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End-of-Year Reflection: Top Five Classroom Success Stories of 2019

One of the most important things we can do as teachers is reflect, and so that’s why I love this annual blog post. It’s been my new year tradition for the past several years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), and choosing only five memorable teaching moments is always so hard, but here goes: My top five classroom success stories of 2019!

This year in review…

Teaching Gatsby for the first time in forever and writing the unit plan for it. A little bit Disney Frozen on the brain here, but it works. In the past, I had taught The Great Gatsby mainly in parts or just as a movie-viewing experience. So this time around when I was able to teach the novel as a whole to my group of junior honors, I was very excited to unpack everything it has to offer. Most students love the idea of the 1920s and the mystery of Gatsby, so I just played off of that enthusiasm. I started the unit with problem-solving questions and station rotations that introduced the time period and the novel. Once we began reading, I loved having students track the colors, do guided close reading exercises, and analyze the characters. We closed with a “My American Dream” project, and it was really incredible to see what students aspire to become. I was very pleased with the way the unit turned out. Check out my complete unit, my movie-viewing guide, and my escape game here.

Island challenges for Lord of the Flies. I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun teaching The Lord of the Flies was after I decided to create the challenges. I had wanted to do something like this for a while with Flies, but never got up my nerve. Finally, I just dove in and did it. I am SO glad I did. Read more about all the challenges on this post. Get my entire unit plan here.

Vacation Bible School. It seems like VBS makes my greatest hits list every year, and that is fine with me. I enjoy the themes, the decorating, projects, crafts, and energy created by a week of studying the Word with kids. This year’s theme was The Incredible RACE. We traveled all around the world learning about different cultures and God’s love for us. We decorated our hallways like an airport and our classrooms like the inside of an airplane and the country we traveled to each night. What an awesome trip!

First Chapter Fridays. As soon as I saw this idea from my friend Lauralee over at The Language Arts Classroom, I knew I had to work it in somehow. Each Friday, I would start class with one chapter, or a piece of a chapter, from a book that I thought my students would be interested in. I related the books to holidays as well. See all the books I shared over on my Instagram, and I also took it up a notch by including pictures of our weekly destinations because my classroom library theme is “Books are an Adventure.” See the video of me explaining my weekly process here, my classroom library set up here, and get my classroom library materials free here.

Christmas Nativity bible escape games with the younger students. If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you know how much I love escape games for the classroom. I create them every chance I get, and my high school students love them. This year, I was working with the PreK-4th grade students on Wednesday nights at church, and we were planning to study Paul’s escape from prison. I was in charge of the activity rotation, so of course, I thought – escape game! Since it was December, it only made perfect sense to do an escape game for the Christmas Nativity story. I ended up creating two games: one for the PreK-K level and one for the 1st-4th grade level. It was completely worth it. I always enjoy it when my high school students are playing, but I can’t even tell you how much fun it was playing the break out games with my “littles.” None of them had ever played one before, but they figured it out quickly and ran with it. Grab these two games here.

I would love to hear about your greatest teaching moments and classroom success stories this year. Share below!

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What Not to Miss When Teaching Fahrenheit 451

There is so much to teach and learn when reading Ray Bradbury’s magnum opus: Fahrenheit 451. I’m compiling this list of not-to-miss points when teaching Fahrenheit 451 after having taught it for years and years, but also with the disclaimer that every time I teach it, I see something new. However, these five aspects of the book surface each time through as the topics that spark the most learning and enjoyment.

1. The Language & Allusions: I suppose this wouldn’t be a proper English-teacher approved blog post, if I didn’t include the beautiful word choice, figurative language, and carefully chosen allusions throughout. One criticism or challenge students might face with this novel is Bradbury’s “overuse” of figurative language; it can often be difficult for readers to wade through. Thus, I provide students with a list of the figurative language from each section, and they identify what type of figurative language that is used. Sometimes students do that alone for a grade or in the form of my beautiful Fahrenheit 451 coloring sheets. Other times, we do it as a game in groups: I set a timer and they identify as many as they can before the timer goes off. (Use a song about fire as a timer for thematic fun!). Even though identifying the types of figurative language is not an “application” level task, it teaches students to notice the language as they read. In turn, that creates reading with a more critical eye and allows them to see patterns, themes, symbols, and more – which is a higher level skill. In this book, that is really important as Bradbury uses the figurative language to illuminate major themes and concepts such as in the way he describes the book pages as feathers early in the novel, which connects to the Phoenix allusion later on, for example. The allusions in the novel also add layers of meaning. Of all the books and mythology mentioned, Bradbury chose each one carefully, I believe. In my Complete Unit Guide for Fahrenheit 451, I provided tools for figurative language and allusions.

