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1. Have every student take out a sheet of paper and have them all write the first sentence (or two, or three) of a story. Then have them pass it to the right and pick up where the last student left off. Keep going until you have a class set of unique stories. One variation of this is to give everyone the exact same sentence to start with, and see how many directions the different stories take.

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1. This technique has a lot of different names, like Four Corners, Physical Barometer, and This or That, but the idea is the same: You read some sort of statement to the class, like “Students should be allowed to go barefoot in school.” Designate one side of the room as the “Agree” side and the other as the “Disagree” side. Students must physically walk to the side of the room that best represents their opinion. Then have students take turns explaining why they are standing in that spot. (If you want fantastic pre-made questions on a PowerPoint for this, take a look at my This or That icebreaker).

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Genius Hour / Problem Solvers / Culminating Project

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Genius Hour / Problem Solvers / Culminating Project

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Have student develop a question or a problem that they want to solve. Have them work on designing or creating the object or idea. Then have students post videos and photos of their project. You could also provide a question or problem. Example: Post a video on seed dispersal and have students create a see with items at home that will have the greatest rate of dispersal.

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Have students record themselves reading a book. Check out puppetedu! Share with the class. Have students give a compliment to the writer.

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3 days left: bring a board game to teach to others
2 days left: grab a blanket and take kids outside for a reading lunch
1 day left: relay races to review their learning this year (have students write the prompts)

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Have students write math problems on the tables, then wipe off for clean tables!!

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Take kids outside and complete a fun measurement task

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Take kids outside and complete a fun measurement task

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Measure the playground and decide how to upgrade it to their dream playground

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Students create their own board games using file folders, construction paper, markers and other supplies you have handy.  Games can be centered around a genre studied like fairy tales or a particular book they read; math related; or a mashup of grade level skills similar to 'Are you Smarter than a...'.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson-docs/NovelBoardGameRubric.pdf
~Jackie Booe, Samuel Tucker

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Students love following the easy step by step creation of animals and creatures in Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals and other drawing books.  Syd Hoff also has a simple drawing book entitled Drawing with Letters and Numbers.  Students can create their characters, draw a setting and write their own stories.  This is a lot of fun - especially for students who need practice sequencing and need some confidence with their art.
Andrea Drone
Reading Specialist
John Adams

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Class Play:                               A class play is a great opportunity to build the social and academic strengths in the class.  It reinforces many parts of the curriculum and provides students the chance to showcase their skills to peers, family members, and colleagues.                             Lisa Patriarca

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Class Play:                               A class play is a great opportunity to build the social and academic strengths in the class.  It reinforces many parts of the curriculum and provides students the chance to showcase their skills to peers, family members, and colleagues.                             Lisa Patriarca

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John Adams

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Put social media to use for something other than cat videos...

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Put social media to use for something other than cat videos...

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Do yourself the favor of following Pernille Ripp, creator of the Global Read Aloud, on the social media platform of your choice. She consistently posts great ideas for developing a love of reading in our students.
Twitter: @pernilleripp
@globalreadaloud
Instagram:  pernillesripp
Facebook: Pernille Ripp
The Global Read Aloud
Main Group

-Jacki Mechanic, Samuel Tucker

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1. Talk with students about escape rooms and what makes them interesting (think engrossing stories, interesting clues, stories told bit by bit...could bring in some Lucy here...:) ) .
2. Mention clues. Brainstorm some ideas. Use following links to introduce ciphers, morse code, etc.
3. Use following guide to help students plan and create!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BXbPhOXcgJHILsFtco7t4Zw4d4M9ZvEp1qAmcOwHJz8
- Adam Carpenter, Sam Tucker

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Braingle: Codes, Ciphers, Encryption and Cryptography

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Cryptography is the discipline of using codes and ciphers to encrypt a message and make it unreadable unless the recipient knows the secret to decrypt it.

