Sparking Student Motivation on a Snowy Saturday

Happy Saturday, friends!

I hope somewhere there is warm weather - here it's been snowing all day! So on this snowy Saturday, I'm linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching.

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm finally in the swing of things. No t that I wasn't confident in my teaching before this, but I just have that feeling where our class is in a routine. I feel more confident, and I feel like our lessons are moving more smoothly. So now, my goal has been to revamp our literacy block a bit to allow for more engaging activities. Our school is so fortunate to have two and a half hours at the end of the day dedicated to reading instruction. So while I've been using them to the best of my ability, I'm ready to kick things up a notch. 

One of the things I've been working on is my FOCUS board for ELA.

Oops! Just ignore the ants, I forgot I left my suffixes poster up from last week! 

Each week we focus on grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling, and writing skills. While we cover most of these during our literacy center time on Thursdays and Fridays, I have been trying to update them with larger posters to which students can refer. This week, I'm making resources for main ideas, irregular verbs, spelling, multiple-meaning words, and persuasive writing. I'm hoping this will be a useful reference to motivate students to stay on track of their learning for language arts. 

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how I've been incorporating more work with vocabulary by using these vocabulary lanyards each day.  Check out that post here. 

Well, I've come up with something else for my students to try this week! I present to you, Vocabustrations!

Remember the game "telephone," where you start with one word (for example, banana), whisper it in someone's ear, and after it goes around the room, it's a completely different word (like zebra)? Well, the concept is pretty much the same here. It's based off the game, Telestrations, which you can see an example below.

For Vocabustrations, students will be divided into groups of 4 - 5 players. Each student will choose a vocabulary word and write their word on the "Secret Word" page. 

Then, the timer gets turned and the same student draws their word. They have 60 seconds to sketch their vocabulary word. Once the timer goes off, that player turns to page two, and they pass the book to the player on their left. 

Then, each player takes a few seconds to guess in words what they see, and passes their book again to the player on their left. The timer is turned again for 60 seconds, and everyone draws what they see. 

This play continues until everyone's sketch book has been passed by every player, and returns back to its original owner, where it's time for the BIG REVEAL to see what happened to each secret word. Depending on how many vocabulary words you have, the degree of difficulty of this game may vary. 

I think my kiddos are going to have fun and be more motivated to practice their vocabulary this week!

You can download your copy of Vocabustrations to try in your classroom here for free!

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear how you motivate your students in to practice and expand their vocabulary.

Have a warm weekend!

Monday Made It (A Little Late)

Happy Monday! (I started this post last night and fell asleep, oops!)

Today I'm linking up with Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It! I just am loving all these linky parties lately - such a great way to meet oh-so-many wonderful bloggers out there!

I'm pretty sure I could do this every Monday, since I'm always making something!

First on my list, is a little interactive grammar game. One of my fab professors in college taught me this game, and I've loved its simplicity ever since. All you really need for this game is a whiteboard (or SmartBoard if you're techy) and two flyswatters. Students split into two teams, and race to smack the correct word on the board with their flyswatter.

This works for literally any subject, and is one of those quick and easy games I have kept in my teacher toolbox. (It really comes in handy for subbing!) Truly, any age group (even adults) have fun with this easy game. Well, of course I had to take it to the next level and add some cuteness to it. Right now, we are learning about possessive nouns and how to correctly use apostrophes. Is it just me, or are these sorts of grammar concepts sometimes tricky to make an engaging lesson?  I decided that after I introduce how to use possessives, this would be an interactive way to check if students understand the concept.

All you do is cut out the little flies, laminate them, and tape to a whiteboard. I made two flies for each sentence - one with the correct use of the possessive and apostrophe, and one with the incorrect use. You could check it out at my TpT store (which is all freebies right now) and grab your copy! 

Second on my list is inspired from  Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics and the book Word Nerds. Once I saw her post, I did a little research and remembered I read that book, too! If you haven't read it yet, it provides so many creative ways of teaching vocabulary and getting students engaged in learning. If you don't have time to read (or buy) the book, you could check out this handy little summary from Mrs. Allen's Teaching Files or you could view the whole book here for free. 

One of the ways that they discuss getting students engaged in learning vocabulary is by using vocabulary lanyards. Each student wears a vocabulary word, synonym, or antonym on a lanyard. So to make my lanyards, I just took speech bubbles, printed on neon paper, cut them out, laminated them, and attached string. I plan on using dry erase markers for the vocabulary words each week. (This is my cheap alternative to lanyards!) Then, they can be used for many different activities! My three favorites: 

1. Counting Dude, Bragging Dude

Have students wear their vocabulary lanyards. Divide them into two groups - "Bragging" and "Counting." Then, have students meet in pairs with one of each and introduce themselves pretending that they are their word. The "Bragging Dude" must make a 7 word sentence using their word. The "Counting Dude" must determine if the sentence is long enough, and whether or not they used the word correctly. If they did, "Bragging Dude" gets to do a small quiet celebration, happy dance, etc. Then, they switch roles. 

2. Vocabulary Scramble

While students are wearing their lanyards, randomly call out "Scramble!" The kids have to get up and create a human concept mp with those wearing related words. So, all the synonyms and antonyms are grouped together with their main word. 

3. Chain Link Connection

While wearing their lanyards, choose one student to stand in front of the class, pronounce the vocabulary word, and say its meaning. The rest of the class thinks of a way to make a connection between their word and the first students's word. When some hands are raised, call on a student to explain their link. If it makes sense, they get to join the first student and link elbows. The next student can link their word with either the first word or the second word. Continue until all words are linked up! Challenge Bonus: Try to link up the first and last words!

What sort of interactive ways do you teach grammar and vocabulary?