Free Teacher Joke - "Sad Face"

Teacher: What a sad face.

What would you say if I came to school with a face like yours?

Pupil: I'd be too polite to mention it!




Have a happy weekend!

Free Lesson Plan - "Who Wants To Be A Pencil-llionaire" - Grades 1-5

Social Studies, level: Grades 1 through 5th

Materials Required: pencils (lots and lots of pencils), chalkboard, eraser

Activity Time: 45 minutes

Concepts Taught: review social studies and geography

Game Plan: Yes, this follows the same concept of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." Have each students put their name on a slip of paper. Put all the slips into a basket and draw one. That students comes up front and sits in the "hot seat." Give them social studies and geography questions that you have studied and write 4 choices on the board. They choose one. If they get it right, they receive a pencil, they can proceed for 4 more turns, each one offering additional pencils. If they answer a questions wrong, they have to give all the pencils back except one....(they ARE kids after all!). I usually allow 2 lifelines; ask the audience or 50/50. They absolutely love it, and it's a great way to review skills!

Follow this link for another exciting class game, make learning a fun experience and your students will look forward to coming to class!

Free Parent Involvement Activity - "Acrostic Poem" - Grades K-3rd

Creative Writing, Poetry, Vocabulary

An acrostic poem creates a verse using a series of letters from the alphabet or from a word. For example, you can use your child's name or special interest:

A thletic

U ndeniably cute

S pecial son

T ons of fun

I s a good friend

N ow and forever


Encourage your child to write his own acrostic poem.

T unnel ahead

R oaring engin

A way we go

I nside it's dark

N ear the end

S unshine again


Source: Bright and Beyond, Smart & Simple Writing Activities to do with your Child.
Grades K-3rd, ages 5-9.

A reminder to spend quality time with your children and enjoy your family!

Free Parent Involvement Activity - "Black, White & Red" - Age 0-6 months

Visual Discrimination

Infants are very interested in, and stimulated by, simple black, white, and red pictures. Use construction paper and markers to create patterns such as a bulls-eye, fat stripes, or a large checkerboard. Simple faces are especially appealing -- use a black marker to draw one on a paper plate.


Tape these images by your child's changing table, her crib, or in view of her car seat.

As you child gets older, introduce additional colors, shapes, and more complex patterns such a narrower stripes and smaller checks. you can also draw simple pictures like a flower or a teddy bear.

Source: Bright and Beyond, Smart & Simple Baby Activities to do with your Child. Age 0-12 months.

Study Shows Increase In Charter Schools and Accountability

According to a new study conducted by the Center for Education Reform, the number of charter schools opening this school year is up eight percent from last year.

According to the center, more than 4,100 charter schools currently serve over 1.2 million students across the country.

The increase is significant in light of a challenging political environment for school choice in which, among other things, many states are reaching their self-imposed caps on charter schools.

Despite continuing opposition and debilitating laws, however, more parents than ever are choosing charter schools over conventional public schools when it comes to educating their children.

Many state laws continue to create obstacles to quality learning opportunities. The Center for Education Reform tracks the environment for healthy charters in each state and provides profiles grading each state's effort. Of the 40 states with charter school laws and the District of Columbia, only 17 percent received a grade of "A."

To view the complete report, click here.

Source: The Center For Education Reform

Support Grows For Teacher Bonuses

A movement gaining momentum in Congress and some school systems in the Washington region and beyond would boost pay for exceptional teachers in high-poverty schools, a departure from salary schedules based on seniority and professional degrees that have kept pay in lockstep for decades.

Lawmakers are debating this month whether to authorize federal grants through a revision of the No Child Left Behind law for bonuses of as much as $12,500 a year for outstanding teachers in schools that serve low-income areas.

National teachers unions denounce the proposal for "performance pay," saying it would undermine their ability to negotiate contracts and would be based in part on what they consider an unfair and unreliable measure: student test scores.

Debate over the proposal has exposed unusual fissures between the influential unions and longtime Democratic allies. Some education experts say the unions are out of step with parents and voters who support the business-oriented idea of providing financial incentives for excellent work.

To view the complete article, click here.

(The Washington Post 09.18.07)

Free Teacher Lesson Plan - "Musical Chair Phonics"

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary/Foreign Language

Materials Required: Chairs, flash cards with one word on each card

Activity Time: 15 minutes ( According to the number playing)

Concepts Taught: Students will be able to read words by playing musical chairs.

