Speed Fishin' Review Game

I have been blessed through reading Kim Bearden's amazing book Crash Course: The Life Lessons My Students Taught Me. Currently on my second read through in a few days, I am continuing to find

inspiration for my life and my classroom. There will be a post about it very soon... I am still processing!

One of the many ideas that I have gained from Kim's lessons was one that she used in her classroom- SPEED FISHING! She used it to reach one of her students who was reluctant to participate (read the book... I don't do the story justice!). As I read about this lesson, I thought- "I can totally do that with my Summer School kiddos!" Soooo... I did!

We are learning about the parts of a sentence- subject and predicate- so I adjusted what Kim did for what we were doing. Here's how it works:

Materials:

• Wooden Dowels (as many as you want teams)
• String or yarn
• Magnets (for your fishing poles)
• 100 Washers (or however many you want)
• Colored paper (for your fish... I would suggest cardstock)
• An "ocean" (you can use a plastic swimming pool or do like me and use a plastic table cloth)

Lesson Set Up:

1. Cut out enough fish for the number of sentences, problems, etc. you will have for your game.
             * I also laminated them so that I could reuse them.

2. Write, tape, glue or otherwise attach your sentences, problems, etc. to your fish. I taped my strips to the fish so that I could easily get them off for the next game!

3. Attach a washer to the back of each fish. Again, I laminated mine so if you want to do the same that will be your next step!

4. Tie string to the dowels and attach the magnet to the end of the string.
           * I tied it at first, but as the game went on... the magnets went flying! So I ended up temporarily taping the magnets on. I am going to go back and hot glue them later!

5. Put your answers on paper plates. You will need a set for each team that you have.

6. Set up your ocean in the middle of your classroom or a designated area. Place your paper plates on opposing ends of your classroom and if you have multiple teams you can set them up in opposite corners. (If you are lucky enough to have a big hallway or gym at your disposal, you can use that as well. If the weather is nice- GO OUTSIDE!!!)

Lesson Plan: I am going to use what I did for my review game... but change it up for your lesson!

1. When your students come into the classroom, have them break into the correct number of groups and disperse in your classroom.
          * My paper plates were labeled Simple Subject, Complete Subject, Compound Subject, Simple Predicate, Complete Predicate, and Compound Predicate

2. Explain the game to your students!

On each of the fish in our ocean are examples of Simple Subjects, Complete Subjects, Compound Subjects, Simple Predicates, Complete Predicates, and Compound Predicates. Your team can only sent one fisherman at a time out to the pond to catch a fish- otherwise all the fish will scare off and you won’t catch any. After your fisherman comes back with their fish, as a team you must decide on which plate it goes. Make sure you are careful because some can be tricky. If your fish has what looks like a complete predicate but just one word is highlighted, it will be a simple predicate. Same goes for the subjects. Look also to see how many subjects and predicates there are. After you place the fish on the correct plate, your next fisherman can go fishing. Remember…. You have to FISH, not drag! Each correct fish placement is worth one point. The team with the most points wins a prize! Any questions? When you hear our fishin’ music start, you may begin!

3. Play music and let the fun begin! Watch the teams and offer guidance at first, but allow them to work as a team to determine the correct answer. You may want to only allow a certain amount of time and add a timer. I didn’t with my first group at first, but when I added the stress of a timer after seeing that time was dwindling down, that created more intensity! So the next group got a timer and a few rounds so that we could review in between.



Here are some pictures of our fun!

Let me know how you would change it around and how you would use it in your classroom! I can't wait to hear your ideas!!

 

Table Top Twitter

I have had the opportunity to see Bob Probst and Kylene Beers in action a few times and each time has been amazing. Using the Notice and Note Strategies in my classroom with my students has been amazing this year and I have seen great things come from using them. One of the things that Bob introduced me to this year was Table Top Twitter (he called it the Poster Activity, but I like TTT better... haha). This is such an easy thing to do and something that my students BEGGED me to do after they did it the first time. 

This activity allows the students to interact with each other without talking- it all has to be done in writing. They are able to voice their thoughts and opinions (and even get into heated arguments) all while completely silent. The key to this activity is the selection you choose. You can choose a short article, a selection from the textbook, an excerpt from a novel, a poem or any other text to do this activity. The text that you choose must evoke emotion or require your students to think so that the motivation is there for them to write about what they are reading.