2. The Predictions: In the early 1950s when Fahrenheit 451 was published, it was considered a science-fiction novel, and it typically still is considered as such. Bradbury stated in interviews that his primary motivation for writing Fahrenheit 451 was concern for “how television destroys interest in reading literature.” With that fear as the guiding conflict, he traced the implications of too much television on a society… but not just television. I picture him wondering “Where could this talking box take us? and What else could possibly be invented?” What we got was the picture of a dystopian society that is frighteningly all too familiar to us less than 100 years from then. These “predictions” of technological advancements and the state of humanity ultimately serve as warnings to our culture and our students’ generation. That’s not to be missed. In fact, it’s so important to me that I close my unit by having students investigate those predictions (earbuds, robot dogs, smart homes, etc.) to determine if they are really predictions or not. That short research project is included in my Complete Literature Guide for teaching Fahrenheit 451. By completing the project students note how the “predictions” really do come true and that they weren’t really all that far-fetched to begin with. We discuss, then, how that allows us to truly connect with the text, and it really does become the mirror that Bradbury intended.

3. The Motif of Fire: I am a fan of tracking while reading novels. Just ask my students — insert eye roll from them here. But now, every time we start a new text, they ask me “What are we tracking this time?” Truthfully, even though they may not enjoy the discipline of the tracking process, they do enjoy seeing how a motif, symbol, or character can be developed throughout the course of the novel. It keeps them tied to the novel in a meaningful way and keeps them alert while reading. I also like that it teaches the practice of annotation and since it’s so specific, it’s perfect for struggling readers. Advanced readers also excel with this type of practice because they begin to see the connections quickly. With Fahrenheit 451, we track the motif of fire, flames, burn, burning, heat, sparks, and the like. It may seem “typical” or “obvious” to track fire, but Bradbury is both implicit and explicit in his use of this motif, and I want my students to pick up what he is putting down. Throughout the course of the novel, students begin to see how the use of fire changes from something destructive in nature to an entity that provides warmth and new beginnings. Through tracking, students will also be able to see how each of the sections in the book end in fire, and in that, they’ll really begin to appreciate the writer’s craft. I also have students note Bradbury’s choice of section titles as part of this exercise. A fire tracker along with prompts about fire are included in my Complete Literature Guide for teaching Fahrenheit 451, or just have students grab a sheet of paper and make a list as they read.

4. The Themes of Emptiness and Happiness: A case could certainly be made for many more themes than just emptiness and happiness, but I think these two concepts bookend the novel. As a pre-reading exercise, I have students write in response to a quick journal prompt: The word empty is mentioned forty-three times in the text of the novel. It is safe to say that Bradbury intended this emptiness to be a theme throughout the text. So, how do we get to this place? How do we get so empty? Write about a time when you felt empty. What filled your bucket back up? Students make text-to-self connections right away as well as tuning into this theme right away and what causes this internal conflict in the characters. About half way through the novel, I have students do another prompt on happiness: When Montag first met Clarisse McClellan she asked Montag is he happy. Now that you’ve seen the plot and conflict develop, is it happiness that Montag needs or something else? Explain. (This prompt and others are included in my Complete Literature Guide for teaching Fahrenheit 451.) Despite the heavy warnings fused throughout the text, I don’t think Bradbury wanted to write a tragedy; I believe he wanted to show the causes and effects of darkness in order to inspire the light. It was Faber who gave us the recipe for happiness: choose quality books and take time to actually read them.

5. Censorship: I can’t imagine a world where people don’t want books, but I don’t live under a rock, either. As an English teacher, I regularly face resistance to reading from my students, and I see them moving further and further away from choosing to read. Books introduce ideas; they enable to us to travel to new places and meet new people; they give us education; they move us; they make us think; they make us look more closely at ourselves, which is what I think this book does so well. Bradbury’s gift was being able to look at the world around him and wonder… “what if?” and “why?” Ultimately, controlling books through censorship removes a sense of wonder from the world, and if nothing else, I want students to walk away from a unit on Fahrenheit thinking critically and knowing it’s ok – and encouraged – to wonder. After all, “There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house.” I love doing my banned book project around Banned Book Week that asks students to research why certain books have been banned throughout history. This project is included in my Complete Literature Guide for teaching Fahrenheit 451.

There’s so much within the pages of this beautiful novel that it was really hard to narrow it down. One important thing to remember, though, when planning a novel unit is to ask yourself “Why?” What really do you want to accomplish with the novel, and go from there. It’s easy to want to include it all, but that is only frustrating for you and your students. While it was Bradbury that said, “Quantity produces quality,” it isn’t necessary to cover all the things with everything you read, it’s just necessary to cover everything with all the things you read. So, read all the things. 🙂

Title Photo by Fred Kearney on Unsplash

Lord of the Flies Island Challenges for Each Chapter

Each time I teach a novel, I try something different. I love teaching Lord of the Flies, and this past year I decided to give island challenges a try. Let me tell you… best decision I made for teaching this novel! I taught the novel out of class and hosted book clubs each Friday. (See more about my book clubs here.) Fridays, then, were when we did our challenges, discussions, and quizzes. I’m so excited to be sharing these chapter-by-chapter island challenges with you. I worked really hard to find or design challenges that would connect either with the theme or conflict of the chapters, so they wouldn’t just be “random” fun things to do. I really wanted the challenges to be both meaningful and fun. They are also a blend of mental and physical challenges, which we found to be perfect for a mixture of winners due to so many different abilities in the class. Because there are 12 chapters in Lord of the Flies, I’ll be breaking my traditional “Fast Five” format to share them all with you. Excited yet? Ready to get lost on an island adventure? Come and get your feet wet and your toes in the sand!

