Class Antics – Inside Elementary Education

Nicknames can be a great way to build community. Students love to have a special name just for them, and they feel valued when classmates use their nickname.

Some teachers assign nicknames on the first day of school. It’s a good way to break the ice. I’ve never tried that because I’m not sure I can come up with so many nicknames on the fly.

You might like to coin nicknames as the year goes on. Always ask the student’s permission before using a nickname you thought of yourself.

After you’ve given a few nicknames, tell the kids to let you know if they create a cool nickname for themselves. If you deem the nickname appropriate, encourage the class to make an effort to use it. Using the nickname is like a gift from one student to another. Students are so proud when their nickname catches on. Often it follows them past the end of the school year.

Ideas for creating nicknames:

Talents: Winners of contests or class experts might develop nicknames based on that, such as Miss Multiplication.

Actual names: You might be able to use alliteration to create a catchy nickname based on a student’s first or last name. An example is DJ Jazzy Jeff (the Fresh Prince’s pal.) If you’re lucky, you might find a cool rhyme, such as Racin’ Jason.

Last names that sound cool: Some kids just have awesome last names. They might like to be called by that. It sounds really jock. Jocular, too! New word alert—jockular: of or pertaining to a friendly jock.

Awesome prefixes: Sometimes you can add an awesome word to the student’s name to create a cool nickname. Two famous examples Magic Johnson and Joltin’ Joe. Athletic kids might like a strong name with Action, Power, Super, or some other similar “prefix.”

Initials: Some people’s initials sound awesome. This is a classic source of nicknames.

Cut-up names:This is a variation on Fun with Initials. Think A-Rod and JLo.

Objects: You might create a nickname based on something the student likes, or just a cute word that fits the student. Cupcake is an adorable nickname. Boots is fun and classic.

Famous association: Your student might have a name, talent or hobby that can tie into a song, movie or band name. Talented dancers might like Dancing Queen or Tiny Dancer.

Heroes: if a student has a hero, maybe that hero’s name or a variation of it should be their nickname. A girl who loves to sing might like to be called Beyoncé. A student might like to be called after his favorite team or mascot.

Many teachers seat students in table groups.  These groups can be Teams, Tribes, Learning Communities, or whatever your school calls them.

Some educators advocate getting student buy-in by having students name their groups.  There are a few reasons I’m not nuts about this approach:

1. It takes forever.
2. It’s not educational.
3. Kids come up with silly names that aren’t catchy or are just plain dumb.
4. Kids argue.  A lot.  How exactly was this teambuilding, again?
5. The kids who don’t get their way hate the new team name.

Instead, I name the teams myself using educational themes.   I might pick a bunch of math vocabulary words, Greek gods, key words for our Social Studies unit, parts of speech (Go, Adverbs!)…you get the idea.

Some of my coolest team names came about because I like to have seven tables in my classroom—it just fits well, and there are so many things that come in sevens.

1. Seven continents
2. Seven Wonders of the World (various lists)
3. Seven notes (Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do—we did this when we performed the song in our school talent show)
4. Seven colors—Roy G. Biv. (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)
5. The Seven Dwarfs come to mind, but parents might complain about their child being in the Dopey group.  Even though the kids love it and everyone wishes they were Dopey.  Seriously—one year I organized math teams and asked the kids if they’d like to be the Seven Dwarfs.  The rule was that the Dopey kids had to be volunteers.  Everyone wanted to be Dopey and we had to draw straws.  No one complained, but it could have happened!

When you brand your classroom (in the marketing sense, not as in labeling your kids like cattle), everything becomes more fun.  Branding builds community because your class feels more like a club than a randomly assigned group of students.

My last name is Green and I teach third grade, so I branded my classroom G3.  On the first day of school, I taught the kids how to do a class huddle and congratulate ourselves.  (I say “Go, us!” and the kids reply “G3!” in their deepest and most macho voices.) We also created a logo that we proudly displayed on our door. 

The G3 brand belongs to everyone in the class, as evidenced by the decorations on folders, notebooks and even backpacks.  Our PTSO created signing shirts for end-of-year autographs, and the kids all wanted G3 on their shirt.

I knew a teacher whose classroom was in the basement, Room B-6.  She renamed her classroom “The  BOG” as wordplay on B-o6, then she used frogs as a theme for everything related to her class. 

Another teacher chose ladybugs for a theme — her students were “Lovebugs,” as in “Lovebug, what better choice could you have made to get your homework turned in on time?” Her students loved everything she said!