Directions: Play musical chairs as you normal do, except place an index card with
Vocabulary words students need to learn. Each index card will have a different
vocabulary word. When the music stops, the person without a chair tells you which chair he/she was about to sit in. The person who is seated in that chair has to pronounce his word. If he is unable to pronounce the word, he will be out and the standing student will get a chance to pronounce the word. Both students are out if they pronounce it incorrectly. If one gets it right,that person will still be in the game. This really motivates children to pronounce words correctly.

Visit our website for classroom supplies!

Teen Talk: How to Put a Stop to Sibling Fighting

Many parents have asked me how to get brothers and sisters to keep their hands and feet to themselves.

Do you find that you are always the ref? Are you continually breaking up kicking and hitting between your kids?Are you hoarse at the end of the day from getting in the middle of these battles and screaming "cut it oooooooooooout!! ?"

There is a solution but first I want to you to take a moment and try to think about why siblings fight. Why is it that siblings for the most part hit and kick, yell and scream at each other?

=> It's difficult for teens to explain themselves. Often they are so full of emotion and hormones that they just plain explode.

=> TV and Video games glorify solving problems by hitting the other person over the head. The 3 Stooges hit each other over the head with hammers and the roadrunner smashes the coyote every chance he can get! And these are shows from my childhood. What are your teens watching?

=> Hitting, kicking, screaming and yelling gets YOU the parent
immediately involved in breaking up the fight. Sometimes when teens get bored
they pull you in for the "mommy-daddy" show. That's when you lose it...It is very entertaining to watch your parents lose their minds. And teens get a power surge from
having this kind of effect on their family members. But at the same time it is scary
for them and they need you to take control.

So if this sounds familiar, wouldn't you like to finally know how to put a stop to it?

O.K, here are a few tips that really work:

=> Limit TV and Video games.

=> Encourage teens to express their feelings.

=> Hold family meetings where teens get a chance to be heard.

=> Hold court: Have the teens present their side of the story to you and each other and have teens make restitution to each other for the wrongs they have committed (like writing a note, or doing the other one's chores).

=> Notice out loud when your teens express their feelings and give lots of praise and complements.

=> Remember the best reward of all is time with YOU!

Best Wishes for a Peaceful Home,

Parent Coach Susan Epstein

visit my website:

http://www.parentingpowers.com/ and get your Free Special Report-How to Take Back Your Parenting Power.

Free Teacher Quote - Andrew Jackson

Take time to deliberate;

but when the time for action arrives,

stop thinking and go in.



By: Andrew Jackson, President

FREE CLASSROOM JOKE - "RODNEY DANGERFIELD QUOTE"

"I had plenty of pimples as a kid.
One day I fell asleep in the library.
When I woke up, a blind man was reading my face. "

By: Comedian, Rodney Dangerfield

Free Parent Involvement Activity - "Anagrams" - Grades K - 3rd

Cut out the individual letters of a word, mix them up, and lay them out before your child. Encourage him to unscramble the letters and reform the word. Start out with simple, three-letter words for younger children, and work up to longer ones for older kids. For example:

E P T

becomes

P E T

Keep in mind that some anagrams can form a variety of words. For example:

O P S T

can become

P O T S

S T O P

T O P S

P O S T

S P O T

To help your child begin to see pattens more quickly in puzzles like these, always present him with anagrams in which the letters are arranged in alphabetical order.


Source: Bright and Beyond, Smart & Simple Reading Activities to do with your Child. Grades K to 3rd Grades. Here's reminder to help expand your youngster's mind and vocabulary!

Free Parent Involvement Activity - "Balloon Rocket"

Tie one end of a length of string to a stationary object (such as a knob on a high cabinet) across the room from you. Thread the other end through a straw. Blow up a balloon, and instead of tying it off, simply pinch the end to keep the air in. Keeping the balloon pinched, tape the balloon to the straw so that the pinched-end is facing the loose end of the string.


Now, let your child hold the pinched end of the balloon. While you hold the string taut (or tie it to a chair or other object), have him release the balloon. Watch it shoot along the string across the room!



