preferences, and what resources you are using.
 
 I have purchased quality reading guides from TPT at great prices. Some of my pictures are not flipped up or do not show all of the pages in the book to not step on any toes.

This has definitely been a learning process! My kids suggested that I write the page number on my handouts before I copy them, then if the pages don't get glued in immediately, or they are absent, students can still figure out where to put them. Genius!!! I will be compiling a list of their suggestions at the end of the year. I think they will have a lot to teach us!

I teach 7th, 8th, and 9th ELA so the pics are a little random.

Flocabulary lesson. Kids really like this site. Check it out if you haven't already!

Road map to nonfiction book report activity.

For a Diary of Anne Frank activity, I used post-it notes. Prompt: imagine that Anne was not the only one who kept a Diary. Write a diary entry from the point of view of The different characters to the events that happened in the story. Event 1: Anne wakes up screaming (Mrs. Frank, Mr. Dussel)
Event 2: Mr. Van Daan is caught stealing food (Mrs. Frank, Mr. Frank). Event 3: Anne has a date in Peter's room (Peter, Mrs. Frank) Event 4. Mr. Dussel joins the group (Mr. Frank, Mr. Van Daan).

Characterization Activity

To Kill a Mockingbird reading guides. for these I temporarily stopped the "left side, right side"

and just went on to the next page.

Outsiders reading questions and Venn diagram.

To Kill a Mockingbird map activity.

Urban Myths and Legends activity

Awesome Facebook activity created by Tracee Orman! Kids loved it! Her templates are high quality and I highly recommend them.

Are We in Trouble?

We all occasionally have to miss a day of school due to illness, workshops, or personal matters. One of my pet peeves is when I come back and find out that my kids did not behave well for my substitute teacher.  Having substituted during my college years, I truly understand how very difficult that job is. I tried everything from work overload to threats to get my kids to behave themselves, and nothing seemed to work. I really can't tell you why kids go absolutely insane when they find out their teacher is away, but we all know they do.

For the last three years, I have offered a Reward Day to the best-behaved class and the winner is chosen by the substitute teacher.  I usually let them choose from one of the class games I have on the whiteboard such as The Noun Game, Scrabble, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, etc. What's great is I can actually slide in some review and they don't even realize it!

Since I started this practice of Reward Day, I have received many compliments on how "good my kids are" and  "what hard workers they are". Seriously, it's like a trip to Bizarro World! Try it! It really is great to come back to class and have the kids ask if they were the "best behaved" instead of "Are we in trouble?". 

Bust Out the Games and Have Some Fun!

I know that the entire school year is a busy time, but I always feel overwhelmed at the end of the year. Testing, purchase orders, field trips, grades, inventory, packing, collecting, and storing all have to be done before we close our classroom doors.

 We also have classes to teach, but after testing the kids tend to become whiny and don't want to work. With only a few weeks left, you are probably assigning projects and reports to keeping the kids on track. Me too. For me, it is also time to bust out the games and have some fun!

I am working on posting, creating, and updating some of my games and will be posting them here over the next few weeks. They will also be posted in my TPT store for free. I hope some of you can use them to trick those kids into doing a little end-of-year thinking.

BOGGLE - is similar to the original game and can be downloaded in my TPT store by clicking HERE

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The Noun Game- This is one of my kid's favorites! It is a flip-chart format that I use with my Promethean Board. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a fun and engaging game. I have written about this game before and you can find the full details in my October archives. To download it from my google drive click HERE.

Brain Games #1- This is a PowerPoint of twenty-five brain teasers of various levels and subject areas. My kids (who say they don't like to think) love these. I guess the jokes are on them! To download click HERE. 

Lets Play Scattergories
(Flipchart)