in South Carolina, people freak out. Seriously. It flurried for an hour and school was let out at 12pm. None of the snow even stuck to the ground!
This got me thinking about some activities you can do in your classroom to quell the excitement and energy that your students will most likely have.
1. Watch a standard related "Magic School Bus." (Yes, I did this today while my students had lunch in the classroom.)
2. Play a game to review math facts. One of my favorite games is "Around the World." My students beg to play this! Seat the students in a semi-circle. Choose one student to start and have them stand behind the first person in the semi-circle. Show those two students a math fact and the first to guess the answer advances to the next student in the circle. If the student standing answers incorrectly, they sit down in the place of the person who answered before them. The object is to get all the way around the circle without being beaten. It's all about speed! My kids get so excited about this game and they end up yelling and screaming, so I tell them they aren't aloud to talk when they're not answering because it's hard to hear who answers first sometimes. I make them sit out for a few minutes if they break the rule. I feel so bad telling them they can't play anymore!
3. Multiplication.com is another good idea if you have computers to put the kids on. We have 5 mobile laptop carts at our school, so next time, I will definitely try to put the kids on computers!
Once students catch a glimpse of the snow and find out they get to go home, all doesn't have to be lost! You just need to be creative to keep them engaged!
Ginger,
ReplyDeleteWe freak out here in NC too...lol. My kids love around the world too!
Gina,
ReplyDeleteI too live in South Carolina, so I can confirm people Do freak out about the snow. Only, I live in Myrtle Beach and we hardly even get snow here. I liked your ideas for your elementary school students. I teach middle school language arts and creative writing and have done similiar activities when it rains. I love to turn the lights out during a thunderstorm and let the student shut their eyes and just listen to the storm. Then after a few minutes let them free write. They really enjoy this and I get some of their best work when I let them just express themselves. You may want to try something similar with your students. Back to the snow. Just an idea I thought that I would share. You could have them make paper snow flakes, write a poem on the snow flake, then display their work on a bulletin board. I look forward to hearing any suggestions that you have for me.
I have to say, I like the Magic School Bus videos myself, and so do seventh graders. It's just something about them. I was wondering if you had any advice for me about blogging with my middle school students. I am currently working on my masters degree with Walden University and the course I am taking now has to do with technology. I have recently set up my first blog ever. If you want to check it out go to http://stacyhetzel.blogspot.com. I am really excited to interact with other teaching professionals and am seeking some sort of feedback. I know that I will benefit from this experience and want to find ways to have my students and parents benefit from it too! I look forward to any advice that you may have for me.
ReplyDelete