Pre-Challenge: Have your students get in groups. These will be their island factions for the rest of the reading. I let them pick, but I was teaching this novel to older students with specific friends groups, and I liked letting them work with people with whom they felt comfortable. Plus, it added to the tension in competitions among groups. No group was more than 4 students. Then, they picked a name for their group, a symbol, and a motto. On the first day of the unit before I even handed out books, we did this and they made their group “flags” or posters. I hung these “flags” on the board, and this is where I would put their stars when they won challenges. I usually had a first and second place, but everyone always had to finish the challenges.

Also on this first day, we did a pre-reading challenge, which is a survivor game that comes in my Lord of the Flies Teaching Unit.

Chapter 1 Island Challenge: Frequently Confused Words Maze

I absolutely loved this interactive maze challenge. The boys in the novel go out searching the island in the first chapter, and the creepy vines only add to their confusion and fright in trying to find their way around, so having my own students participate in a maze made perfect sense. I found this activity from EoLA Ruth, and it’s brilliant. In this commonly confused words maze, students are challenged to find the answers to the worksheet by searching around the room (and in the hallway) for the hidden clues. EoLA Ruth has everything done; it really was print and go, and it challenged even my older students. Get it here.

Chapter 2 Island Challenge: Build a 3D Map of the Island

For this challenge, students had to use textual evidence to build a 3D map of the island. By this chapter, the boys on the island have begun to figure their way around a little better, and Golding has given us some very specific descriptions. I set a timer and awarded first place to the group who finished their map first and correct. This 3D map activity is no prep, and it’s included in my Lord of the Flies complete teaching unit.

Chapter 3 Island Challenge: Building a Hut STEM Challenge

To coincide with the boys’ island experience, I challenged my students with a fun STEM-oriented tent-building activity. Everyone received the same supplies: a plate, piece of construction paper cut in half, 4 tooth picks, four straws, one fruit roll up, 6 mini pretzel sticks, a long piece of plain tape, and I used jelly beans as people. I don’t think I’d do people again. The three categories were Most Aesthetic, Most Functional, Most Creative/Thoughtful Intent. The tents had to fit on the plate and be only one tent. I had a few other teachers come in and judge.

Chapter 4 Island Challenge: Figurative Language Throw-down

I used the figurative language worksheets in my Lord of the Flies teaching pack for this challenge and had kids race against the clock and each other to get the most correct. You can’t miss Golding’s beautiful use of language, and this was a good, quick challenge.

Chapter 5/6 Island Challenge: Building a Parachute STEM Challenge

This chapter introduces the fallen parachute soldier, so I went with another STEM challenge. For this activity, students had to use certain supplies and build a parachute that would float the longest. If I do it again, I’ll also add a prize for one that goes the farthest. Supplies: plastic bag, piece of felt, piece of aluminum foil, pieces of string, a long piece of tape, and a unicorn that had to be secured to it. We went to the bleachers to drop them off, and I can’t even tell you how much fun this was!

Chapter 7 Island Challenge: Worm Dig

By this point the novel, things are getting messy… nasty and dirty are taking over – the island is transforming and so are the boys. For this challenge, I bought extra large cups of chocolate pudding and sour gummy worms. I ran it kinda like a minute-to-win-it came. One student per group volunteered, and without any hands, they had to remove all the worms from the “dirt.” They also had to clean up the worms, so no dumping out the bowl and winning. The group with the most – and cleanest – worms out in a minute won.

Chapter 8/9 Island Challenge: Pin the Tail on the Piggy

At the climax of the novel, it was only fitting for students to experience a pig hunt, of course! So, I went classic with this one, and we played pin the tail on the piggy. Each group got one tail, one minute, and one try to get the tail as close to the marked spot as possible. I had one person per group and each person went one at a time, and their group could help, but other groups were yelling out to make chaos. Oh, and we did create hurdles for them to tackle as they crossed the room. It couldn’t be too easy, right? We did have a tie, sort of, so I had those groups go all at once for the win. Let me just say, they did battle it out.

Chapter 10 Island Challenge: Quiz Scores

During each book club, we would also take a quick quiz, and I used an average of the groups’ scores. Quizzes can be found in my Lord of the Flies teaching unit.

Chapter 11 Island Challenge: Theme/Quote Sort

This challenge is again geared toward testing the students’ understanding of the content of the novel now that we’ve almost made it through to the end. For this challenge, I chose to use my theme and quote sorting activity. They raced against the clock and each other to get the most card matched correctly. Each group got one set of cards. They can be found in my Lord of the Flies teaching unit.

Chapter 12 Island Challenge: Escape Game

What’s an island survival novel without an “escape off the island” game? I wanted so badly to create a quick mini escape game of my own, but time was running thin. So, luckily I found an awesome digital game from English Bulldog that worked very well. I hadn’t ever used a digital escape game before, but I was really impressed with the clues and content. My students enjoyed it, and it was the perfect way to end the island challenges.