CAUTION: Monitor your child closely during this activity. Put away the string and balloon immediately after play. Balloon pieces can pose a choking hazard. Source: Bright and Beyond, Smart & Simple Age 2 Activities to do with your Child. Age 2 and up.



Want more fun? Have your toddler try this energy burning activity!

Free Education News - Margaret Spelling To Hold National Education Town Hall Webcast

On Wednesday, September 19, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings will host a live Parents’ Town Hall from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

During the live, interactive webcast, Spellings will discuss ways to improve education in the United States with parents and school leaders in Cleveland, OH.

Viewers may submit a question for Spellings in advance of the webcast. To ask a question, send an email to education.tv@ed.gov.

Please put “parent town hall” in the subject line, and please send your email no later than 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 19.

To learn more, visit: ED.GOV

Free Education News - Come Back Mr. Chips: Why Male Teacher Rates Are At A 40-Year Low

When numerous fellow teachers asked Josh Holt to mentor their students last year at Heber Hunt Elementary in Sedalia, MO Holt initially felt a burst of pride.

It was his first year at the school teaching health and PE, and he hoped that he had impressed his senior colleagues.

But looking around the school, Holt realized there was a simpler reason teachers and even parents asked him to be a "buddy" in the school's program for at-risk kids: he was born with a Y chromosome.

"The principal is the only other guy in the school," says Holt, 24. "Some of these kids don't have any men in their lives, and they really need a male role model." That is increasingly difficult to find in American classrooms.

According to the National Education Association, the number of male schoolteachers is hovering at a 40-year low. Only one quarter of our 3 million teachers are men. In elementary schools, the problem is more acute—just 9 percent are men, down from 18 percent in 1981.

Although the feminization of the teaching profession has been underway since the 1890s, school administrators say it's becoming a more salient issue as boys fall behind girls in graduation rates and demonstrate more difficulties with reading and writing.

There are several reasons many men find it difficult to enter, and stay in, the teaching profession: the starting salary for teachers is about $30,000, and less in early education. To view the complete article, click here.

(Newsweek 09.17.07)

Free Teacher Lesson Plan - "Football Tag"

OVERVIEW: Reviewing material is an effective tool for ensuring student's academic success.


OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this activity is to get all students involved in a review process in which they can have fun and reinforce material at the same time. When students have fun learning, they retain more!



RESOURCES/MATERIALS: chalkboard or markerboard, questions, or material to be reviewed.



ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:

Teacher's Preparation:

1. Draw a simple football field - add school name, etc. to the end zones and/or 50 yard line.

2. Draw a scoreboard.

3. Have a question prepared.

4. Write the following rules on the board.

a: Correct answer = 10 yards - 1st down

b: Incorrect answer = fumble - control goes to other team.

c: 3 answers in a row = field goal - after a team has answered three questions correctly they can choose to take 3 points for the field goal or risk a 4th question.

d: 4 answers in a row = touchdown! 7 points (Note: Field goal questions and touchdown questions should have a higher level of difficulty.

e: Unsportsmanlike conduct: 15 yard penalty and loss of ball if in your possession. (Use this when a student is talking outloud).



Classtime activity:

1. Divide the class into two groups.

2. Choose captains and make up unique names for the scoreboard.

3. Coin flip - give students the choice of taking control of the ball or letting the other team have control first.

4. Draw a football (or circle representing football) above the 20 yard line.

5. Start the questions and follow the rules which you wrote on the board.

a. Only the student who is asked the question may answer.

b. The entire group can discuss and then answer the question.

c. If a question is missed it is a fumble and control goes to the other team - you can give them a new question or repeat the missed one.



TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: This activity is very effective for the unmotivated student. Always stress the goal is not winning the game, but rather retaining the shared information. Many times the students are having so much fun they don't realize that they are learning. It's a good idea not to ask another question until the classroom gets quiet and all are listening to the question. This game can be used for any class subject. Do what's best for your class.

Teen Talk: Cultural Issues in Parenting Teens

Parenting is extremely challenging for immigrant families. Moving to the U.S., many of the parenting practices which they have been used to (even morally bound to) from their country of origin are not appropriate or even allowed in the U.S., such as authoritarian discipline and physical punishment. These parents feel stripped of their parenting identities and struggle to get their kids to go to school and do homework. At the same time, they feel that they are being judged by their communities for not getting their kids to comply. Language barriers also make it difficult for these parents to advocate for their teens and many of these kids get lost between the cracks or are forced to advocate for themselves.