I highly recommend that you create a brand for your classroom.  It can be a play on your name or grade, the school name, or a theme that you can use to decorate the classroom.  Make it unique so that it only applies to your class.  The “insider” feeling will be well worth the effort for you and for your students.

This is a quick tip for a meaningful (and realistic) idea of how to organize the last five minutes of the school year. We gather our supplies and are ready to leave before we start this procedure.

I gather my class for a fun reminiscing session about favorites from the year. Depending on the age and attention span of your students, you can have individuals share memories, or you can just shout out fun memories and let the kids cheer and talk amongst themselves. I choose the latter method because I know that as a child, I could never have sat through a pensive circle time in the last five minutes of the school day.

My method is more like a speech at a political rally—each sentence punctuated by applause and cheers.

Example:

Well, it’s been a great year in G3!

(Applause)

We learned our multiplication tables!

(Applause)

We had two Teddy Bear Picnics!

(Applause, chatter)

We planted a garden!

(Applause, chatter)

We made a salad from our harvest!

(Applause, chatter)

We learned chess!

(Applause, chatter)

We had two chess tournaments!

(Applause, chatter)

…I keep this up until the bell rings. Then, we all huddle up and say our class cheer: Go us, G3! Then I race to the door so I can hug everyone one last time.

What are your last-five-minutes-of-school traditions?

The last day of school is usually a blur of yearbook signing, room cleaning, and board game playing. I’d like to make a case for teaching something on the last day of school.

Students are about to leave your classroom for a summer of (mostly) unstructured activity. There will be plenty of time to watch movies and play games at home. Time for learning is precious, and sharing a special lesson together can create a lasting memory. Plus, it can only enhance your rep with parents if kids run home and talk about the cool thing they learned in school today.

Pilot Day: This is my traditional last day of school activity. My dad, a retired F-16 and F-4 pilot, puts on his flight suit and teaches the students about being an Air Force pilot. He starts with a simulation of all he’d say as he prepared for takeoff. He brings in his helmet, manuals, patches and insignia. He even shows an Air Force recruiting video about the awesomeness of jet fighters. Question and answer time can last over an hour. Questions about the ejection seat and bird strikes are always popular.

If you don’t have your own fighter pilot to create last day of school awesomeness, consider a lesson with an art tie-in. This way, you teach something cool, and then the kids can create art and chat.

Mythological Beasts: one of my students just loves mythology, and we did this lesson in his honor. He brought in his book of mythological beasts and my class was dead silent as he read it to us. Then, under his direction, we each created our own mythological beast. He wanted us to write a little about it—not too much—since it was the end of the year—and give it a clever name with a Greek or Latin flavor.

Starry Night: I taught students about Vincent van Gogh, and then we watched a slide show of his art while listening to Don McLean’s “Vincent.” Here is my copy of the lyrics (pdf), complete with vocabulary words. I recommend you teach the vocabulary before listening to the song. You can analyze the song for figurative language or simply treat it as a beautiful homage to Vincent. Then, color “The Starry Night” or create your own Vincent-style art.

Even if you teach on the last day, it’s probably good to leave some time for stacking desks and chairs, signing yearbooks and playing board games. Enjoy it, because you know that you also left your class with the impression that something important happens in this classroom—learning.

Many elementary school teachers assign a number to each of their students, usually in alphabetical order by last name: Josie Abraham is 1, Chris Bradford is 2, etc.

Parents who aren’t accustomed to using student numbers sometimes question this system.  Is their child being reduced to a number?  Fear not—student numbers are nothing like Jean Valjean’s “Who am I? 24601″ identity crisis in Les Misérables.  Teachers still call students by name! The student number is merely an administrative helper.

Student numbers make it easy to think through the class in alphabetical order.  That way, the teacher doesn’t forget anyone.  Examples:

Fire drill.  Did we all escape the building?

Roll call.  Are we all here?

Quick poll of class.  (Student 1, did you read your AR book last night?  Student 2, did you?)

Student numbers are shorthand for recordkeeping.  Examples:

Lunch count: students move numbered magnets to indicate their choice

Mailboxes: students turn in (and receive) papers in numbered file boxes.  The teacher can use the same numbered file boxes year after year.  (Most teachers buy these file boxes with their own money!)

Track assignments as they are turned in: the teacher can mark or cross off a student’s number on a master number sheet for each assignment.

Student numbers organize a crowd.  Examples:

Tell students to line up in number order.  (It’s the same order every time—no need for kids to jockey for position.)