For each set of three chapters, I did prizes (extra points) for the people in that group. I used different colored stars to track the wins. Then, I did an overall winner at the end, and they got a more festive prize. I really enjoyed creating and conducting the island challenges, and my students enjoyed participating. I think the videos and pictures show that, but when one of my class-clown athletes said, “What do you have for us today? You’ve really made me be excited to come to class,” it took my breath. It was a lot of work, but if a few little games can get kids wanting to read and come to class, I’ll do it every day, all day. #worthit

Grab my full complete Lord of the Flies teaching unit!

Written 6/2019

A Movie Review of HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 from a High School English Teacher

Finally… the moment my students and I have been wishing and waiting for – an updated movie remake of one of our favorite novels: Fahrenheit 451. We always have a little fun playing the role of director, choosing which of our favorite actors and actresses should play Montag, Beatty, Mildred, Clarisse, and all the other memorable characters. However, we do always wonder… would Bradbury actually approve of any screen adaptation of his magnum opus? I had so many questions before watching HBO’s hot, new adaptation: Who would play Montag? Would it capture the theme accurately? What would be removed or added? And most importantly… would it be a good fit for using in class? Keep reading for the answers. WARNING: There are spoilers.

1) Characters/Characterization: Not everything about the characters was 100% spot on, but that is to be expected, I suppose. So what works and what doesn’t?

Beatty – Captain Beatty is our resident manipulative, maniacal manager of the fire. He’s the villain through and through, loving to control the narrative and burn anything that gets in his way. Right. Right? Well, maybe not. Beatty’s ambiguity is what makes him so compelling, confusing, and complex. In my opinion, the film does a nice job of painting a picture of Beatty of which Bradbury would approve.

Faber/Granger – These fiction-loving fellas aren’t named characters in the film, but their archetype is certainly present. In fact, they play a huge role in the film in terms of propelling the conflict. In the novel, the bulk of the conflict is driven by Montag’s internal struggle, but the film really hinges on both the person v. person and person v. society conflict with the “Eels” to move the plot. I suppose that’s a pretty decent substitution.
Montag – I’m not sure anybody can really live up to our Guy Montag. He’s always the hardest one to pinpoint and agree upon when we do our exercise in class of picking the actors/actresses. Everyone just always has a different idea of who he should be. He fumbles through most of the book trying to figure himself out, so maybe that’s why he is so hard to pinpoint. HBO’s Montag experiences a similar struggle, but I am still not quite satisfied for some reason. Montag the confused – yes, I can get on board with that. Montag the superstar – nah, I’ll pass on that interpretation. Maybe my hopes were too high. That said, I would give Michael B. Jordan a B+.
Ms. Blake – What a powerful scene. Glad she – and it – was included. Enough said.

Mildred – Initially, I was bothered by the fact that Mildred wasn’t included. The more I think on it, though, I can accept the choice. In the movie, she wasn’t just an obsessed robotic tv watcher, she WAS the robot. Clever. In the text, Bradbury needed a vessel to paint the picture society’s bad behaviors, etc. On the big screen and with today’s special effects, it is possible to just make it evident in other ways. Figuratively, too, it speaks to the whole idea of how little she actually contributed anything to Montag or society at all and how truly forgettable she was. Gone like a freight train (puns are intended), gone like yesterday. Wait, who was Millie again?
Clarisse – Clarisse provides the most mystery in the book, and the kids always love her. Bradbury is even quoted as saying he is Clarisse in the book: full of wonder and curiosity. It’s with Clarisse that the film falls of the wagon in the characters/characterization category. Clarisse is supposed to be light and airy and a picture of innocence, but in the film, she is too dark and brooding for my liking. And then there’s the whole spark between Montag and Clarisse. Not. My. Favorite. My students always think they’ve “picked up” on something between Montag and Clarisse when they read the scenes with her, and I always stress how incorrect that reading is. Clarisse is a catalyst for Montag’s path toward the truth. In that that way – and only in that way – might she serve as a femme fatale, luring him to the light. Am I surprised “Hollywood” used her character as a way to provide some on-screen romance? No, but it’s just textually inaccurate. As an aside here: My students didn’t like her in the film either.

2) Setting: So much of what Bradbury penned was futuristic – and dare I say prophetic – in the 1950s. Today, though, just about every bit of it has come to fruition, and what hasn’t can be computer generated for the movies. I was pleased to see the infusion of the large screens; they are, in fact, everywhere: in homes, in streets, and even on the skyscrapers. Bradbury’s biggest fear was the detrimental effects of people’s over consumption of and obsession with television. The TVs are ever present and “large and in charge.” However, I’m not so certain the intended dystopian city that Bradbury envisioned really seemed “all that bad” in HBO’s version. The setting, for me, kinda fizzled out.