Immigrant children also become Americanized and their values become more and more different than their parents. This creates parent-child conflict and children acting out.
It is important for communities and schools to address these issues as soon as possible. Families should be encouraged to retain their cultural identities and to learn the new expectations of the new culture to best support and help their children. How can we be there for all parents of all children? How can we reach out to welcome people of all races and ethnicities and honor them without alienating them?

Questions for thought

What culture were you raised in?
How do you think this affected your parents raising you?
What have you retained from your own cultural background that influences your parenting style?
What if anything do you want to pass on to your children from your cultural background?


Let’s start a conversation going…

And check out my website…
www.ParentingPowers.com
And get my free special report:
Take Back Your Parent Power

Free Teacher Quote - "The Present"

Yesterday is history,

tomorrow is a mystery,

and today is a gift;

that’s why they call it

the present.

By: Eleanor Roosevelt

Free Teacher Joke - "Ageless"

A young student asked an elderly instructor how old she was.
She answered, "39 and holding."
The child thought for a moment, then said,
"And how old would you be if you let go?"

Here's a reminder to create precious memories with your youngsters. Click this link for a keepsake portfolio.

Free Parent Activity - Anagram Soup

Grades 1 through 3

On separate index cards, write the letters of the alphabet (for "Q" write "QU"). Sort the consonants into one pile and the vowels into another. Shuffle the cards and invite your child to draw three consonants and two vowels from the piles.

Using these five letters, encourage her to come up with as many different words as she can.

To add a little variety, you can have more than one player participate or impose a time limit on the game. After each player is finished, award five points for five letter words, four points for four letter words, three points for three lette words, etc.

Source: Bright and Beyond - Smart and Simple Reading Activities to do with your Child

Click here to see a fun board game for the whole family to play!

Free Parent Involvement Activity - Art Collection

Visual Discrimination, Classifying
You can introduce your child to fine art and develop her appreciation for it by helping her collect postcards of well known pieces by famous artists.

Most museum gift shops stock a variety of postcards depicting their most well known works. You can buy a few cards at each museum you visit and continue adding to your child's collection over the years.

Looking through the cards and talking about the subject of the painting, the artist, and the style, can help her develop an understanding about how art takes many forms, and how styles of art change over time. Does the painting tell a story?

Source: Bright and Beyond, Smart & Simple Age 2 Activities to do with your Child.

Age 2 and up. Learn something new together!

Free Education News: Later School Starts Gain Popularity

After a swing toward starting the school year earlier, sometimes as early as the first week of August, momentum has grown in several states to begin school later in August or after Labor Day.

Pressure from parents and the tourism industry has pushed 11 states to limit how early school may begin, rankling school boards that want local control and more time to prepare students for state-mandated tests.

This year, new laws took effect in Florida, where the 67 public school districts may not begin classes earlier than 14 days before Labor Day, and Texas, where the 1,033 public school districts may not begin until the fourth week in August.

In Michigan, a law enacted last year said the 838 school districts must begin classes after Labor Day. Other states, including Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, are debating the start date.

School boards with early start dates argue that state lawmakers should not impose their will on local communities with individual needs. They're not making the year longer, they're just starting earlier and ending earlier. They say that helps them meet growing academic demands because it allows more uninterrupted class time before winter breaks.

(USA Today 08.29.07)

To read the complete article, CLICK HERE

Free Teacher Lesson Plan - Spelling Game

Language Arts Grade Levels: 2nd grade through 8th grade
This is a simple game that makes learning to spell words fun.

Materials:
marker board or
chalk board, and
markers or
chalk.

Directions: Students are divided into 2 teams. The students need to stand in a single file line. The teacher calls out a word. The first student in each line walks to the board and writes the first letter of the word, the student gives the marker to the next student and then they write the next letter, this continues until the word is spelled. Students can only write one letter at a time. The first team to correctly spell the word gets a point. If a student puts an incorrect letter in the word, then next student that sees that it is wrong erases the incorrect letter and replaces it with the correct letter. This would be considered that student's turn. Continue until the week's word list has been completed. I give each team a treat after playing.

Teen Talk: "No I Won't and You Can't Make Me!"

