"I Have, Who Has"

"I Have, Who Has" is one of the best classroom activities I've led.  It's great for assessment and can be used  for a variety of subjects.


"I Have, Who Has" is played using cards or slips of paper you or your students create, or ones made professionally.  Here's how it works:


Students sit at their desk, each with one card that contains a statement followed by a question.  The first students starts by standing and reading their card.  They sit while the student whose card contains the answer stands and reads their own card to the class.


For instance, in a geography lesson, the first student may start with, "I have Denver, Colorado.  Who has the capital of Florida?"  As they sit, the other students have to read their own card and figure out the answer.  The student with the answer will stand up and read their card:  "I have Tallahassee.  Who has the capital of Michigan?"  The activity continues in this fashion with students rising one at a time to respond to the question asked by the preceding student.  Once everyone has gone, if more review is needed, simply shuffle the cards, pass them out and start again.


It's incredibly flexible.  It can be used for math ("I have 72.  Who has 11 x 11?"), science ("I have water.  Who has CO2?"), history ("I have Shirley Chisholm.  Who has the first female astronaut?"), vocabulary ("I have 'kerfuffle.'  Who has a synonym for 'favorable'?") or any number of subjects or ability levels.  You can even have students use books, atlases, dry erase boards and markers, or paper and pencils to figure out the answers.


"I Have, Who Has" is break in monotony students will enjoy because they get to work collaboratively on an oral activity, practice their recall of facts, and get some movement by standing and sitting.  As stated, you can make your own cards (I suggest using notecards or laminated paper so that they will last) to personalize your own review sessions, or you can invest in ready-made cards and reproducible books for your class.

***Update:***

Mathwire has some free, printable sets for math activities.  You can use I Have, Who Has? for one-digit multiplication (here is a second set), fractions, addition and subtraction facts, coins, and even geometry vocabulary and algebraic expressions.  Enjoy!

Time Filler: License Plate Puzzles

Got a few minutes of class time to fill?


Substitute teachers in particular have questions about how to fill a few minutes of class time.  As I always say, a classroom with nothing to do can quickly erupt into chaos.  You'd be surprised how rowdy a class can get just 10 minutes before dismissal, especially.


What I like to do is have a few brainteasers, short stories or puzzles on hand just to occupy students' minds for those few minutes until we transition to something else.  Kids usually like things like that because they can be done orally as a class, and they're fun!


I found these License Plate Puzzles from Brain Candy, and all you have to do is print them out and save them for work in case you ever have the opportunity to use them in class.  You can display your print out on those neat document cameras I love or, if the class doesn't have one, you can just copy the license plates on the board for all to see.


Essentially, these are just rebus puzzles in the form of vanity plates.  See if students can figure out what the message is saying for each one.


If you have a few more minutes to fill, challenge students to create their own vanity plates on paper.  You can even introduce it with a whole story about how they've just gotten their first car and they really want to make a statement with their vanity plates.  Tell them they can only use letters and numbers, and no more than 6-7 spaces to create a message.


Cool way to exercise the brain!


Here is another list of vanity plate messages.  Make sure they're school-appropriate.  ;-)

Substitutes Without a Seating Chart

A quick tip I learned about how to handle not having a seating chart left by the teacher:

I know it's one of substitutes' top annoyances.  I also understand many teachers move students around a lot, rearrange desks, and sometimes have trouble remembering to add or change seating charts.  So what do you do?