3) OMNIS: This is a massive change from the book, but it may just be this detail that shows us – 2018 watchers of the film – how close we might actually be to Bradbury’s dystopian future. OMNIS holds every piece of literature, art, and history in a DNA strand, preserving the long forgotten culture that the firemen tried to erase. While there are underground members of society, like Granger and his “railroad” crew that memorize entire books in order to preserve them, it is this OMNIS that they work to protect and preserve. Once the OMNIS is introduced into the plot, it becomes the major source of the conflict, as it is the focus of the firemen’s revenge. The twist is that this DNA strand has been implanted in a bird. After some thought, I decided I might be satisfied with this change as I see connections with it and the prominent role of the Phoenix in the novel. OMNIS becomes a symbol of hope in a bleak, literature-loathing society that hints at the emergence of a better future. It’s a reminder that it doesn’t matter how much “graffiti” (books) the firemen decide to burn, there’s still hope out there for a free-thinking future — much like the Phoenix that is burned but rises again.

4) Theme: Ultimately, Bradbury wants readers to put themselves in the characters’ shoes: What role would you have played in this dystopian universe: perpetuator, bystander, fighter? Would you see the truth like Montag, or continue to fumble your way through the pursuit for ~~emptiness~~ happiness like Mildred. Would you fight to manipulate and cover the truth like Beatty or use truth to lead others to it like Faber or Granger? It is the growth from within that he wants – that really can bring the change that this culture needs. Truth, knowledge, morality — all erased and replaced with what people see rather than what they think. The movie does a good job of making that clear — maybe a little too clear (some points didn’t leave much to the imagination), but in order to bridge the gap to “modern audiences,” I can see the need. Maybe that’s a tad ironic, and telling, in and of itself. Nonetheless, tons of lines from the book are woven throughout, and I enjoyed hearing Bradbury’s voice.

5) The Ending: Bradbury’s ending is open, or so many of my students say, and most really do hate that. I always pose the question to them, though, Is it really open ended? Throughout the entire book, Bradbury wants readers to realize that the value of books is to provide information, but more importantly to make people think. On one hand, the open ending forces readers to do that. On the other hand, maybe the ending so open at all. Montag did figure out his purpose, and if you read it that way, then what else was there? Either way, the movie definitely provides us with Bahrani’s idea of what he thought should be Montag’s purpose: keep the “books” alive. But die? I could see a case for his death in the book, but die at the hand of Beatty. That idea should be torched. In the movie, the books “rise from the ashes” to live on and that offers some hope, but having Beatty kill Montag gives the villain way too much power, and erases hope that the books — and future — will really be safe. To link in another once “hot” film, President Snow said, “Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.” (Sidebar: Does anybody else see the HG connections? I can’t unsee it.) If Bahrani intended to remove that hope, that’s dark and maybe it’s a little too dark. But perhaps that’s just me trying to look on the bright side.

Final thoughts: Is it appropriate for class? HBO rated the film TV-MA for violence and language. That said, just about any novel we pick up is going to have violence and language or worse. I am not a fan of it either, and I don’t want to convey that at all. Otherwise, it’s pretty benign. All in all, I did think it was time well spent showing it to my students. It brought up so many conversations; and we really did decide that the book is better. It doesn’t get much better for my little English-teacher heart. In my school, anytime we show a film, we have to get our principal to approve it. So, I did that, and I wrote a parent letter and created a set of questions student would answer during the viewing. He was fine with that, and I had zero parents ask for an alternative assignment. I do have older students, but if you cover your bases this way you should be fine. (See my Teacher Talk Video on Facebook here about dealing with novels with difficult content.)

Get the letter I drafted and the questions HERE for free!

If you teach Fahrenheit 451 as a novel unit, stop over to my teacherspayteachers store and take a look at my complete unit plan. Also, did you enjoy the memes above? I have to brag on my students. Those were all their original work, and I have to admit, I laughed out loud at most of them.

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Top Christmas Holiday Lessons for Middle or High School Teens

The excitement is in the air, the carols are playing, the trees are going up: It’s Christmas! What a wonderful time of year for celebrations. If you are like me, though, you want to be sure that you are still keeping your class contained and working on something skills-based. Here are few Christmas holiday lesson and activity ideas I’ve found that I love for middle and high school teens for all subjects!

1) Teaching the Spirit of the Season: This is the time of year for giving, so I’m always looking for ways to inspire and warm my students’ hearts during the holiday season. It’s so easy for tweens and teens to get caught up in making their own lists and checking them twice that they quickly forget about others. My high school English students enjoy the activities in my Surviving the Christmas Bundle. These Christmas lessons and activities will inspire students to think beyond the hustle and bustle of receiving glittering gifts in order to focus on the moments and meaning of the season! Whether they are reading nonfiction about Toms shoes and analyzing poetry, watching the funny holiday film Skipping Christmas, or researching different symbols of the season from various holiday traditions around the world to present to their classmates, they will be focused and engaged. This pack includes various levels of texts with appropriate thematic pairings, so you can provide your students with the best materials for them.

Yearbook and journalism students can practice their headline writing skills and reach out to the student body with my Christmas headline writing activity. Students will read news articles about the holiday and write the missing headlines. Then they will organize an in-school service project. Your journalism students will love the Christmas-themed activity and service-learning project, and you will love that they are brushing up on crucial journalism skills.