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1. Have students choose a destination to travel (US or Int'l.)
2. Research key facts about the place:  geography, climate, fun things to do, interesting facts
3. Create a tri-fold brochure with pictures and facts about the location
4. Present brochures using persuasive speech.  Audience asks questions/ comments after.
* can use SmartBoard to locate all places on a big map using Google Maps or a large map of world with pins
* scaffolds:  pairs, appropriate texts available, pre-filled papers, sentence frames

Meredith Fortner
John Adams

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1. Have students choose a topic that interests them.   It's helpful to narrow the range to choices, like "animals" or "inventions".
2.  Have a collection of books from library and a list of credible research websites (Kids encyclopedia, NatGeo, etc.)
3. Students organize info onto index cards for each subtopic (they take bulleted notes)
4. Present the final information in a paper, short book, poster, video, with creative art attached.
* scaffolds: can be done in pairs, pre-filled index cards w/ headings, or narrow the choices

Meredith Fortner
John Adams

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Timed Written Conversations before Verbal Discussions

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Timed Written Conversations before Verbal Discussions

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From Cult of Pedagogy's review of Harvey and Elaine Daniels' new book

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1. Retell well known stories through play by creating storytelling cards, story telling bag, or story stones.
2. Become your favorite book character and present why they are your favorite.
3. Bring some of your favorite books to life with arts and crafts.
4. Have students write their own books. You can purchase prepared blank spiral bound books pr have students make their own.

Drucillia Fletcher
Samuel Tucker

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Review games:
Word Study and sight word games
Jeopardy on the Smartboard
Hangman
Use Ipads to work on fluency - use Chatterpix and record students reading poems or songs from content units
My daughter's teacher did "Are you smarter than a Kindergartner?" and used up a bunch of leftover worksheets and activities and it made the students feel really accomplished!

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Have students read or listen to  Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. Initiate by asking students how friends help each other and do friends ever have problems in their relationship. After reading,  discuss themes in story-  bravery, will power, other interpretations.
Choose from list below:
*Pretend you are a real frog or toad. Write a cookie recipe that would be good for you. Be sure to include words like stir, add, mix,beat.
* Make a list, just like Toad did of things you do every day.
*Write a recipe for friendship.
* Read more Frog and Toad books!

Marci El-Baba
George Mason

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Have students write a letter to next year’s class, giving tips and advice about what next year’s students should expect. This is a fun activity that also has students work on their writing skills.

Karrie Kay
Lyles Crouch

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Have students select poems to practice for a week and present to the class. No need to memorize, rather focus on the aspects of fluency (expression, rate, accuracy). To add some fun, have students generate a list of ways to read (pirate, alien, superhero...).

Brandy Loomis
Tucker Elementary

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I read an article once that suggested that the end of the year is the perfect time to try something new! You know your students best by now, and they can give you feedback on new strategies or help come up with new ways to organize the classroom library. If you've been wanting to try Daily 5 rotations or a new read aloud, go for it.

Christina Davin-Smith
Douglas MacArthur

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Pull out the watercolor sets and give each student two different poems. Students choose one of the two poems to which they will respond through watercolor painting. Have students do a low-scale gallery walk at the end. For me silent-painting time + talk-friendly gallery walk time worked best.  Suzanne Lank

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Share your reading plans. Talk about what you plan to read and why.  Help children develop their reading plans. Make it visible!

Angi Green (George Mason

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Read-aloud My Father's Dragon, in which students make predictions for the use of each item in his backpack before each chapter, then confirm/revise during/after reading the chapter.  After reading the book, the students can write what they think would happen in the next chapter and draw an illustration.

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Use Elephant and Piggie or Pigeon books for partner readers theater. No need to create a script. Just have students buddy read and take turns being the characters.

Brandy Loomis
Tucker Elementary

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Partner with your principal, school librarian, literacy coach and other teachers in your building to come to your room and give a "book talk".  Perhaps you can ask them to leave the book as a gift for your classroom.

Angi Green (George Mason)

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Have a book tasting party where kids can try out new books. The goal is to share the joy and love of reading!
https://www.sassysavvysimpleteaching.com/2017/01/host-a-book-tasting/

Kathy Harrington
James K. Polk

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One of my favorite ways to find new books is to read lists. Have students create lists for next year's students based on your classroom library, including a blurb about each book or why it's a good fit.

Christina Davin-Smith
Douglas MacArthur

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Have students create their own Kahoots (or with a partner) on a story or article they've read. Have everyone read the short text and then play the online quiz game!

Juliette Kopp
Maury Elementary