I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the infamous
Five for Friday! (For the FIRST time!
Woo!!)
I think the first things I have to mention is obviously my
BRAND NEW BLOG! (Isn’t it cute??) Designed by the lovely Alexis at Laugh EatLearn. I’m a new blogger and I’m excited to start this adventure!
I just bought this book: Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain! I’ve been struggling lately with
how boring our curriculum is. (NOT a statement about my colleagues who plan
other subjects for our team! They are wonderful! Our curriculum is just so
BLAH.) I have been looking for ways to spice up the activities (worksheets) we
always use to make them more engaging for my students. It hasn’t gotten here
yet, but I’m excited to read and find some inspiration!
I started pairing my students up as Reading Buddies this
week. They get to share their favorite book with their partner, and then they
switch and the other partner gets to share their favorite book. They absolutely
LOVE it! They were SO excited to read out loud with their buddy, that even my
most reluctant reader was itching for his turn! (Score!!!)
With the idea of switching up our learning activities, I
also started letting students use a clipboard and sit anywhere around the room
to complete their work. You would think I gave them candy or a new puppy...they
were thrilled to get to move around and lounge while they worked. It was the
quietest my classroom has been in a long time! Guess this will be a new staple
for us!(Please ignore the rest of the messy room...)
Last, my principal was sweet enough to cater in lunch for us
today! We had kind of a crazy week with unexpected things last minute, fire
alarms, lots of subs in the building, etc etc. So, she bought us lunch! YUM!
Now I’m off to get firewood so we don’t freeze tonight!