2) Teaching Christmas Traditions Around the World: Many classrooms are blessed with diversity, and having activities at-hand for all students to see themselves in the celebration is important. In other cases, you may be required to incorporate a lesson with various Christmas traditions during this time of year. Either way, there are some pretty awesome resources available that will allow you to teach Christmas traditions around the world creatively and easily. My bundle featured above includes my Symbols of the Seasons research project, which would be perfect for English classes, advisory periods, technology classes, journalism/media, and more. A short research project like this is also perfect for sub plans. Middle school students (and even high school kids) enjoy coloring every now and then, too, and my Coloring-by-Figurative Language sheets offer a variety of images!

Escape games are all the rage right now, and you know how much I love them. This Christmas Around the World Escape Room by Think Tank will take your middle school students in any subject on a secret mission around the classroom! This escape room has students decode fun and interesting facts about Christmas traditions around the world. Students will learn brief holiday traditions of Iceland, Japan, Philippines, Germany, England, Ukraine, Russia, Norway, Marshall Islands, Australia, Slovakia and Venezuela. Grades 4-8 in geography class can join the fun with these latitude and longitude puzzles from Dr. Loftin’s Learning Emporium. Students simply plot the given coordinates, connect their dots, and discover a hidden picture (Santa, Gingerbread Man, Stocking, Elf, Snowman, Reindeer, Snowflake, Christmas Tree, Star of David, and Christmas Star).

3) Teaching with the Magic of Movies: I am a sucker for Christmas movies. This time of year my TV recorder is already full of holiday movies, and I can’t wait to cuddle up and binge watch. My all-time favorite Christmas movie is Home Alone 2. Old-school, I know, but I love the music, setting, and message. It’s no surprise, then, that I developed a FREE lesson for my high school English class, so I could show it at school! Plus, teach your students how to extend the holiday spirit with the real-world project included!

Another super-sweet movie this time of year is Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory. For this movie, I’ve also created a movie guide that has students practicing skills such as theme, conflict, characterization, mood, and setting. The human plot chart puzzle, symbolism worksheet, and constructed response prompts are excellent options to follow up the movie. Plus there are several suggestions for service projects that are inspired by the film.

And let’s not forget the all-time favorite Christmas classic: Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. If you like to show this film during Christmas, take a look at my movie guide. From reading charts and graphs, to reviewing plot with the interactive human plot puzzle, to analyzing symbolism, to writing, this movie guide is sure to add rigor to your movie-viewing experience. It works with any version of the movie you have on hand.

Go ahead… get cozy with some cocoa and a Christmas movie without sacrificing any learning.

4) Decorating and Celebrating in the Classroom: If you are allowed to have a Christmas party or decorate in your classroom this time of year, here are a few ideas to make it fun, easy, and educational!

Fun Theme:

Who knew that those tacky Christmas and holiday sweaters from the 90s would actually become a party trend? Yet, here we are… and they are actually super cute. I created this school-wide Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Pack, and the students at my high school have an Ugly/Tacky Christmas dress-up day every year; even the teachers participate! It’s so easy to host a tacky Christmas sweater party, and if you need some ready-to-go materials to communicate with parents and students or to make it educational, check out my Wacky Tacky Christmas Sweater Classroom Party Pack! There are even awards and activities to do in class during the party.

Elly Thorsen has you covered (All my puns are intended!) with her Physical and Chemical changes Ugly Holiday Sweater Coloring worksheets if you teach secondary science. In the worksheets, students read about a change that occurs over the holidays and identify it as a physical or chemical change by coloring an ugly sweater accordingly. Then they explain in sentences how they knew what kind of change occurred.

Decor:

If you are planning to deck the halls (or your classroom walls) for the holidays, there are so many posters that are educational. These multilingual Christmas and Hanukkah posters from The ESL Nexus represent different 35 countries, and include suggestions for 8 math, writing, and art activities that teach students about the countries! I like to hang my Nativity posters in my Sunday School classroom at church this time of year. These are sized as 8×10 both in jpeg and pdf format! You can print anyway you want… on home printer, online, or at the local photo lab!

If you teach a technology or computer classes, I love this idea from from Innovations in Technology. She has her high school students create her classroom’s Christmas decor using computer applications! Students certainly need to be skilled in Microsoft Excel and Google sheets to be successful in many college classes and the workforce. Students are challenged by creating the Christmas art, and they get to be a part of the decorating process.

Putting a Christmas tree up in your classroom may not be an option, but if you teach middle school math, Wilcox’s Way has you covered with her Middle School Christmas Tree Math Activity. Her resource includes 10 different templates you can use to build your Sierpenski Christmas tree pyramid. Have each student complete a couple of pyramids, and then watch the magic unfold as you put them together and watch your tree grow! I am fascinated with this!

$Middle School Christmas Tree Math Activity$

Treats:

What’s a party without some Christmas cookies and hot cocoa? Given that I have older students, I can usually say that everyone brings something to the table, so to speak, in order to eat. It can be something as small as a 2 liter drink or pack of plates. I even allow them to team up. In the case where students can’t bring anything, I ask them to speak with me and we figure out a good solution; I just want them to realize that it’s important to contribute if at all possible. Another thing to keep in mind is food allergies and school policies on food. If all of that works in your favor, have ALL the cookies, candies, and cocoa. If not, don’t worry. There are still some really fun ways to treat your students.

