I'm enjoying long beach walks with my dogs, catching up with good friends, and reading books for pleasure (instead of grading papers)! With all the excitement and newfound freedom, I can't help but wonder about my new crop of kids next year. The first day of school is less than two months away, so I need to have some fun activities planned. What are you doing to start your year off right? What kinds of fun community building activities have you started planning?
Here are some of my goals for my next group of 4th graders!
1. Create and maintain a classroom that is safe, comfortable, and dynamic for all students.
2. Encourage peer friendships within my class that is free of gender, race, religious, or other barriers! We should all be friends.
3. Allow students to be creative, funny, and never feel stifled within assignments or projects.
4. Ensure I am balanced within my social, personal, and professional duties! I think it's crucial we take care of ourselves and not just worry about our students. I'll be working out, making time for friends and family, and enjoying life! A happy teacher is a good teacher.
I plan to start my first week of school with my lesson bundle. It's available for sale on Teachers payTeachers at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Week-of-School-Language-Arts-Math-Getting-to-Know-You-Activities-689128
There are dozens of pages of fun math games, group activities, individual activities, writing prompts, and more! I like to start the first day of school with getting-to-know you activities. If you peeked into my room on the first day, you'd see students wandering around, talking to one another and laughing as they interview one another. I usually then segue into a slideshow "About Me," showing pictures of my husband, our dogs, places we've traveled, etc. I like the students to know I am a real person, too! :)
I definitely want to give a math assessment the first week of school, but not the first day. The most rigorous activity I'll have my kids complete is a summer reflection narrative. They'll have so much fun remembering their time off, they'll forget they are in school. That is, until their hand starts cramping from holding a pencil too tightly.
I'll also be doing a lot of geography skills, as I think it's crucial kids have an understanding of our world. I like to do fun map games using my blank map. Students will study different continents and countries and then come up to point them out on my map. You'd be shocked how many students can point to and name over 40 countries! It's pretty impressive.
Another really fun activity is to ask students to "free hand" draw a map of the world. I like to do this only after studying the continents in detail. Then, I cover up the maps in my room, pass out white paper, and ask kids to do their best. They're usually laughing in hysterics by the end of the activity. Then I show them a real map of the world so they can compare the two! You'd be shocked how large most students draw North America. Often, Africa is only teeny-tiny!
If you are teaching the common core standards this year, I have both narrative and opinion lessons that are perfect for you! I sell them individually as well as bundled.
Here is the bundle that has both lessons: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bundle-4th-Grade-Opinion-Narrative-Common-Core-Writing-Lessons-549516
I also love to do word study games in groups of 3 students! Here are some kids arranging and rearranging Scrabble letters to form vocabulary words! On the chalkboard, they make a list of all the words they've formed. I always give them double points if they can correctly spell out my last name. After students have created a list of their words, they try to classify each word as a part of speech. For instance, if they write the word, "Happy," then they need to write, "Adjective." It's a really fun way to practice grammar!
