Looking for ideas to bring 'fun' in the classroom?

Question

As an education major, I'm looking for ideas on ways that I can incorperate fun into my lessons. I've heard of students being awarded 'money' to buy small items form a 'shop' in the classroom. Other teachers have some sort of 'catch;' that can be used in the event that a lesson ends early, etc to keep students occupied. (For example, one of my professors had a hockey goal in his class and woud play a little hockey in the back of the classroom.) I'm looking for details on any activities that teachers have in their classroom that help to create a community in the class and /or can be used in the event that I need something to fill a short amount of time. (All my profs tell us to alway over plan and have some sort of activity ready to go when needed.) Thank you in advance for your ideas! P.S. If you have more details on the money thing in the class - I'd appreciate that as well.

p.s. I'm looking for ideas for Elem. Education students.

Answer 1

Here are several ideas for activities that make your days different. You can practice the same types of things but in different ways so that it is not boring. Many of these activities are good to fill an extra 10 minutes or so of time for those days when you go faster than you thought you would.

As for a money system, you can be creative and make any type of money. Make it something that you can photocopy. You can also use tickets that you can buy at an office supply store.

Develop a policy for giving tickets. It can be for A's on a test, completing all homework in a week or for doing their work in class. You can give tickets for those who help out in class or when you "catch someone doing the right thing."

Some teachers allow kids to actually purchase items from a store with their tickets. They can buy school supplies (pens, pencils, erasers) or candy or sometimes a homework pass. Other teachers put all of the tickets in a bag and pull out a certain number every Friday. The kids then can choose from a treasure chest.

Divide the class into teams. Ask a question. The person who answers first (and is correct) gets a point and gets to try to make a basket. You can get a cheap hoop at the dollar store. Some teachers also just use a box or the trash can.

Instead of doing a typical worksheet she would decorate 8 or 10 pieces of construction paper. She would number them 1-10 and draw a funny face or something on them. She pinned them to the cork board at the top of the chalk board. She would then call on one student (a shorter one) to choose the number and then a different taller student to get up and flip it. On the other side were problems to be worked. It broke up some monotony and they would go over it together after everyone had a chance to work on it.

The flyswatter game... Put random answers all over the board. Read a problem and 1 person from each of the 2 teams tries to solve it. The first to hit the right answer with a flyswatter gets a point for his/her team. I tell them that they are only allowed to hit 1 answer... otherwise you have them hitting randomly without even trying to actually figure it out.

Create a jeopardy board with terms and problems. This is better for a review.

Get pieces of bulletin board paper and tape it up on the wall in different spots of the room. Give the kids a few problems. They must work together to solve them on the bulletin board paper. It is just different from working problems from a worksheet. They can then discuss and review the problems with the rest of the class.

If you have a lot of terms in one chapter or for a unit you can do concentration in small groups for matching the word with its meaning.

Use a board game that you can photocopy. The kids use a coin for a marker. Make up several questions, photocopy them and place them in envelopes. The kids roll the die and then draw a question. If they answer/solve it correctly they may move the number rolled. If they are wrong then they can not move. First to reach the end wins.

Checkers... each square has a problem on it. In order to move their man to a spot they must first solve it correctly.

Sometimes the math teacher that I worked with would have the kids fold their paper so that it had 8 squares and then give them 8 problems to solve. They do one in each box. It is just different; grabs the attention a little bit.

I have generic wipe off boards that I use. The kids like it; again it is just something different. I took sleeves that are used for scrapbooking; covering and protecting the pages. Inside each one I put a piece of white cardboard. Each kid gets one, a dry erase marker and a paper towel. We do problems, they hold up the boards and I can see if they are "getting it" or not.

Board practice is a way to get kids up and out of their seats so that they do not tire of sitting for so long. I give a problem and if they are right they get a point for their team. I do not do it as a race.

Group work is also a way to break up the monotony. Anything that you can have them work out as a small group is good. I remember the other teacher using shapes and little projects that I do not really recall. For each unit read the teacher resource suggestions and see if there is a way to make a group activity.

I hope these help. I am a Spanish teacher, but my friend and I found that many of the activities can be adapted and changed so that they work for many subjects. This is just a way to do the same old thing in a way that makes the students feel interested.