Do your teens talk back to you or ignore you? Do they role their eyes and walk away

while you are in mid-sentence? Do you feel helpless and out of control yourself when it

comes to getting your teen to respect you? Do you find yourself yelling at your teen or

locking yourself in the bathroom and crying? Is your teenager running your house?


If you answered yes, I am here to tell you that it is not your fault! Teens everywhere are

treating their parents with disrespect. Teens that disrespect their parents also disrespect

their teachers, law enforcement and anyone who is making rules and telling them what to

do. This is becoming a national epidemic.


But…YOU, the parent have the power to change this behavior. But in order to do this

you must put a stop to back talk, interrupting, face making and negative body language

at home. Once this is under control at home your teen will be more respectful of authority

figures everywhere.

Well, you say, “Easier said than done!”

Actually, it is simple. The glitch is that it takes consistency and a poker face from you.

Every time your teen engages in one of these negative behaviors, you have to block him/her.

You ask, “EVERY TIME? ARE YOU CRAZY?”

“How do I do this?”

Here’s the DRILL:

The first step is to say to your son or daughter: “Do not speak to me that way.” or

Or “Do not interrupt me.” Or” Do not make that face.”

AND the glitch, you have to keep saying it until s/he stops and you must remain calm and

not give up until s/he stops the behavior...

I guarantee you, that if you keep repeating one of these sentences to your child, with your

poker face on, s/he will stop. They will be so shocked, a. that you are following through,

and b. that you are not looking or sounding angry.

You are commanding respect.

Do not let this behavior slide. You need to be ON 100%. So pick a day that you are

rested and in fairly good spirits, have someone you can call for support if you feel

yourself caving…and carry on COMMANDING RESPECT, you deserve it!

don’t you?

Watch for more tips and techniques on commanding respect in upcoming posts!


To get Susan’s free Special Report “Take Back Your Parenting Power” and other free articles visit Susan’s Website-

http://www.parentingpowers.com/

Free Teacher Bulletin Board Tip - Time Saver

Before the school year begins,
decide what color background
you want on your bulletin board for each month of the year.

Beginning with the last month of the school year,
cover your bulletin board with a background paper for each month.
Then when you're ready to change your bulletin board display,
you only need to remove the top layer
to uncover a clean new background.

Shop for bulletin board paper on line.

Home From School Joke

The student comes home after his first day at school.
His mother asks, "What did you learn today?"
Her son replies, "Not enough. I have to go back tomorrow."

Free Education News: Best Buy Teach Awards

Rewarding Schools for Engaging Students

Best Buy believes technology can excite and engage students, creating a more valuable educational experience. The Best Buy Teach Awards provide gift cards to schools so they can purchase technology for their students.

Highlights:

• Since 2004, the Best Buy Teach Award program has awarded nearly $14 million to over 5,000 K-12 schools.
  
• This year Best Buy will present awards to more than 1,300 schools
  
• $2,000 Best Buy Teach Awards for up to 1,300 schools*
  
• $10,000 will be awarded to up to 50 schools*
  
• $100,000 will be awarded to 8 school districts*
  
• K-12 public, private and parochial schools using interactive technology in classrooms are eligible to apply.
  
• Schools must be within 50 miles of a Best Buy store to apply.
  
• Educators must apply between July 1 and September 30.
  
• The 2008 Teach Award Winners will be announced on February 18, 2008.

Educators CLICK HERE to apply for the 2008 Teach Award

CLICK HERE to see a list of 2007 Teach Award-Winning Schools

Product Review: Blokus

I LOVE THIS GAME!

My good friends Hank and Nadine introduced me to Blokus last weekend. My wife and I brought our two children over to their house for a dinner/play date. After playing with the boys and chowing down on some Giordano's Deep Dish and Goose Island 312, it was Game On!

Blokus is the love-child of Scrabble and Tetris. At first glance, the game looks confusing and lame. After you play a match or two, however, the board looks more like a battlefield. Blokus requires the strategy of chess and the cunning of Texas Hold Em'.

Players take turns placing pieces on their board, each starting from their corner. Each new piece must touch at least one other piece of the same color, but only at the corners! The goal is to get rid of all your pieces. The game ends when all players are blocked from laying down any more of their pieces.

