Cheap + Fun = Cups! 5th

I highly recommend using Styrofoam cups in group activities.  

They can be used in a variety of ways for all subjects. (It's $0.89 for a pack.)

 In this case, I wrote main events from US History on them, from approximately 1400-1800 CE, the years and events we covered this year in class.  We worked together to stack cups chronologically.

 The best part of this exercise were the discussions and arguments students participated in.  You can see we actively referenced our textbooks to prove our answers.

In the end, each group sent a representative with their stack of cups to the front of the room.  As I read the correct responses, students remained standing until they found an error.  No group had all events perfect, as we ran out of time.  But it went very well in the time that we had.

Today, I will try the same activity but split the cups into six groups instead of three.

You can modify this assignment to include events from fiction or non fiction texts, alphabetical order, numerical order of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, or equations, events from history, or smaller to larger concepts (nesting doll style) for example atoms, cells, tissue, organs, etc.

It would also be easy to use three cups of various colors to act as signals.  For example, a green, yellow, and red cup could be how students ask for assistance during classwork time or how all students can participate and answer whole group questions.

Bubbles! Variables in an Experiment 5th

The end of the year is here, so we are doing some fun science experiments.  For this simple exercise, every student had a pipe cleaner.  They were able to make any shape by bending it and we used it to blow bubbles.  Our question was: Does the shape of the bubble blower effect the shape of the bubble?

We found that no matter what shape of our stick, the bubbles we blew were all spheres!  It makes for a good class discussion on variables in an experiment.

Refocusing on the Memes

There comes a time, at the end of a school year, when I reflect on the best practices and what to improve for next year.  Overall, flexibility is key and there is no way to tell what challenges we will face as the weeks progress.  But, I would say that meme-ing continues to be a hallmark of my teaching philosophy.

There is nothing that compares to a joke, surprise, song, dance in teaching.  I catch students sneaking two rulers to dance "The Dance of the Parallel Lines."  They reminisce, "Remember when we played Battleship?"  We take the end of the year computerized testing and can't help but call out, "We drew story plots this year.  That's the rising action, climax, and falling action!"  I hear, "There's a prefix!" proceeded by the song and dance. "Prefix in the front.  Suffix in the back.  Changes what the base word means."

Teaching is greater than presenting content.  It's finding a way to make content relevant and memorable.  I continue to strive to find the keys to memory, retention, and true connections in my students' lives.

Edit:
For an interesting read on LeVar Burton, host of Reading Rainbow, look here.  It states, "For Burton, the love of reading is tied to the very essence of what makes us human. 'Storytelling,' he said. 'is an elemental part of the human experience.'"  I agree that loving something about a subject, finding it fun or valuable, helps students retain that information longer and use it in more meaningful ways in their lives.   

Hanging Out Via Google K-12th Grade

Fifth grade played 20 Questions with a first grade class over Google Hangouts this past Tuesday and it was AMAZING!  I recommend trying this with any class, even a class within your school or district.  First of all, it's a great test run for working the technology and software.  Also, the students get experience with the rules of similar activities.

Even more, 20 Questions is a great language and critical thinking game that can span K-12 depending on the topic and language requirements.  It could easily be a World Language activity at the high school level or a math activity with both sides picking numbers within a range.

Comment below to add ways you've used 20 Questions in your teaching.