Answer 2

We use to play a lot of Heads-Up Seven-Up to fill in the couple extra minutes at the end of the day.
We also wrote letters to kids that had left the school recently or now I guess you could write letters to the troops deployed. I am deployed but it doesn't matter what time of year it is, to get a letter from a kid that is my little sisters age and have them write us letters is always fun. At least for me it is.
One of my teachers had a jar filled with jelly beans, M&M's (anything little enough for a jar). Then she would find a way for us to make a guess as to how many were in there. Like, if we did something special or showed improvement or whatever. By the end of every month nearly all the kids had a guess and whoever was the closest would get some kind of prize.
Another teacher really wanted to improve attendance. He would award the class as a whole three toothpicks (or something cheap and easy to collect) if everyone was there, two if one kid was gone, one if two kids were gone, and none for anything more than that. Then he set different levels (like 25 picks, 50 picks and 100 picks) for different class prizes. 100 toothpicks was a pizza party in the classroom. I don't remember what 25 and 50 were but one was extra recess time. And then the class could vote if they wanted to spend the picks or keep saving.
I seem to recall always having homework and that was another one of the major time fillers for the end of the day. Finish the work and not have to take my books home with me and have more time to play once I got home.

Answer 3

My middle school teacher always put together a jeopardy style game that the class played. We were broken up into about 5 or 6 teams. The winning team got an extra 5- 10 points on there test. I dont think you should give them extra points on a test but it is a fun way to have a lesson or a great way to prep the kids for a test

Answer 4

yes. when i was in fifth grade, our teacher made us do jobs like cleaning up the class library, picking up trash, carrying the lunch box. if you don't do your job, you won't get to participate in the trade at the end of the year.(u get 3 chances, though.) the trade works like this: the teacher sell random things like, cheap things that you can buy at a $1 store. and students buy them with the money that you learned, doing your jobs. each job has a different pay, depending on how much work it is for the job that you're doing.

you can also do extra credits. if that student does something nice for you, they earn something, like a candy. my 4th grade teacher gave students hershey bars if they picked up trash, made somebody feel better, was generous to the teacher, or just being nice to everyone. sometimes, you can give them candies for answering a question.
or, another way of doing this, is by giving them points. you can have a graph in the back of the room. you add a tally or a sticker for a student whenever they do something good. and they get prizes in the end of the school-year.

Answer 5

I have three suggestions for you...
1. Participation points: Students have to earn a certain amount of points per marking period. My students have to earn 40, and they can earn up to 50 for extra credit. Whenever students are raising their hands and answering questions, or if I notice they are doing something well (ie-working quietly, helping another student) they get a point. They can also lose points if they are disruptive/talking excessively or leave a mess near their desk. The only drawback is that you have to walk around with a clipboard to document points.
2. Tickets: Buy a roll of tickets from the dollar store or Gags and Gifts. Whenever you see students doing something worthy of praise, you give them a ticket, they write their name on it, and put it in a bucket/can. At the end of the month, pull five tickets out and let winning students pick from a prize bin.
3. Review Games: Play review games with your class (jeopardy, quiz bowl, categories, etc). Winning players/teams get candy.

Answer 6

My art teacher had a money thing in her class. We had "Pig Points" because she loved pigs. Whenever we did our homework, we would get a pig point. If we helped out with cleaning the room we got pig points. If we did something else to help, we got pig points for that as well. Then, every other week we would have the pig store. She would have different kinds of candy, worth different amounts of pig points. If you got a certain amout (I believe it was 25) you could change your seat if you wanted to (this would be perminant). One of the things we could do if we had 15 pig points was take the class pet (a ferret) for a walk around the school. It was a really fun thing to do, and we all enjoyed it. And since it was every other week, she didn't have to spend loads of her own money. You could also stock your "store" with pencils, erasers, etc. So when your kids needed one, they could get one for a certain amount of "money." This should be open at all times, just incase someone needs one before the next "store" day. Hope this helped.

Answer 7

We gave water bottles called Pods at the advice of our lawyers and medical team. It was the opinion of the medical team that it is impossible for any children to be allergic to water. However there was the risk of a reaction to the plastic bottle and there were cases of children filing suit against because of a reaction to the plastic bottle. There were some children that cut their lip on the plastic bottle and had to be hospitalized. We shelled out over $5000 to prevent lawsuits against our family and it was well worth it. Cheese was a risk to those allergic to milk Crackers risked an egg and soy allergy reaction Fruit and veggies are risky to our diabetic children Chips and crackers may have wheat Popcorn can crack a tooth and result in a lawsuit. My suggestion is bring bottled water and pour it in a Dixie cup

Answer 8

I'm adding to my website of teacher items you can buy at:

supply-n-learn.com

Answer 9

What grade?