I got a tip (I can't remember where) that seemed to solve the problem:

• Get to class early enough to grab a blank sheet of paper and sketch a makeshift seating chart based on the desk arrangement.  Doesn't have to be fancy, just some little boxes on notebook paper.  It should go without saying to get to work early.  You don't want to have to bother with this as students are walking in the door.
• As you take attendance, quickly jot down the position of the students who are present.  This helps you to covertly make a seating chart and learn students' real names.  Sometimes, you have crafty kids who don't want to reveal their real names but,  9 times out of 10, they want to be counted present and so they'll tell the truth while calling roll.  Make the seating chart as you're taking attendance without calling too much attention to what you're doing, if you think the class is being sneaky.
• Once attendance is done, your seating chart should be ready!  Walk around with it, look at the names written in your little boxes, and surprise students that you know their names already!  It's delightful to see how much this throws them off.  If you want them to get in their real seats, just let them know you've already made a seating chart that you'll leave for their teacher at the end of the day, which means the teacher will know who lied to the sub and sat where they wanted.  I'd give them a chance to go to their actual seats without penalty.

Honestly, I'm no longer a big stickler about seating charts.  I used to feel like it was very important to have students exactly where the teacher has placed them, but I feel like if the teacher thought it was really important, I'd have a seating chart!  So, maybe it's really not a big deal.  Another factor is I often feel like the teacher has students sitting in the WRONG seats, with the most talkative kids sitting in within too close a proximity for me to be comfortable.  I move talkative/troublesome kids around all the time, whether it's their assigned seat or not, so I long ago stopped caring so much about seating charts.

But I do understand many subs like seating charts.  I still have a hard time with student names (I find myself saying, "You... in the red shirt!" far too often), and charts are good for that very reason.  Maybe I shouldn't discount them completely!

-Veronica

image credit: microsoft

1/24/11 Tips: Stories, Landforms of Play Doh, Break Barriers

1. Kids-Space.org is a fun site that allows students to select or submit a drawing, and then use it as a springboard for a story.  Check out all of the wonderful stories young writers have created for the site and encourage your students to participate.
2. If you're looking for a hands-on geography lesson, turn to Mr. C's Class Blog for inspiration!  His eighth grade class used colorful dough to make landforms.  It's a great way to assess their knowledge of landforms while letting them get creative.
3. Integrate history and writing in this cool essay contest from Scholastic!  The 2011 Breaking Barriers Essay Contest challenges students to "show how they use Jackie Robinson's values to face their own barriers."  Exciting prizes include a trip to see the MLB All-Star Game and free laptops!  The contest ends March 4, so see the contest guidelines for further information.

                                                                                                scholastic

Happy Monday, everyone!

-Veronica

1/17/11 Tips: Substitutes, FTW's Popular Posts

• How to Make Substitute Lesson Plans: a Checklist is a very popular post on the site.  I've had people tell me how helpful it was to them when it came time for preparing their sub plans.  It's long and thorough and, though it doesn't cover specifics, it gives you some good guidelines to follow.
• Class Build-A-Story is an activity I borrowed from a gifted class that turns out to be a great, flexible thing for subs to use when they need time to fill in a classroom.  I'm kind of bummed I haven't had an opportunity to even do it this year, but I'm sure it will happen soon!
• Teach Like a Champion techniques (video) for grabbing and maintaining your class' attention.  I've actually attempted a few of these recently.  With a little practice, I think I could use them really effectively.
• Browse through the blog's teaching tips of the week, which explore all grade levels and subjects.  More weekly tips will be posted next Monday.

Enjoy your MLK day, everyone.  I've got some posts coming this week to show you how crazy the last couple of days have been.


image: microsoft

1/3/11 Tips: More Love of Learning, a Science Contest, Vocab Practice

1.   Begin the semester with a renewed focus on fostering a love of learning within your students.  What Ed Said has a list of 10 ways to do just that with great additional tips in the comment section.
2.   Have your students enter the 2011 DuPont Challenge by writing a science essay.  Check out the contest rules and have essays submitted by January 31, 2011 for a chance to win great prizes!
3.  VocabAhead is a great website for students to practice their vocabulary skills, particularly as preparation for the SAT and ACT.  They have a video section that gives context for words through cartoons.

