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Showing posts with label gimmicks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gimmicks. Show all posts

Sunflower Learning Fun!

Seriously, sunflowers? 

Well, what makes learning fun in your classroom? 

It's usually something the kiddos are excited about, isn't it?

Well, it's sunflower time right now, and that's what I'm using to keep the enthusiasm going for learning!

Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?

Here in New England, it's harvest time! That means everywhere you look, there are pumpkins, scarecrows, cornstalks, apples, and yes, sunflowers! The biggest country fairs of the year are among us! Since they're excited by their surroundings, let's work with it! After all, you've got to have a gimmick, don't you?

(Flashback to a post I did ages ago, called Gotta Get a Gimmick.)

Gotta Get a Gimmick

Well, my gimmick for this week will be sunflowers, since that's what they're excited about!

Seriously, sunflowers are just the "vessel," but there's some real learning that's going to happen!

Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?


Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?

This is one of my most popular math games! It's an important skill, (mental math with tens and hundreds) it's easy to differentiate, and it's so much fun, they'll want to play it repeatedly!


Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?

Then, of course, there's a fun mini-booklet to read! Although I'm sure you have several books about sunflowers in your classroom, don't they just love to have a book they can hold in their own hands! Plus, these printable mini-booklets are perfect to use in reading groups, since the students can write in them! ("Underline the short a words in yellow." or "How many times can you find the word seeds on page 1?")

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These boom learning cards are a perfect accompaniment to the hands-on booklets! Almost all the questions come from the booklets! Plus, the more they play, the more they'll remember!

Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?

Oh, and did I mention there's a bundle?


I always put a huge discount on my bundles! Enjoy!

I also have other seasonal life cycles!
You can find the autumn bundle HERE.

Oh, yes, and there are books! Here are a couple of my favorites!



Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

A Sunflower's LIfe Cycle  by Mary R. Dunn

Here's a fun one for your budding artists:
Van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Lawrence Anholt

Not specifically sunflowers, but I'm a huge fan of Gail Gibbons!
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons


Some other ideas for celebrating sunflowers:
  • Roast some sunflower seeds!
  • Plant some sunflower seeds outside your school! (Yes, this needs to be done in the spring, but last year's students are still watching the ones they planted, and this year's students will want to continue this tradition in the spring!
  • Google some other recipes that use sunflower seeds. (There are plenty!)
  • Make a craft with sunflower seeds. (Again, google!)
  • Write a story (fiction or non-fiction) about sunflowers!
  • Estimate a sunflower's seeds. Or just a jar of sunflower seeds.
  • Measure the heads of the sunflowers in your sunflower garden and graph them.
  • I'll bet you can think of plenty more ways to enjoy sunflowers!

Sunflower Learning Fun: Who knew there were so many ways to learn and practice important skills with sunflowers?



Twelve Strategies to Get From Working Memory to Long Term Memory

I had a delightful group of teachers at my after school workshop today on Using Brain Research in the Classroom. We shared lots of ideas and there was lots of enthusiasm on the topic of the brain. 
Twelve Strategies to Get from Working Memory to Long Term Memory: tricks to help students make learning stick!

I had several key points I wanted to make, which I think came through successfully. You can see these main points on this post: Seven Brain Based Learning Principles.

Although I got through most of these points, (we really didn't get to the last two, after all, it's only an hour workshop!) But the one that's stuck in my mind is the third one:

The working memory can hold 2 to 4 chunks of information at a time, usually in about 4 - 8 minutes. After that, the brain needs time to process, reflect and review in order for those chunks to move to the long term memory.


In a world where we're given large amounts of information to dish out to the kids in a short day, it's tough to give out just 2 to 4 chunks of information at a time, then allow the time to process that information so it can go into the long term memory. Here are some suggestions for this enormous task of taking information from the working memory to the long term memory:


Twelve Strategies to Get from Working Memory to Long Term Memory: tricks to help students make learning stick!
1. Get them moving! I like to make movement and physical action part of the learning experience by using gestures and having the children mirror what I do.


2. Give time to review. I find the use of whiteboards work well for review. They are easy to use, very forgiving, and the kids love them.  They are easy for a teacher to check for quick assessments.


3. Use hands-on activities. Math manipulatives and science demonstrations work well to get the students interested and involved.


4. Minimize directions. Break larger lessons into smaller parts, making connections between parts.


5. Use a timer. After about 4 - 8 minutes, stop for a brain break, then return for a few more minutes, then another brain break.


6. Pause after a few pieces of information and give the students time to reflect and/ or ask questions.


7. Allow the students to draw pictures of what they're learning.  I'm a firm believer that drawing internalizes information. (I use it a lot for vocabulary.)


Twelve Strategies to Get from Working Memory to Long Term Memory: tricks to help students make learning stick!
8. Use graphic organizers to arrange ideas so they can be revisited and understood.


9. Use "think pair, share" type activities where the students talk about what they just learned.


10. Use music. Putting important information to a simple tune that the children already know really helps them remember the information.  Some simple tunes that everyone knows:  Twinkle Twinkle, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, or This Old Man.


11. Have a gimmick. Do something clever or unique to get their attention. Tell a joke or hook them in with something clever.


12. Get their emotions involved. Emotions are very  much tied to memory. (I'll bet you remember those very emotional events in your life:  like your wedding or giving birth!) For some, getting up in front of the class will get the right amount of emotions going. For others, a game will do the trick.

Do you have any ideas to help those chunks of information get into the long term memory?  Please include your ideas in the comments section below!


Twelve Strategies to Get from Working Memory to Long Term Memory: tricks to help students make learning stick!







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