Kerry Tracy’s Christmas and Winter STEM challenges offer so much variety. I think the Candy Cane Calamity would have your middle school students laughing all the way!

Erin Hanson created a fun hot cocoa themed STEM activity. Middle school scientists will explore the effect of temperature (thermal energy) on marshmallows and candy canes in hot cocoa. Students will practice their science and engineering skills by making predictions, planning investigations, making observations, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and they’ll love every minute of it!

In Amy Alvis’s middle school math class, students explore ratio and proportion with holiday cookie-themed task cards. Your middle school math students will love using manipulatives to discover how many marshmallows are hidden in each mug of hot chocolate in Leaf and Stem Learning’s Christmas Math Holiday Algebra activity. The variables are represented by holiday cocoa mugs and the constants by marshmallows!

$Christmas Math Holiday Algebra$

5) Stocking Stuffers: This category is my catch-all for the short Christmas activities and lessons I love that are perfect for just your plug and play, last-minute fillers. From stations, literacy, math, or writing centers, to bell ringers, to time fillers at the end of class, to a short periods or odd schedule days, we always need something we can grab quickly and “stuff in”!

The OCBeach teacher has her students writing at the beginning of the period using her poetry bell ringers for the winter season. My Christmas grammar worksheets designed for high school students aren’t your typical Christmas grammar exercises! These are truly NO PREP, print and go, age-appropriate exercises to challenge and review your teens’ grammar skills during December. These grammar activities for Santa reflect a seasonally-inspired thematic concept of the page that coincides with key, standards-based grammar skills. For example, students will repair broken sentences (fragments and run-ons) in Santa’s Workshop. Or, they will help Santa double check his list by correcting apostrophe errors. I’ve also provided beautiful clip art to add layers and interest to the pages to grab your teens’ eyes! Plus, for those fast finishers, there’s plenty for them to color and style! Extension activities are also provided on several of the sheets, and the grammar notes are included as well. Your students will get all “wrapped up” with these grammar activities!!

Getting rave reviews from fellow middle school language teachers is the HappyEdugator’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas homophone search. In this Christmas activity, middle school language arts students will be searching all over for homonyms and homophones in a wacky homophone version of the famous Christmas poem “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clark Moore.

I’m super impressed by the rigor and detail of The Lab’s science coloring by number worksheets for Christmas. Middle and high school students review the human body, periodic table, and more in this coloring activities bundle!

High school Spanish classes can even have a little holiday fun with La Profe Plotts’s Holiday Task Cards. My Christmas holiday real-world grammar fails task cards make the perfect grab and go activity for stations, using in Kahoot, or as bell ringers.

Remember to check your school’s policy on celebrating this time of year, so you are in compliance with those guidelines. May your season be blessed with love, rest, joy, and peace!

From my home to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Keeping Kids Tuned in at the End of the Year

It’s getting to be that time of year when things get a little crazy – a little sideways. Students – and teachers – are starting to tune out! In a middle or high school English classroom, this is an excellent time of year to start that novel you’ve been wanting to teach or to try a new project. So hopefully, these ideas will make those even more creative for you! Plus, they are all student-centered and standards-based, so the kiddos stay engaged, and your job is easy! Join me for a fun recap of some ways to keep students tuned in this time of year.

1) Make It Real – When the CCSS started to roll out and there was so much emphasis placed on nonfiction, I’ll be honest – like many other “old English teachers” – I was nervous about giving up so much class time to those texts over my beloved classic fiction texts. Now, I love finding nonfiction texts that stand alone and/or that pair with my fiction. And, honestly, the kids LOVE it when they know it’s real. Sometimes I have them go searching on their own for real information – like in my mini research project on banned books in my Fahrenheit unit. Or other times, I’ll pair the info for them and have them dig into the material in class like in my lesson on the LeRoy HS outbreak after we read Act 1 of The Crucible. Also, take a look at several bundles of hot topics informational text lessons I have ready-to-go.

2) Make It Personal – We all know that secondary students can be ah hem… self-centered. So anytime they get to talk about themselves, there’s pretty good buy-in. My seniors just completed my Generational Interview project as part of their reading tasks for the last section of my Fahrenheit unit. They – and their grandparents – really enjoyed the projects and the kids learned so much about their families and themselves. This was an out-of-class assignment, but they did share in class. Now that’s an easy prep! Another way to make it personal and keep kids tuned in is with poetry that speaks to them. In my treating senioritis poetry pack, I’ve selected several poems that draw on students’ personal experiences and the follow up activities ask students to reflect on their past, present, and future.

3) Make It Interactive – I have to admit that I’d never used puppets in the classroom before with high school students, but now that I have, I can’t stop. I also have to admit that it was partly my students’ idea to conduct the first puppet show. When my seniors read The Canterbury Tales, I had made little cards with the characters on them. I wanted each student to read and research about that character to share with the class. One student was holding up her card and thought she was being funny when she said, “We should do this as a puppet show.” I said, “Actually, that’s a great idea. Yes, we should.” That night I glued Popsicle sticks on the cards and borrowed a puppet curtain my mom had made for my nieces. Voila! The next day we had a puppet show! After that, I let my emoji addiction get a little more out of control, and I made emoji puppets for accountable talk, review, point of view, and more! See my Facebook post about them!