Teaching Tips of the Week (Dec. 6-12): Make it a Jan Brett Christmas, Dreidel Game

janbrett.com

1. With the holiday season upon us already, it's a good idea to have some nice picture books to usher in the celebrations.  Jan Brett, the popular children's book author and illustrator, has several books that will have elementary students feeling festive.  Chances are high that your school library has a ton of her books.  Scholastic has a list of helpful ideas for a Jan Brett author study, which includes several of her Christmas and winter books.  Also, check out Jan Brett's website for coloring pages, videos and more!
2. Laura Candler has created a Dreidel Game that is free to download from her website.  The game includes a print out of a dreidel to cut out and use in a small group game.  Talk to your class about Hanukkah, and then invite them to play this game while learning Hebrew symbols.  Instructions for the game are included in the link.
3. Laura has also made a nice Christmas word game as a treat for your students.  Log in to TeachersPayTeachers and download the free activity and challenge them to solve all the clues, and then make their own to share with other students

Teaching Tips of the Week (November 15-21)

1. If you're considering adding blogging to your classroom activities, make sure you visit TweenTeacher's thoroughly compiled list of tips for getting started.
2. Funbrain's Tic Tac Toe Squares online game is a great way for students to practice their mental math.  The game also makes differentiation simple because students can choose to practice everything from easy addition and subtraction facts to cubes and square roots.
3. Education Week has an article with several suggestions on how to use GPS in the classroom.  The device can be used to enhance several science activities, such as collecting data about the water quality of nearby streams.
4. Mighty Book has a lot of nice stories for young students, including animated storybooks and  animated stories written by children.  Students can read along and follow the words to each story and poem, making it perfect for a listening station.
5. Motivate a spirit of change in your school by entering the National Geographic Find Your Footprint Contest.  The contest calls for classrooms to research their school's environmental footprint and design a plan to improve its impact on the planet.  Prizes include interactive whiteboards, a classroom subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine, and a lot more.  The deadline is December 3, 2010!

                                                                    nationalgeographic.com

Teaching Tips of the Week (November 8-14)

1. Cinderella's story provides a great opportunity to introduce and review story elements, and Interactives has created a website to do just that.  Their Elements of a Story site narrates the fairy tale with animation, helps students identify the parts of the story, and offers an online quiz for further review.
2. UDip's Package Design Sweepstakes offers several exciting prizes from Apple for students who creatively use their art skills in making a product package.  Download and print off the design template and have it postmarked by December 1, 2010.  Students could see their designs on store shelves!
3. Subway is using Facebook to have high school students nominate and vote for their community's heroes.  The High School Heroes page encourages students to upload photos and videos of their friends and mentors.  Invite students to check out the page and think about who their heroes may be.  It's a great way to recognize a student or staff member who is uniquely influential.  This promotion ends December 15, 2010.
4. Speaking of heroes, peruse 5 Veteran's Day lesson ideas from Education World that could help your class celebrate this important holiday.  The lessons are listed for Memorial Day, but they are also appropriate for November 11.
5. If your classroom library needs a boost, Scholastic is having a 40% off sale for many of their titles.  Dozens of books are now well under $5.00 each.

                scholastic.com

Check back in with us this week for several Thanksgiving activities and more ways to celebrate Native American Heritage month.  Fall break is just around the corner!






-Veronica

Teaching Tips of the Week (November 1-7)