Materials Needed: 

- Chart paper (or butcher paper)

- Markers

- Text 

- Time

Here's how it works: 
1. Glue the text selection in the center of a large piece of paper. You can use chart paper or butcher paper, but you must be able to write on it (poster board isn't always ideal for that with pencils). I typically use markers so that it is colorful, but you can choose what works best for your classroom.

2. When the students come in, have them seperate into small groups (I had no more than 6 in a group and no less than 3). 

3. Explain that they will read the article that is pasted on the poster and respond to it. They can draw arrows to sections, underline, or mark on the text as well. As they are reading, they will respond to what they have read with their thoughts and opinions or even questions that come to mind. Students will also respond to each others comments and questions after they have read the text selection. 

4. Set a timer and remind students that there is no talking- only moving around to read the text and what their peers have written so that they can respond. I usually gave mine about 7 minutes depending on the size of the text. If they were still reading and responding, we kept going. While the students are reading, writing, and responding- YOU ARE TOO. Jump from group to group to see what your students are thinking, redirect if needed, and add your own thoughts. My students would race over after I had left to see what I had to say (like mine was soooooo profound).

5. When time is up, have a class discussion about what was read. If you have a large class, you may want to limit this to one comment per student. Have them pick out their favorite (either their own or a peers). Most of the "discussion" has already been had, but there may be some comments that need to be expanded on or explained. 


Variations:
* Have different pieces of text about the same topic at each TTT and when the timer goes off, have the groups silently switch to the new table and complete the activity. You could also allow them to movie around from piece to piece if you don't mind a bit of movement! 

* This could be an easy way to review what you have taught in math to assess their learning. Put one problem on the table and have the students work out the problem together without talking. 

* Instead of a piece of text, you could have one statement that students must respond to using the knowledge of what you have been covering in a unit of study. ("The war of independence waged by the American colonies against Britain influenced political ideas and revolutions around the globe, as a fledgling, largely disconnected nation won its freedom from the greatest military force of its time." - from History.com)

There are a great many ways that this can be adapted to fit your needs, so have fun with it! Let me know what you do in your classroom because I am always looking for new ideas! Here are some of our finished products! 

What is Disciplinary Literacy?

“As we move beyond earlier notions of “reading and writing,” the boundaries between literacy processes blur, and responsibility for supporting literacy learners expands to include educators across all disciplines.” – Kent Williams

When we go on a road trip, we use a navigation system. It used to be big, paper maps. I can remember spending the few days before we went on our cross country trip at the dining room table with my dad mapping out where we were going to go with a yellow highlighter. We poured over that map, talked about what we were going to stop and see, looked up the places in books (since Google wasn’t an option yet), and prepared as best we could. Now, of course, we just plug it in the GPS and Google places along the way. Just as navigating our trips has changed, teaching must change as well. Knowing how to read within the context of the material in each class is an essential key to success in each class, and aiding  students in navigating across multiple disciplines will help our students build knowledge and continuity. Our students will learn to adapt, take responsibility, and have ownership of their learning across disciplines through the incorporation of literacy in all classes. When our students have a great hold on each discipline and grasp how the knowledge is produced within that discipline, they are much more adept to making connections across disciplines.

The languages particular to each discipline's text and the practices used to teach them are necessary tools for our students to navigate in each of our classrooms. Each classroom whether it be math, history, English, or PE uses literature of all types to teach students material every day. But each classroom teaches it differently because they have different material to cover as well as the task of ensuring that students comprehend all of the material. As teachers, we must engage our students in developmentally appropriate activities that support their disciplinary thinking. I truly believe that school has pushed our student’s natural curiosity off to the side because we push so hard for the standards to be covered and lose site of so many things. Not that we have meant to, by any means though. This has caused our students to ask fewer and fewer questions. They see school as the "Skill and Drill" place... a place to learn facts and move on to the next topic. Who needs to make connections? Those tests are just going to be multiple choice and I won't have to know it again for... well, ever! 

We need to regain that curiosity and wonder within our students and help them learn how to refine and investigate their questions. When was the last time you posed a question to your students and let the discussion that went with it take over your class? You didn't stop the students because you had a certain standard to cover that day and no time to waste did you? I know I have done that before and then thought how great it would have been if we could have kept talking. Maybe Friday, right? We can help our students navigate through disciplinary literacy in our classrooms and regain that love of learning through curiosity. I have a passion for helping other teachers in this area and I hope that I can help more than just the teachers who visit my classrooms, meet with me after school, or email me at 10 pm for help! I will be posting ideas that I have created, research that I have come across, and much more here! Let me know if there is anything I can help you with as well because I am sure that someone else will benefit from it as well! 

~Jennie