Well, not really free and only for all Sixth Graders. I just couldn't come up with a better blog title and it seemed sort of sad not to write anything catchy or clever at the end of the week.
However, we did do an assortment of activities today in Room 503.
Drama first thing, followed by a celebration of Eden's 11th birthday, with yummy cookies. Next, students spent some time in their Stone Age groups, working on their soon-to-be new and improved board games.
I heard that Math went well. New concepts were introduced and about 80 % of the students are well on their way with them (and on a Friday, no less! Way to go, Room 503!!!).
This afternoon we began our Finally it's Friday festivities with a "Game Show" quiz, where each student had to come up to the front of a room and pick a "mystery question" out of a bowl and gain points for his/her team. The first round gave students the opportunity to use a "life line" - ask a team member to answer - if he/she didn't know the answer or was unsure. The second round however, required the student who was "up" to answer the question sans group help.
Quiz questions included information on all the areas we covered this week in Science, Social Studies, Language Arts and Drama, as well as questions on prior studies from the first four weeks of school. I often give questions on past material as it helps to keep the students current on their past studies.
A quick exercise on "sameness," based on a portion of A Wrinkle in Time, served as another way to get the Sixth Graders to practice group "think" and how important it is that everyone is on board with one another to accomplish specific tasks.
The last hour and a half, each Finally it's Friday group worked together to create an invention, gizmo, contraption or machine that had some merit on education (this is why we needed left-over household items). We had a couple if homework helping machines, a couple of turning mean teachers into nice teachers inventions and one gizmo that helped younger children (by way of Elmo) gain the skills of older, more experienced students.
The objectives: to encourage students to think out of the box, foster problem-solving skills, and to hone creativity - as a group. Each group had the opportunity to present their creations in the form of commercial, jingle or slogan at the end of our class period. They were all a success.
Writing this all out has made me feel like I've just experienced our whole day all over again. So I will take this opportunity to express my fatigue, and my gratitude, for another ever-exciting week with the TPJA Sixth Graders.
Have a wonderful and restful (or at least fun) weekend!
Cheers,
Ms. Pitman
Writing this all out has made me feel like I've just experienced our whole day all over again. So I will take this opportunity to express my fatigue, and my gratitude, for another ever-exciting week with the TPJA Sixth Graders.
Have a wonderful and restful (or at least fun) weekend!
Cheers,
Ms. Pitman