source: edheads.org          

1. Many students own and an have an interest in cell phones.  This interactive science activity from Edheads.org applies engineering principles by challenging them to design their own cell phone.  The site presents a problem for students:  senior citizens are dissatisfied by many popular cell phone designs, and your student must come up with a design that addresses the particular needs of that demographic.  The site allows students to research, design, and test their model before it is put on the market for consumers.   The teacher's page for this activity also has tips and extensions, such as designing a cell phone for business people and middle school students.
2. Owl, a great kid's magazine, is having a Story Writing Contest for Canadian students between the ages of 8-14.  Owl supplied the first and last lines of the story, and your students may write any type of story they would like to fill in the substance.  This is a great creative writing project.  Here is the entry form.  The deadline is November 30, 2010.
3. A Maths Dictionary for Kids has definitions for math terms, visual examples, AND plenty of practice problems for students to get a full understanding of concepts.  Students can practice everything here from equivalent fractions to complex geometric skills.  Highly recommended.
4. The Library of Congress' America's Story website provides a ton of information about American history and historical figures.  It's a great resource for students to use for research projects.
5. Here is an interesting video I recently found.  This is from Mrs. Jessica White's classroom blog, where she uses a camera to film a math lesson.  The class is engaged in a cooperative learning activity in which they take "boring school supplies" and make multiplication problems out of them, creating a small book in the process.  It's a good lesson, especially when students need practice with their multiplication, and you have tons of unopened school supplies stored in the room.  What I also noticed was that, while the class did a lot of talking, they were focused on their work and talked in a productive way.  They also switched groups with relative ease and got right to work.  Kudos to Mrs. White's lesson and her classroom management!

Teaching Tips of the Week (October 25-31)

1. Here’s a great tip from The Tip Jar:  use metal cookie sheets with raised edges in your spelling, math or word work centers.  Students can use magnetic letters and numbers on the sheets for their activities.  The sheets will give students space to work, and will stack up neatly for easy storage.
2. Check out this cool project from High Tech High:  10^th graders applied their math and science skills to design a model of a home that has minimal impact on the environment.  The site contains full details about the project.
3. Houghton Mifflin has a great proofreading interactive activity on their site that allows students to be the editor for a TV network.  They must choose a passage and keep a sharp eye for mistakes to correct.
4. Teaching Young Children provides tips for making different kinds of puppets for the preschool classroom (http://www.naeyc.org).
5. Finally, the 2011 Cray-Pas art contest in underway!  If you have students gifted in art, download the entry form for them and encourage them to enter their work for a chance to when cool prizes, such as art materials and their artwork imprinted on a tote bag!  Winning students will also have their teachers and schools awarded prizes.  The deadline is December 10, 2010.  Visit the site for more details! 

(image source:  sakuraofamerica)

Teaching Tips of the Week (October 18-24)

1. If you're looking for a math game for your class, try Neopets' Math Nightmare, an amusing game that allows them to quickly type in the answers to addition, subtraction, multiplication or division problems before an alarm wakes up a cat.  There are different levels to the game, and it's a great way to practice mental math!
2. Here's another game for students to practice their subject/verb agreement:  Verb Viper provides sentences for students to choose the correct verb to feed the snake.
3. Assess your students' understanding of the three branches of government as they play The US Mint's Branches of Power Game.
4.  If you’re studying Native American tribes, use OurStory’s lesson that includes a reading guide to a Newberry Honor Book, and a chance for students to design their own Pueblo pot.
5. The Federal Trade Commission has a site, YouAreHere, designed for 5th-8th graders to learn about business markets, and how to be good consumers.  The site is designed as a virtual mall which highlights different aspects of business.  The West Terrace of the mall shows how to be savvy consumers who are aware of advertising techniques for products.

source:  YouAreHere

Teaching Tips of the Week (October 4-10)

1. Help students practice their math skills with a deck of cards instead of paper and pencil.  Here is a list of several math games to play simply using a deck of cards (via letsplaymath).
2. iCivics' Argument Wars is a great place for your students to practice applying their knowledge about the US legal system and the Constitution.  The online game gives them the chance to choose a character and argue actual Supreme Court cases.  Use the cases and information provided as a backdrop for some lively classroom debates, such as whether or not it should be Constitutional for schools to search students' belongings.  It's good practice for them to do what lawyers do:  build support for their arguments.  You can also listen to actual oral arguments in the cases.
3. TryScience's Extreme Challenge combines students' interest in extreme sports with science.  By exploring the site, they can learn why traveling on a snowboard in a crouched position is more aerodynamic for faster movement, or how fiber typing different muscles is important for athletes.  Then, they apply their science knowledge to compete in the online games!  Try the Quick Games to practice the challenges without registering.
4. Addition MATHO is an online game which allows students to practice basic addition to win a BINGO challenge.
5. StudentTreasures Publishing offers an exciting way to get your class motivated about writing.  Through their publishing service, you can guide your students in a writing process that culminates in an actual published, hardbound book!  The program offers a couple of free packages:  a class book where students can contribute a page, or a school-wide deal that offers $2,000 in free books.  See the site for more details and examples, like the ones shown below.