Take turns for doing things in number order. (Usually for a participatory activity—avoids claims that Kayla went first last week, etc.)

At the start of each school year, many students are excited to learn which number they will be assigned this year.  Most students memorize the names and corresponding numbers of their classmates, as well.

Student numbers.  As Martha Stewart would say, it’s a good thing!

My students are always playing games.  Some are more fun than others…

So You Think You’re Done? is probably the most educational game we play.  Here are the rules:

1.  Line up and have your seatwork graded while you wait.  You can turn it in when you earn an A.

That’s it!  If you are not scoring 100%, you’re not done, so go back to your seat and keep working until it’s perfect. 

So You Think You’re Done? has many advantages over regular grading:

1.  It makes grading easy.  You only collect perfect papers.  Everything in the stack earns 100%.

2.  You grade on school time, not at home.  How many of us have been frustrated by grading papers at home?  For one thing, you already put in a 10 or 12 hour day.  Beyond your own needs, think about the students.  You find out that they did not do a very good job.  Some were just lazy.  Others never bothered to turn it in.  Still others just didn’t understand.  No one followed the directions.  With So You Think You’re Done? you can make changes in your teaching instantly and correct mistakes.

3.  It forces kids to learn.  Some students just can’t be bothered to work hard and learn.  With So You Think You’re Done? they just won’t have any grades until they earn an A.  They start to get sick of missing recess to do work that was allocated 40 minutes of class time.

4.  Elementary school kids don’t understand grades.  They truly don’t connect the work they do with the grade on their report card or progress report.  The weird thing is, they don’t blame you for their grade, either.  It’s just sort of something handed down from the heavens.  So, trying to motivate little kids with grades just doesn’t work.  They do like winning at So You Think You’re Done?, though.

5.  You help those in need.  If a student spends enough time in the So You Think You’re Done?  line and  keeps failing, you know to buddy him up for some tutoring.

Tips: You have to teach little kids that So You Think You’re Done? does not apply to tests.  Otherwise, they will help each other take the test.  After all, we want everyone to earn 100%, right?

So You Think You’re Done? works much better if the kids get team points for turning in their paper.  Kids don’t care about grades, but they do care about winning an ice cream party.  If you give double points for getting it right the first time, the game will be much shorter.

My students are always playing games.  Some are more fun than others…

So You Think You Rock?  is a game I invented to complement the Accelerated Reader program.  Actually, my sister invented it one day when she was volunteering in my class.  Here I was, trying to have AR conferences with the kids, which took forever—mostly because they were so slow in coming to talk to me.  Also, the constant coming and going was disruptive.

Then my sister printed up the class progress report and just started calling their scores out.  We jazzed it up by stating whether or not the student rocks.

Example: say it is the second week of the grading period.  You estimate that the student should be at 20% of their goal.  You have a class goal of scoring an average of 85% correct.  Announce it just like this:

John: rocks.  He scored 30% of his goal (students cheer) and has an 89% correct average.  Keep up the good work, John!  (John beams)

Paul: sort of rocks.  Paul, we are very proud of you for earning 45% of your goal.  You must be reading a lot at home!  (students cheer)  However, your average percent correct is 80%.  Could you work on that, please?  We know you can do it!  (students cheer)

George:  Rocks hard!  He has made his Goooooooal!  (Students raise their arms in a triumphant soccer cheer.)  Seriously, George rocked so hard!  Not only did he meet his goal in the first two weeks of the quarter, he has a 98% correct average!  (students cheer)  Have an ARHead, George!  (Airheads candy that I renamed.  Buy about 80 for less than $10 at Sam’s Club.)

Ringo: doesn’t rock.  He has 0% of his goal.  (Students groan)  What have you been doing, Ringo?  You are a Recess Reader until you fix this!  I recommend a Magic Tree House book.  (Grudgingly, Ringo looks for a Magic Tree House book in the class library.)  Ringo, put it in your backpack right now!  You are reading it this weekend!

In about three minutes, you have motivated students, nudged slowpokes to read, and reminded everyone of the existence of the AR program.

My students BEG to play So You Think You Rock!

Here are some tips to remember whenever you’re sending treats to the classroom—for your child’s birthday or for a party.

