Well....I survived the first few weeks of term (besides some sickness)! Woo! It is such a JOY to teach my class. They are all so beautiful, funny and a pleasure to learn with.
Been racking blogs, websites and Google for some fun things for my classroom. The first to share is 'Classroom Boggle'. I am using this is an extension activity for students who finish their spelling (and other) activities earlier than the rest. Each week we change the letters and the students have a sheet where they write down all the words they can see. At the end of the week (if time permits!) we go through the words that the students found. The kids loved it!
Secondly, I was looking and thinking and searching for something I could use as a sort of reward system for the class. I didn't want to do table points (as I thought the kids were a bit beyond this in year 5) and I didn't want individual rewards because I know some kids would get loads and others, not many. BUT I finally came across 'teamwork bingo'. This reward system builds community in the class, because you can only get a number if everyone is doing the right thing. It might be that they all come in quietly to the classroom, or it might be that they do a super job of packing and cleaning up at the end of the day. Each time the whole class gets it right, one person (I just go down the roll) picks a number out of the jar. They then colour it in on the board (and discard number in snaplock bag) and once the class gets 10 in a row or column they get a reward. This time it is 5 minutes extra at recess that they are working towards. But it could be anything you like
The kids love it and totally get into it each day!
Well, I'm off to get ready for week 4. See you all soon!