Top Teaching Tips of the Week (September 27-October 3)

1. The Mailbox (one of my favorites!) is giving away a coupon for orders!  The offer ends TODAY, so use it quickly.
2. Looking for a science game?  Print out the game board for Endangered!  Students can learn the instructions, play, and explore facts about endangered species.  This could be quite useful if you're looking for activities for science centers.  Be sure to laminate the game board for repeated use.  A good extension would be for students to research the animals featured (source: American Museum of Natural History).
3. Fall is here, so it's a great time for classes to study weather changes.  Visit The Weather Channel Kids for classroom ideas and teacher resources.  Take a moment to register for free, click on the Weather Classroom page, and find all sorts of information and reproducible sheets.  They have lesson plans, experiments, weather puzzles, resources and tons of other helpful things.
4. Your class can participate in the 4th Annual GovDocKids Group US Constitution Day Poster Design Contest.  Download the entry form, and then submit student designs of how they have benefitted from the freedoms granted by the Constitution.  Assign it this week because entries must be postmarked by this Friday  (source: constitutionfacts.com).
5. Hispanic Heritage Month is nearly half over.  Have you taken the opportunity to shine a positive light on the culture?  See my list of ideas to get you started!

Top Teaching Tips of the Week (September 20-26)

1. Browse through the first season of PBS’s great show, SciGirls, which promotes scientific discovery and analysis.  It's an excellent resource for teachers in the middle grades.  The show encourages the study of math and science as viewers join girls as they solve an interesting problem in each episode.  Technology, internet use and cartoon characters also help this show seem relatable to students, and real scientists also make appearances.  I highly recommend SciGirls!  Also, visit their activities and projects page to see ideas for science class.  The activities are also helpfully provided in Spanish!
2. Here's a great use of classroom technology:  have students create their own short children's book using ArtisanCam, which allows them to write a story and "publish" it for everyone to read online.  The neat thing is that students can also select from images to illustrate their story, and they all actually look like children's drawings!  Peek through the gallery for some examples.  Students could practice using story elements, and you could also integrate science by having them include facts about animals (such as their habitats, for example) because the pictures use animals as characters.
3. To practice basic math facts, young students could Save the Apples in this online game.  They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and select their level of difficulty.
4. Your class could practice visualization and summarization skills by designing a comic strip or short graphic novel based on a few pages of text.
5. Use Bingo instead of a written history or geography quiz if you want students to remember details about different Native American groups, states, etc.  Make some Bingo cards (you could even use regular paper and have students draw a chart)  and have your class fill each box with a term from the unit's list.  Then, call out clues ("This Southern state is also known as 'the Peach State'") and have them mark their box if they have the word written down.  Because students have to know their facts in order to win the game, this is a good assessment tool, and it's motivating to students.  It has the benefit of a "Jeopardy" game with easier preparation for the teacher.

Top 5 Teaching Tips of the Week (September 13-19)

1. Learn how one math class used IPods to practice probability. 
2. Your students can become explorers in Woogi World, a “safe, educational virtual world” where they can play games and learn character development.  The educator’s page shows you how the site promotes cyber safety to young students.
3. Vocabulary games galore can be found at http://www.vocabulary.co.il.  Students can practice homophones, prefixes, suffixes, complete word searches, learn oxymorons, and tons of other activities.
4. Looking for some science experiments for your class?  Choose from Yes Mag’s list of science projects, which range from growing crystals, creating water filters, and making mini-parachutes!
5. Bostitch is having a sweepstakes for teachers.  Find out how you could earn $5000 in classroom supplies. 

