Mid-year has arrived and, if you teach in New York, the glory and wonder of the holiday season has now tapered down to the sludge and muck of winter. Cabin fever is setting in due to minimal outdoor recess and there aren't enough snow days to make up for the lack of energy you have.
In an effort to combat these midyear woes I offer up four ideas to help give you and your classroom a mid-year reboot.
#1: Get a Gimmick
If it's the first or third Wednesday of the month, I will be greeting my students at the door wearing my sombrero headband. This cheesy fun is a surefire way to start the day with a smile. In fact, students from other classrooms have now grown to look for the hat and if I'm not wearing it on Taco Salad Day I have some serious 'splainin' to do!
Another fun reboot that I started this week is "Fat Pencil Fridays". I found a box of old-fashioned fat, beginner pencils and wanted to find a way to wiggle them into my routine. Thus, Fat Pencil Friday was born. The faces were lit up and the engagement was 100% at my "Teacher-Led" station on Friday. They loved it.
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| Taco Salad Day! |
#2: Spontaneous Spirit Week
To bust up the routine of school, sponsor your own Spirit Week! Some suggestions to get you started:
- hat day
- PJ day
- formal wear
- inside out day
- twinsie day
- snowman "winter wear"
- school spirit
If you are really struggling for ideas, ask your students. They are a pretty inventive group and odds are if they were part of the decision-making, they will be more likely to participate. You'll get an extra boost to your room if you participate too!
#3: Choice Day
Designate a day of the week (or a block of the day) to "choice". Students love choice and control over their learning environments. Offer them carefully selected options. Some examples:
- lunch in the room or the cafeteria
- choice of pen color to complete work (especially "boost"ful at the elementary level)
- homework A or B
- solve odds, solve evens
- activity A or B (if you use flexible groupings)
- choose your seat (if you use more traditional seating methods)
#4: Host a Book Tasting Event
This was a hit. I had heard about these in the fall but I hadn't actually completed one until this week. I set it up while the students were at special. It took about 30 minutes start to finish.
I used:
* plastic tablecloths
* place mats
* genre table cards
* books
* student response "menu"
The students rotated through 5 (out of 7) tables in the room. Each table had a designated genre. The students sampled the books on the table for about 5 minutes. Then, they selected one book to jot down in their menu.
I can say that the level of engagement was high and the students were excited to explore at their next rotation. Plus, students finished the tasting with at least 5 new titles they want to read at a later date.
My students asked to do it again. We even discussed them recommending books for the tasting and inviting other classes to attend. If we pull it off- I'll keep you posted!
You can read a more in-depth look at Book Tasting here:
Book Tasting 101
Get your FREE Book Tasting Resources here:
FREE Book Tasting Resources (13 tri-folds and place mat)
Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully one (or two) of these suggestions will beat back the mid-year blahs. Comment below to let me know what you do to keep your classroom engaging!