1.  Tell the teacher ahead of time.  I don’t mind being surprised, but it is nice to know in advance when the treat is coming.  It helps the teacher leave some leeway in the day’s lesson plans—or plan for a treat that has special serving requirements.  (See tip # 2)

2.  Plan how the treat will be served.  The treat should be easy to serve.  Imagine yourself in the teacher’s place, with 30 excited kids waiting eagerly for the treat.  In the classroom, something so simple as distributing individually wrapped treats can lead to chaos, especially when the packaging is challenging to open.  Cutting cakes, plating food, adding whipped cream or toppings, providing utensils and napkins are all examples of how serving treats can  get difficult very quickly.

3.  Send in everything needed to serve the treat.  Plates, napkins, eating and serving utensils… think about it!

4.  The kids don’t expect drinks.  They love them, but are not expecting it.  The teacher will appreciate individual drinks, such as juice boxes or Capri Sun.  Serving drinks in cups can be difficult and messy.

5.  You can bring the treat in yourself and help serve, but check with the teacher ahead of time.  If you just come in, you might find that the class is busy with something that can’t be interrupted, such as a test.  You might find the classroom is empty because the children have gone to lunch, or a special class such as PE or Art that is held elsewhere on campus.

6.  Your treat should probably be store-bought.  Many school districts have a policy requiring this.  It limits liability for everyone and makes it easy to check ingredients.

7.  Check the ingredients.  It’s smart to avoid nuts and especially peanuts, because many classes these days have someone with a nut allergy.  Be sure to check if the product was made in a facility that processes nuts.

8.  Check the number of servings per container.  Be careful with this!  I once bought a first day of school treat for my class—Little Debbie cakes, 10 per box.  Turns out it was packed in five twin-wrapped packages, and we had to split them.  The kids were nice about it, but it wasn’t what I intended and I felt bad.

9.  Find out if your child’s school has a no-sweets policy that is strictly enforced.  If so, there are many alternatives.  Kids enjoy fresh vegetables and dips.  You can buy apple slices in individual bags.  Fruit snacks are good.  Kids love those packaged cheese and crackers that let them spread the cheese on a cracker with little plastic sticks.  Kids are also really into Go-gurt and crushable yogurt. 

10.  Send in extra treats.  You never know if your child’s class will have a new student, or students visiting from another class.  (It happens for a variety of reasons—the class might have a small group from another classroom because the school couldn’t find a sub, or a student helper might happen to be there when the treat is served.)  If there are extra treats, your child can bring them home or visit other classrooms and give the extras to teachers.  Kids love to do this!

… I mean Fall Festival!

Anyway, I learned a cool organizational technique from other teachers.  Basically, the teachers at your grade level each develop a 15 or 20-minute Halloween activity.  On the afternoon of the party, set aside about two hours.  The classes rotate to each teacher’s classroom.  Parents who attend the celebration can travel with your class, helping them to complete the activities.

This cuts down on your workload and helps you fill the entire afternoon.  Additionally, it’s a party that doesn’t revolve around food.

Ideas for activities:
> Read a story and do a simple craft
> Decorate jack-o’-lanterns (use orange construction paper or an orange paper plate as the pumpkin)
> Make Tootsie Roll Pop ghosts with lollipops and tissue paper.  I simplified this by having students draw the details on their ghost rather than glue things.  Gluing things leads to problems.  Other teachers are braver than I am about crafts.
> Play Halloween charades
> Halloween Pictionary
> Halloween Hangman

A quick search for Halloween activities yields many good ideas.  Start planning now so you can send home letters requesting supplies!

The morning of your party, do Halloween-themed math from math-drills.com.  The math is at all levels, so you are sure to find something for your students.

The Math Worksheet Generator (math-aids.com) is an awesome FREE site!  Parents and teachers should know about it.  It’s beyond awesome.  It’s great that you can generate worksheets for basic facts practice…but the awesomeness extends far beyond that.

I will definitely be telling my fifth and sixth grade colleagues about the PEMDAS worksheets.  I didn’t learn about the order of operations until junior high (in an advanced class), but now the Department of Education thinks that 10 year olds can do it.  Now we teach fifth-graders how to do PEMDAS: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction.  As you can imagine, the kids need tons of practice.  Once they understand the concept, they can’t get enough PEMDAS worksheets!  It’s really fun to do big kid math.

The math worksheet generator has a great section on rounding.  Rounding is an extremely difficult concept for children.  Many students struggle with it all through elementary school.  Kids can’t get enough rounding practice.  Teachers will be glad to have great worksheets that provide this practice.

The kindergarten section is wonderful.  It can be tricky to find good practice for kindergartners, and this site certainly delivers.  At home, the kindergarten worksheets would be great for older siblings to use when they’re playing school with younger siblings.

