Elementary Matters is an educational blog focused on Elementary grades 1-3. These posts will make an elementary teacher's life easier by sharing information about how the brain learns best. It includes time savers, suggestions for classroom management, hints on effective teaching of reading, writing, and math, and several ideas for squeezing Science and Social Studies into daily instruction. These posts include links to several videos, articles, resources, and plenty of free materials.
Fun and Easy: A Good Place to Start!
Back to School Success Strategies Part 3: Review, Review, Review!
It's getting closer to that time again.
No
matter where you are in your summer vacation, getting back is in your
future. This series of posts is designed to make that return a bit
smoother for you.
Review, review, review!
We all know that our students have had a whole lot of time away from learning. You can call it "summer slump" or "summer slide," or numerous other things! No matter what it's called in your neck of the woods, it's time to get them back in the swing of things and bring those skills back!
You may remember that I'm a big fan of Boom Cards because they are easy to use in the classroom and can be used remotely by sending a link through any platform. These vocabulary Boom Cards are a fun way to review important science and social studies vocabulary. Building Vocabulary Science and Social Studies Boom Card Bundle
But it's important to keep it interesting. I like to let the children practice important reading skills by having them read informational text about important Science and Social Studies topics. It's a real time saver, and they absolutely love the topics! This bundle of Earth Changes gives them a lot of information, yet loads of practice with reading and comprehension skills. Earth Changes Bundle: Reading Comprehension for Active Learners.
Math fact fluency is an important part of everyday mathematics. (This system was mentioned in Part 1 - Routines.) Brain research tells us it's important to review information in order for that information to go into their long term memory. I recommend that children review frequently the "levels" they have already mastered in this system to keep the information solid. If they never go back to it, they won't remember it! Math Fact Fluency System: the Bundle
These Math Challenges are a fun way to review old math skills for grades 3-5! Since math continues to build on previous skills, it's important that those skills are strong. These challenges review second grade math concepts, but with an added challenge! Mystery Math Challenge Bundle
Here's a link to several "summer review" resources that can get their brains back on track: Summer Review Games and Activities
Be sure to read the other four parts of these Back to School Success Strategies!
I imagine you're thinking of more ways to review and strengthen important skills!
I hope you'll share some of these in the comments below.
Academic Summer Games! A Celebration of Learning!
This is our last full week of school, and we'll be celebrating learning by having Academic Summer Games!
- Have fun!
- Give the kids a taste of what the Olympics are like!
- Give the children some experience with some of the different countries all over the world.
- Review skills from the year!
- Liven up these last few dreary days!
- Promote teamwork and positive feelings.
- Promote individual self esteem
- Grab an opportunity for some Project Based Learning.
- Did I mention having fun?
- Form 5 groups of 4. Those students will choose a country to represent, design a banner to represent that country, make a flag for that country, and pick a color to wear on the days of "competition".
- We'll start with a "parade of athletes" around the school. Each "country" will carry its banner and flag, and will proudly display their colors.
- Then we'll hold a number of "events". I'm thinking a few scoot games, like these, perhaps a "read-a-thon", brainstorming contests (How many nouns can you think of in 60 seconds?), math facts contests, a S.T.E.M. project (something to do with water that can be done outside!), physical contests (How many jumping jacks can you do in 60 seconds?)
- After each ceremony, hold a "medal ceremony" for the winners. I'm thinking some events will be group events, and some will be individual events. Yes, I actually own a CD of national anthems, so I'll play the one that goes with the country they represent, while they display their flag/ banner.
- If necessary, I'll come up with my own events, to make sure everyone gets an opportunity to be a winner. (Most people wearing purple?)
- Send them home with smiling faces and stories to tell.
Here are some books with Olympics themes: (Each title is a link to Amazon for more information.)
I'm looking forward to your input!
Active Students? Try Scoot!
Today I'm sharing a game that helped me through those last hectic weeks of school where the kiddos just couldn't concentrate on much of anything...Scoot!
- There is a numbered task card on each desk.
- Students do the task card at their desk, and write their answer on the answer sheet.
- When the teacher calls "Scoot", the children all move to the next desk in the sequence, and do that task card.
- Children continue to "scoot" from desk to desk until all cards have been completed.
A Fun Way to Review Basic Information
If you're not familiar with the game of Scoot, it's time you learned! It can be played with any type of task card that would have a quick answer,
For more about how Scoot works, see THIS BLOG POST.