Sensory Play: Have you heard of FLOOF?

My three-year old routinely tells me that what she is doing is "sensory play." She's pretty smart and uses this as an excuse to make a mess, basically.

Anyway, FLOOF is a little messy and it is definitely sensory play. :)

It comes in a bucket, and it smells so amazing. Your hands are pretty clean after using it, not terribly messy unless they were wet or sweaty, then the Floof sticks a bit.

My kiddos can make designs, sculptures, cakes, etc. They talk through the imaginative play with each other, and I make them stay at a table. Even so, some fall on the carpet and I've vacuumed it up, no problem.

So, if you are looking for an alternative to play doh or kinetic sand, this seems like a really engaging option (that literally smells like marshmallow.).

Beebots! A great introduction to CODING!

Have you used Beebots?

SO ENGAGING!

It's the perfect introduction to coding! And for real, I have used them with my FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS and my TODDLERS. They are literally fun for everyone!

With my fourth grade intervention group, we are working on sight words, so I made a sight word mat. I had a grid and used boxes with a sight word in each box. Next I had a deck of cards with the sight words. Kids pulled a card, read the sight word, found it on the mat, and then programmed the bee to arrive at that sight word. If they arrived at the correct sight word successfully, they kept the card. Whoever had the most cards at the end won!

With my toddlers, we're just at the playing around with coding stage of Beebots. On top of the bee, there are arrows. Kids press the arrows to direct the bee. Will he go forward, turn, go backwards? Once they put a whole sequence into the bee, they hit GO and the bee follows the code!

Purposeful Play: Kids Learn Through PLAY! STEM at its finest.

Looking for some STRUCTURED purposeful play?

Learning Resources has you covered.

I have used this great STEM activity with primary grades...and with my own 3-year old. (It is meant for ages 5+ but younger kiddos can have success with some support.)

Kids are tasked with designing and building a playground. They can build something completely creative and unique, or they can use the challenge cards that provide some scaffolding to design the elements pictured.

It's so much fun!

My kiddo loves building a structure (her words) and then taking the little fake plastic people it comes with to test out the sturdiness of her structure.

So, if you are looking for a quality and engaging STEM activity, check out Learning Resources for their Playground Design kit!

Whole Class Journals

Have you tried using whole class journal prompts?

It's really a lot of fun, and a great way to get kids reading AND writing!

In my classroom, I use plain old cheap composition books. To save laminating time, I printed the whole class journal prompts, and then just used packing tape to "laminate" them to the journal covers. It has literally lasted like 5 years. Yes, I keep the same journals and continue to use them.

When I am teaching small groups during ELA, kids have lots of literacy options. One is to work on writing. This might be to continue a writing project we started in Writing, or free write, or use these whole class journals. They choose the journal they are interested in responding in based on the prompt. Now this is where it gets fun. Some kids flip right to a blank page and start writing. They can choose to put their name/date or not. (I mean, I know everyone's handwriting, so it's fine!) BUT more often than not, I notice kids becoming absorbed in reading some of their classmates' responses that came before them. What a fun way to get to know each other better and launch some meaningful conversations later on!

Another fun surprise? Have family members, principals, and other teachers write entries in your class journals!

Click here to download a FREE whole class journal prompts resource!

Black Out Poetry

Have you tried Black Out Poetry?

My favorite way to use Black Out Poetry is as a culminating activity after reading a novel with a class. You can copy pages of the book (I like copying the beginnings of chapters because then the chapter title can serve as the poem's title) and give kids the option of which pages they use for their poetry. The choosing part is really fun because it reminds them what the book was about! They start talking, reminiscing, and it all comes back to them!

Start with pencil.

Very important!

Kids use a pencil to circle the words they want to use in their poem, understanding that this might be a different kind of poetry than they are used to!

Once the poem is done in pencil, kids are each given a marker (I like Sharpie because it is nice and dark). They circle those words that are in their poem and then add designs to "BLACK OUT" the rest of the poem. My examples below show that you do not need to color the entire page, just enough so that the words you chose stand out.

So, there you have it!

Black out poetry.

Easy, free, fast, engaging!

STEM for Kids: Magnatiles/Picasso Tiles

Whether I am teaching in my classroom or teaching my toddlers at home, I try to think of ways to incorporate STEM. (Science Technology Engineering Math)

I was gifted a set of Magnatiles a few years ago and since then have continued to add to my collection! (Not just name brands, but the knock off brands, too! They work just as well and all of those magnetic tiles are compatible.)

What can you teach with magnetic tiles?

- free play encourages perseverance, dealing with frustration, and problem-solving

- colors

- counting

- presenting engineering challenges

- vocabulary development (structures, foundation, sturdy, etc.)