Escape games are super hot right now, too, and you can find them in just about any subject and grade level. The end of the year is the perfect time to give one a try for review or just for fun. I’ve made full-length games for some favorite stories I teach, and I recently started to make mini escape games that last 30 minutes!

All of my games are designed so that you can use a physical lock box that you buy premade or make yourself or digitally with Google. I love using the physical lock box for students, and I’ve created a quick video tutorial just in case you’ve wanted to try it, but have been a little apprehensive about it.

How To: Using One Lock Box for Classroom Escape Games

Tuesday's How To: Using One Lock Box for Classroom Escape Games

Posted by Julie's Classroom Stories on Tuesday, October 23, 2018

4) Make It Project-Based – Projects don’t have to be a lot of work for you. Nor should they be a lot of work to prep. One year I wanted something new and fun for Earth Day, so I rummaged through my junk drawers at the house and had student create uses for the various items. The skills we covered? Propaganda, Info-Text Analysis; Speaking and Listening, Presenting. That project is for sale here! This time of year, my yearbook students also work on projects to keep them busy until the books come back. They would be excellent for a yearbook class, business, art, or technology class. I’ve also successfully done short research projects, and I have a ton of those available as well on a variety of topics.

5) Make It a Movie Day – Let’s be real for a minute. We can’t always show a movie, but if we are talking about getting tuned in, well, we can’t ignore the obvious. If you missed my post about how to incorporate media effectively, click here to go check that out. I will say that my seniors are going to be watching The Hunger Games next week. Why in the world, right? It was their idea – and it wasn’t because they just wanted to watch it randomly. In fact, they’ve been asking me all along our 451 unit if there’s a sequel to Bradbury’s magnum opus. (Can we pause to just say how awesome it is that they want to read MORE 451?!?!?) Then one day, it dawned on a student that there was quite a bit of intertextuality between 451 and THG. I had noticed the parallels before because I love THG! He made a pretty good case for it, so I thought this would be a fun way to end the unit. They’ll have to write something showing those parallels, of course. Plus, I’ve got you covered for tons of movies with ready-made, standards-based movies guides. All you need to do is get the DVD and press play!

Here’s to a great rest of the year! Share your ideas for ending the year strong below!

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Updated 2019

School photo created by freepic.diller – www.freepik.com

5 Reasons to Love TpT for Back to School

Going back
to school isn’t just a one day event for teachers. It is a process- a process that takes hours,
days, and weeks. We teachers pour over
our classrooms and attend meetings. We run copies and plan lessons. We wonder what desk arrangement is going to work. How many students will I have? What will
I do on the first day? And now with the ~~pressure~~ inspiration of
“Pinterest classroom” – phew! We will never be finished, right? Teachers just
simply do not just go back to school!

So, that’s
why I love Teachers Pay Teachers for back to school. Here are five reasons that
TPT is great for making back to school a little simpler.

1) Give-a-Ways
– Many TPT sellers work together to put together huge bundles of great
resources, gifts, and more that teachers can enter to win! Find out about these
give-a-ways by following blogs and individual stores and by doing a
quick Internet search.

2) Freebies
– What’s better than an idea or resource that you love? If it’s free, right?!? TpT is has thousands of free,
quality resources for back to school ideas, classroom décor, pre-tests,
curriculum, ice breakers, and lessons.
There are no strings attached – just log in for free and download until
your heart’s content! See some fabulous freebies for secondary ELA here.

3) Bundles
– Anybody like shopping at Costco or Sam’s? Do you prefer those large jars of
pickles at Wal-mart to the smaller ones? It’s true – bundles give you more bang
for your buck. Even if you don’t eat every last pickle in the jar, you paid
less but got more and loved every bite of each one that you did eat. The same is true for bundles of resources,materials, and activities. You get to
pick and choose what you can use, or use it all, and it’s all there in one easy
download!

Back to School Trip to Costco

4) Sales
– I love that tingly feeling when I’ve gotten a good deal on a pair of shoes.
You know the one J.
Teachers Pay Teachers sellers are very aware that ~~most~~ all teachers
use their own money to buy school supplies and resources, and sellers know that
teachers are spending their own hard-earned money and trusting our resources. At the start of every year the site hosts a
site-wide sale, and they host several throughout the year as well. Periodically throughout the year, individual
sellers will throw their own sales. The
fact of the matter is, though, that the prices on TpT are already
rock-bottom. Where else can you get a
week unit plan for $5 or less? See what’s on sale this week!

5) It’s
all in one place at your fingertips. – Time is precious. Having resources that
are ready-to-go and tried and true all in one place that you can preview before
you buy is fantastic. No need to run to
the dusty supply closet, hop around on various sites, or wait for something to
come in the mail. Just relax in your jammies with some coffee and shop. It’s all right here –
right now!

As
back to school rounds the corner more closely each day, may the odds be ever in
your favor!