I could go on and on about the sections on money, graphing, time, measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), exponents, ratios, fractions, and more…but I think it’s really time you stop listening to me and go visit the Math Worksheet Generator!

Parents and teachers, check the Dollar Store (or equivalent) for learning supplies!  You can find many fun items for home, classroom, or playing school.

> Flash cards for all operations.  Sometimes you can even find Disney Princess cards!
> Workbooks—check the coloring books section. I have found fun Disney Princess reading comprehension, spelling, and writing workbooks.  There are usually workbooks for preschool to third grade.
> Posters, alphabet charts, and bulletin board decorations
> Incentive charts—use for school or to keep track of chores at home!
> Small marbles or pebbles: use these for “manipulatives” as teachers call them or “counters” to regular folk.  (Great for teaching little ones addition and subtraction.)

Happy bargain hunting!

Every year, I seem to do a lot of cleaning after the first week or so of school.  This is because I didn’t set up a clear job system right away and train my students.  This year, I’ll make it a priority.  I think it will give students a sense of competence, community and cleanliness all at once.

Let me share with you a brilliant class job system that keeps the room spic-and-span.  (Many of the ideas came from my students—the best solutions always do.)

Before this brilliant system, I had what most teachers have: a rotation system for jobs.  The problem with this is that kids forget what their job is, and you constantly have to train students in a new job.  Plus, kids slack because they know you can’t keep up with who is supposed to do what.

My students and I developed a job system based on efficiency, not fun.  (It turned out to be fun anyway.)  We created an Excel spreadsheet listing all the jobs we thought we needed.  Then we began to assign jobs.  By the end of the year, everyone had at least three jobs.  Some kids had more.

You can download and view this sample Excel spreadsheet.  You can sort it by job to assign one job to several students.  You can sort it by student to see how many jobs each student has.  You might not recognize some of the jobs—delete them!  Feel free to add your own.  Please post your best ideas for jobs so we can all learn.

Each job earns income: five table points for doing it in the morning, and five table points for the afternoon.  (Jobs that don’t fit this schedule are assigned table points that seem fair.)

First thing in the morning and at the end of the day, the class becomes a beehive of activity as students complete their assigned jobs and mark their table points.  Our classroom always looks great!

I know it’s not feasible to assign all 90 jobs during the first week.  I will identify my 30 most important jobs and assign those.  When the kids ask if they can switch jobs later in the year, I’ll tell them no.  I’ll cheer them up by saying that we can start assigning more jobs as people show how well they can do their assigned jobs.

Some kids are particularly good workers and may have more jobs than others.  I also let kids invent jobs and then do them.  The kids think of very clever ways to keep the classroom looking nice, and that makes it a better place to learn!

If your school allows, consider the school supplies kids bring to class to be community supplies for your class.  You will have an overwhelming influx of supplies that must be sorted and put away.

Many families will bring school supplies to Meet the Teacher Night.  In my first year, I had the kids leave everything at their desks.  Now, I know better.

Set up plastic bins, open drawers, designate cubbies or table space for specific school supplies.  Label each storage area (such as crayons, pencils, glue) with Post-Its or more permanent labels.  Parents and new students will be happy to sort the supplies for you.   Set out a trash can and ask them to unwrap everything and place the supplies in the storage areas corresponding to your labels.

Repeat the exercise on the first day of school—but with students doing everything.  It’s a good community builder and a nice way for them to get to know the classroom.

Now you will have more time to deal with all the strange situations that crop up on the first day of school!

Everyone’s internal clock is off on the first day of school.  The teacher is exhausted from setting up the classroom.  The kids probably had trouble falling asleep—and waking up this morning.  Lunch isn’t for hours.

This is why I like to serve a snack on the first of school.  Make it nutritious, such as crackers,  cheese, veggie sticks or even dry whole-grain cereal.  Serve a drink if your budget and time constraints allow.  Milk is an economical and nutritious option.  Juice boxes are easy to serve.  Because you won’t know much about your students, make your snack peanut-free, or have a peanut-free snack on hand in case a student has allergies.

Snack time is a good time to practice for birthday treats.  I randomly select a student to be the birthday kid.  That student selects a few helpers, and we rehearse the distribution of birthday treats.  Students should be quiet while the treat is distributed.  No one can eat until everyone has been served, we have sung “Happy Birthday,” and the birthday child has taken the first bite.

This is a nice way to fuel young bodies and practice a procedure.  Plus, the kids think you are awesome!