Busy, Busy, Busy...    I wanted to share some student samples from a couple of cooperative learning tasks involving reading response and writing.  We are in the midst of our final unit of the year called ''The Spirit Within'' and I wanted to share some of our work.  So, here is what we've been up to ...

I will begin by saying.....I'm severely behind and my blog is suffering!  The sickness bug has hit me hard, two weeks tomorrow hard to be exact.  Fortunately it hasn't been the flu, but it has been enough to say I'm sick of being sick!  Sorry, I just realized I played the excuse card that my students try to use on a daily basis. Now that I have ...

Today's freebie highlights the upcoming election.  There are those students whether they are in lower elementary, high school, or in between that want to voice their opinion on who should be President.  This activity, Find A Buddy Who, simply builds awareness around the election.  The best part of this activity, personal opinions are not needed or ...

Have you ever looked for apps related to Geography?  I haven't came across many that I really like until I found the free app, TapQuiz Maps.  TapQuiz Maps is exactly that, quizzing of maps.  Students have the choice of a continent and region to be quizzed on.  Once they choose the continent and region the app randomly gives them countries to ...

Have you ever had your students play memory? Match It is a version of memory but rather than students playing by themselves or with a partner, Match It is played with the entire class.  There are card sets available to purchase, but I often have my students make their own.  I give each student an index card, and with their partner they make a ...

I recently came across a website that I have been very impressed with.  So much, that I wanted to share with you.  The site is called iCivics and is full of free games and resource packed lessons.  Topics covered range from the writing of the Constitution to the 2012 election.  iCivics provides a scope and sequence for each topic.   A curriculum ...

This week I have decided to do the Pinterest Weekly Round Up a bit differently.  If you are like me, you are always looking for a good board to follow.  Below you will find a few of my favorites. Do you have a favorite board?  Fill free to leave a link below in the comments.  Like I said, I'm always looking for a good board to ...

I know...I know...you have heard me say this a million times.  It is important to have groups in science and to have individual jobs while you are working together! So how do you introduce it the first time???? We begin by Introducing our science groups. Each group has 4 people in it (as best as possible - because I have 22 students I do have ...

 The beginning of school is all about creating a classroom community. What better way then to work in small groups to build a structure?  Here's what we did.  First, I created 5 bags with spoons, plastic cups (Dixie size), paper clips, wire, straws, paper plates and tape. Then I pulled sticks to create random grouping....after all, we are supposed ...

Do you take advantage of cooperative learning?  As a middle school teacher, I've learned that small groups and pairs both offer so much! That being said, I even let them pair up and do various reading/writing assignments together, in class rather than at home. In this manner, critical thinking and  applying reading/writing skills tend to be more ...