Teaching Ideas for Site 11
“Parent-Teacher Survival Kit”
Category: ??
Grade: ??
Catch Line: Add a little humor in your faculty room during parent-teacher conferences!
Time to give your faculty a quick lift? Add a little humor in your work area during the annual parent-teacher conferences by making each teacher a “Parent-Teacher Conference Survival Kit.” Here is a list of suggestions you could add to a brown paper lunch bag:
§ Excedrine: The Headache Medicine!
§ Breath Mints: Self-Explanatory!
§ Soda Pop: (High Octane!)…to pep you up!
§ Munchies: Always nice to have on hand for students who come (and you can sneak some, too!)
§ Tissues: needed for disappointed parents
§ Sour Lemon Candy: When a parent hands you a lemon…( well, you know the phrase!)
§ Apple Sucker: An apple a day…the sweet way!
§ Smile Stickers: Just a reminder to SMILE!
§ Band-Aid: Because sometimes you have to toughen up!
§ Purple Heart: (made out of construction paper) For courage and bravery! You did it!
“What a Trip!”
Category: Bulletin Boards, First Day
Grade: K-3
Catch Line: A fun way for students to share something they did during the summer!
Duplicate the car pattern below for each student in your class. At the top, have them draw a picture of a place they visited during the summer. Maybe they took a trip out of state, visited a grandparent, went camping, took swimming lessons, etc Have them write about their picture on the lines below. Your younger students may need an adult to write down their thoughts. You could conclude this activity in one of two different ways.
1. Have children cut out their “cars” and staple all togther to form one class book.
2. Cut a “road” out of black butcher paper. Staple across a bulletin board. Mount all of the cars onto the road. You could title your new bulletin board, “What a Trip!” or “Oh, the Places We Went This Summer!”
(Ryan- I need to get you a copy of the car I will be drawing for this activity.)
“Ways to Beat the Heat!”
Category: Bulletin Boards
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Find out your students’ best advice on staying cool!
As summer is winding down, many of your students will now be pros at ways of “beating the heat!” Discuss ideas together of their best advice for keeping cool. Encourage creativity! Make a copy of the sunglasses pattern below. On one lens, invite your students to write down their suggestions. On the other lens, have them draw what they are talking about. Post the glasses all over a bulletin board.
(Ryan- I need to get you a copy of this as well.)
“Writing Spelling Words in a Fun, New Way!”
Category: Spelling
Grade: 3-6
Catch Line: Get your kids writing their spelling words multiple times without even knowing it!
Do you have trouble getting your students to practice writing their spelling words? Are your students bored with the repetitive process of writing their words multiple times? Well, we have a fun suggestion for you! Simply, enlarge a black-line clip-art picture to a regular 8 ½ X 11 size of paper. You can find pictures in clip art books and other teacher created materials. (We like to also find seasonal pictures to use throughout the year.) Pass one copy out to each student. Next, pass out a blank white piece of computer paper and staple on top of their picture. (The picture should be able to see through the top paper.) Now instruct your students to write out their spelling over and over again by following along the lines in the picture below their paper. Once finished, they can then tear off the top paper and wa-la! They now have a new picture drawn out with their spelling words! And the best part is that by now, they’ve spelled each word many, many times without even noticing! These spelling pictures make a fun display in the classroom. See example below:
(Ryan- scan in the spelling picture that is found in the assessment box at your house.)
“Personalize Your Spelling Tests”
Category: Spelling
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Incorporating students’ names heighten interest!
I always like to incorporate my students’ names into my weekly spelling tests. It is a great way to heighten their interest. They can’t wait to hear how their name will be used in a sentence!
“Testing Earlier Can Be Motivating”
Category: Spelling
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Giving kids the spelling test a day earlier gives 2nd chances for excellent scores!
In my class, students and parents know that students will take the weekly spelling test on Thursdays (not a traditional Friday.) If students score perfectly on Thursday, then they do not have to take it again on Friday. I re-give the test on Friday, thus motivating a majority of my students to take a 2nd chance of earning a better score than the day before. My kids really like taking the challenge and I’ve seen their test scores improve dramatically!
“A Spelling Journal”
Category: Spelling
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Limit the questions on how to spell words by creating spelling journals.
I always seem to be bombarded with questions such as, “Teacher! Teacher! How do you spell, ______?” It seemed like so many times the same words were being repeated over and over again. To discourage this, I give out a “spelling journal” to each of my students. At the top of each page, they write a letter of the alphabet. So page 1 would be “A”, page 2 would be “B” and so forth. Now when a child asks me how to spell a word, they must write it correctly in their journal on the corresponding page. Before they ask me again in the future, they must look in the spelling journal to see of the word is already there or not. By the end of the year, their spelling journals have been a great resource!
“Scoring Big with Spelling!”
Category: Spelling
Grade: 3-6
Catch Line: A list of spelling activities connected to points can be good practice as well as motivating!
Each week my students are handed a copy of a list of spelling activities they can choose to complete during the week. Each activity is worth assigned points. For my lower students, I may tell them to complete 20 points by the end of the week, while I may expect more like 60 points from my more advanced students. The great thing about this activity is that all students are expected to complete this activity according to their own level. All feel successful doing these activities because there is so much choice involved. At the end of the week, students staple all of their activities together and turn it into me. For a spelling activity form you can download for free, click here: ______.
(Ryan- I need to get you that spelling form I’ve made up.)
“A CLEAN Spelling Review”
Category: Spelling
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Have a fun spelling review and clean desks at the same time!
Once a month I walk around the room and spray shaving cream on the students’ desks. Students spread it all over the top. We then practice “writing” our spelling words in the shaving cream. Afterwards, we clean it all up and the beautiful, clean desks are a welcome sight to see! Shaving cream makes a great desk cleaner!
“Recording Spelling Words on Tape”
Category: Spelling
Grade: any
Catch Line: A weekly assignment of personally recording words on tape works wonders!
I encourage my parents at the beginning of the year to purchase a blank tape for their student. At the beginning of each week, the students’ homework assignment is to record themselves reciting their spelling words on tape. They must spell each one aloud letter by letter. Then throughout the week, students are encouraged to listen to their recordings and spell the words aloud in unison with his or her voice on tape.
“Break the Code!”
Category: Spelling
Grade: 2-6
Catch Line: Using a symbol font on the computer makes a fun spelling activity!
Every once in a while I like to give this fun spelling activity to my students for a change of pace. I choose a font on the computer that prints out symbols instead of letters. I then type the entire alphabet at the top of the page. Using the spelling words, I type out each word in this new and different font. My students love to “break the code” in figuring out what each disguised spelling word is.
“Spelling Bingo!”
Category: Spelling
Grade: Any
Catch Line: Kids create their own Bingo boards for a fun spelling review!
Pass out a piece of blank paper to each student. Have them fold it in half twice and in half again the other way 2 times. Once unfolded, you should have a total of 16 squares. Have students copy their spelling words- one in each square. (Note: All words may not all be used.) Don’t forget to use one of your squares as a FREE space! Students can either keep their own boards or trade with someone else. Pass out some kind of “marker” for students to use. (beans, pennies, math blocks, etc.) Call out each word and spell it. Students mark their boards accordingly. Once a student has “Bingo”, they must spell out their words to gain the prize. Repeat for several rounds. Kids can’t get enough of this old-fashioned game!