- put them on the window on a sunny day or in a dark room with a flash light to talk about light refracting

- the possibilities are ENDLESS!

In the classroom, many teachers use magnetic tiles as a piece of their STEM bins.

Check out my little ones beginning their engineering journeys below!

If magnetic tiles are out of your budget, but you have Lego building pieces laying around, like my husband, who has totes of them from his childhood, check out some Lego STEM Challenges for all ages here.

BROWNIE POINTS: Part of your classroom management system

Yep, brownie points have been part of my classroom management system for YEARS.

Do I want kids to be intrinsically motivated? YES. But do they need some guidance getting there sometimes? YES.

We heavily rely on Brownie Points in the beginning of the year. Praise, praise, praise. Reward, reward, reward. You're telling your kiddos what your expectations are and when they meet or surpass those expectations, THEY KNOW IT.

I use Brownie Points as a motivator in my classroom. When the ENTIRE class does something (following expectations during Daily Five, serving a role models during an assembly, wowing me on an assignment, etc.) the ENTIRE class earns a brownie point. (We work hard at COLLABORATION and TEAMWORK and COMMUNITY. Kids help each other succeed because they know that is how to get Brownie Points, but eventually we are just helping each other because it is the right and decent thing to do.)

Once we fill in the Brownie Points pan, we earn a mystery reward. Now, there are a lot of mystery rewards in my pocket. I learned very quickly that kids only wanted one. To watch a movie and eat lunch in the classroom. Yep. Something that was FREE FOR ME and did not take away any instructional time. Um, yes, please!

So, if you are feeling stressed and looking for an addition to your classroom management system, these are freebies that I found online! Try Brownie Points today. :)

Try your hand at BOOK RAFFLES today!

Just an example at how you can get kids EXCITED FOR READING!

Whenever my class gets new Scholastic book orders, I get a bunch of freebies. I also spend a few bucks on those dollar books. When they come in, we hold a BOOK RAFFLE!

Now, for me, this is a week-long process. I leave the books out on my counter with the buckets to hold raffle tickets. I introduce the books to the class. The books are there for kids to look at, read the summary, etc.

Throughout the week, my behavior management system switches over to TICKETS. Kids get tickets for EVERYTHING. Correct answers, doing their best, following directions, you name it. EVERYTHING. Each day during indoor recess or at the end of the day when they have packed up, they can write their classroom number or name on each of their tickets and add them to the bucket of the book or books they are interested in reading first. These books are being added to our classroom library, but kids are entering the raffle to win a chance to read the book FIRST.

At the end of the week, I pull names! Now, you can only win ONE book, so if you put your tickets into several buckets and win multiple times, I toss your name back in and choose another student.

Of course, you can totally have this be for KEEPS, but I enjoy continuing to add to my ever-growing classroom library, and the kids like finishing a book and knowing that others are waiting for it!

You could even do this with books from your classroom library that kids have not read yet, just to generate some excitement and interest!

Try a book raffle today!

A science experiment to remember: Make your own LAVA LAMP!

MAKE YOUR OWN LAVA LAMP!

This is a really easy experiment - it's likely that you have all of the necessary materials right in your own home. Now, if you're letting every student in your class do it on their own, you MIGHT need to run out for some materials!

I just love a good, quick, and EASY experiment to hook those kiddos and get them writing up a lab report! This one is exciting, low prep, and engaging. Kids are given some background on chemical and physical reactions. (Check out some cool Brainpop, Generation Genius, or Flocabulary videos for extra background knowledge) Your class will then create their own lava lamps using a mini plastic water bottle, vegetable oil, water, food coloring, and alka-seltzer tablets.

I've done this at home with my three-year (The expression on her face when we dropped those alka-seltzer tablets in!) and in the classroom with 20 students. When teaching fourth grade, I used mini pint-sized water bottles and let each student do their own. In second grade, I used regular-sized water bottles and pairs kids up. Either way, it was super cool, and really fun!

Try it today!

Gallery Walks!

One of the easiest ways to incorporate MOVEMENT into your day! A GALLERY WALK!

In the example above, I pulled photographs and pictures from our current ELA unit. I had kids walk along and write what they notice and wonder on sticky notes. It was a type of formative assessment because these were familiar pictures from texts we already read. Just me checking in to see what the kiddos were retaining/still thinking about.

Another option? A a pre-assessment! I could have used these same pictures BEFORE starting the unit to see what my students already know about the topic. It would guide my instruction for that unit.

How about yet another option? A super engaging culminating activity where kids can show what they know!

Any way you use a gallery walk, the kids will be MOVING, COLLABORATING, and ENGAGED!

By the way, I always have a number associated with each student in my class. They just put their number on the sticky note so I know for sure who wrote what. :)