Top 5 Teaching Tips of the Week (September 6-12)

1. Using Pringles to teach engineering skills?  That’s what Mr. Salsich’s elementary class did when they had to figure out a way to mail a single Pringle a long distance without breaking the chip.  The cool science experiment is documented on their Edublog archive.  Find a cooperating class in another city, state or country and then try it! 
2. I also found a more complex version of this activity for older students.  Students are challenged to make their package have the smallest mass and volume, and still keep the single Pringle intact. 
3. Book Adventure could help your students find reading material that reflects their interests.  The Kid Zone allows them to find books based on their own criteria, and the site also provides comprehension quizzes that students can use to earn points for prizes.  The site has a wide-range of recommended books and quizzes, from Charlotte’s Web to Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
4. Teach your class about energy conservation using California-based Energy Quest.  There is even a cool online novel called Devoured by the Dark included on the site, offering the integration of science and reading.
5. Looking for classroom craft ideas?  Visit TeacherPlace.org for their collection of craft projects suitable for various grade levels and subjects.  Decorate your room with the Recycled CD-mobile, or invite students to make an “All About Me” scrapbook.  My favorite?  The Turtle Maracas.

Top 5 Teaching Tips of the Week (August 30-September 5)

1.  Learn how an inexpensive item that’s probably already in your classroom could be useful in an even wider variety of activities thanks to Post-it's Teacher Site.  You can browse and see dozens of ways to use Post-It notes in your daily lessons.  Some of the more popular ideas are the Birthday Booklet, Classroom Stationary, and the Hidden Message Board.  Be sure to check Post-it's Bright Ideas for ways to use their other products for activities.  Also?  Coupons! 

2.   If you’re looking for a way to show students that science and technology are useful for many careers, try taking a peek at Packetville, an interactive game with many lesson plans and educational activities.  Designed for students age 8-14, the site helps make science even more engaging to students.  Girls can also be inspired by the particular praise female scientists are given on the site.  Visit the Educator's page to get ideas on how to implement activities.

3.   Learn how a game of musical chairs, glow in the dark paint, or even a parachute could help students with their spelling words in these fun review activities. 

4.   Looking for a way to spark journal writing?  Laura Gartung suggests Monthly Journal Bingo, which cleverly motivates students to complete daily journal entries.  Log in to TeachersPayTeachers and download the free instructions and a sample Bingo Board for the activity.  You can easily adapt this idea for the upper-grades, workstations, unit studies, and for different subjects.  (*Subs:  If you need a classroom activity, use this as a writing assignment.  Have students complete a “Bingo” row by responding to their prompt choices.)  

5.   Nutrition Explorations offers some great ways to teach various grade levels about nutrition and health.  The site has complete lesson plans and activities to help students make positive food choices. 

Find any good tips?  Let me know about them, and I'll be sure to credit you!

Top 5 Teaching Tips of the Week (August 23-29)

1.  Looking for inexpensive center ideas, or quick classroom activities, that are easy to create?  Check out The Cornerstone’s economical, easy and creative center ideas.

2.  FreeTech4Teachers gives you 11 ideas for integrating technology this year.

3.   Use this helpful flipbook to guide students in organizing their binders (from Mary Blow via Scholastic.com).  She also shows you how to turn this organization tool into an easy assignment for the first days of school.

4.   Check out this cool class project about pirates.  Wikispaces is a great way to make a collaborative project engaging to students.

5.   Give students a fun, imaginative science lesson about animal habitats in this PBSKids online activity.  Using the site’s drawing tool, students analyze and respond to a monthly challenge by designing a fictional creature's habitat.

Find any good tips?  Let me know about them, and I'll be sure to credit you!