Hank's wife Nadine and I thoroughly enjoyed ganging up on Hank and swarming his feeble blue tiles and strangling any hopes for successful expansion.

WARNING: Much like Tetris, Blokus is addictive. We ran through three hours in no time. We got so absorbed in the game, we completely ignored our children! Thank goodness for Baby Einstein!!

Turn on your Brain,

Mike Ockrim
Founder

DOWNLOAD Game Flyer

PLAY Blokus Online

BUY Blokus Online

Blokus Awards:
MENSA Select winner
ASTRA 2003 Good Toy Award
Dr. Toy 2003 100 Best
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2004 Platinum Award
2004 Teacher's Choice Award
2003 Parent's Choice Gold Award

Free Education News: Toy Company Recalls Coloring Cases

On last week, toy retailer Toys "R" Us Inc. and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases made in China, due to lead ink on the outer packaging.

The company and the CPSC said some of the black watercolor paint in the kit also contains excessive levels of lead. The case includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils, fiber pens, paintbrush, pencil, water colors, palette, white paint, ruler and pencil sharpener in a light tan wooden carrying case. The case measures about 14 inches high by 19 inches wide. The cases were sold in Toys "R" Us from October 2006 to August for about $20.

Source: AP

Teen Talk: Homework Hassles and How to Help Your Teen

Thinking back on school years past, how many times
did you get into a power struggle with your kids
around homework issues? Let me know if this sounds
familiar:

It is 7PM and your teen informs you
that the science project is due tomorrow morning.



Or it is 10PM and your teen is having
a meltdown and you have made a phone call to the
therapist because you are convinced that your teen
is having a panic attack and you can’t calm your teen
down. This has been triggered by a one page essay that
your child is having difficulty completing.


Or your teen is assigned a project, which really means that you have
been assigned the project…you think something is wrong
with this picture because you already went to school and
thought that that chapter of your life was completed!


Or maybe worse, your teen has told you that the homework
has been completed, but at the progress report, you are
informed that your child has not handed in any homework
to date!

Most parents struggle with some type of homework hassles.

Here are some tips to help you eliminate these types of
scenarios from continuing.

=> Visual Cues: Get a big calendar and hang it in a
prominent place.

=> Teach Organization: When your teen comes home
from school have your teen transfer the assignments
and due dates to the big calendar.

=> Teach Success: Break down projects into bite
size pieces and put the smaller “to do’s” on the
calendar.

=> Be Available but occupied: Have teens do
homework in the same room as you. The kitchen
table is a perfect place.

=> While your teen is doing homework,
sit with your child, and pay bills, read or plan
your own projects.

=> No more running out the day before a project is due:
Buy all the supplies before school starts. This
includes the poster boards, glue sticks, markers,
scissors, etc…

=> Set a timer for homework completion. This will motivate
your teen to complete the assignment. This also signals
your teen that there is an end in sight!

Wishing you a Peaceful Home,

Parent Coach Susan


For Susan's Free Special Report:
How to Take Back Your Parenting Powers.
visit Susan's website.


Wishing you a peaceful home-
Susan

Free Parent Involvement Activity: Baby Records

Growth Chart - Birthday Letter

Babies 0-12 months

Growth Chart: In an out-of-the-way spot in your house (for example, the back of the closet door), create a growth chart for your child. Mark his height at birth, three months, six months, etc.

(Use your pediatrician visit records until he can stand by the chart himself for measurement.) Write his name next to each hash mark along with the date.


NOTE: If you do not wish to mark a wall or door, you can purchase student growth charts.


Birthday Letter: Compose a special letter to your child in celebration of his birth. Express your feelings about him and your hopes for his future. On his subsequent birthdays, write him another letter telling him not only about your feelings, but also about some of the cute things he said and did during the year. These will make a fun and sentimental gift later in your child's life.


Source: Bright and Beyond - Smart and Simple Baby Activities to do with your Child

Free Teacher Lesson Plan: Identity in a Bag

GRADE LEVEL: Appropriate for grades 4-6.


OVERVIEW: At the beginning of the school year, it's good to get to know each other, whether it be teacher to student, or student to other students in the class. Many students do not know how to develop relationships. Their negative social attitudes and low self-esteem hinder interaction.


OBJECTIVES:
1. To express personal characteristics with items from home.
2. To introduce ourselves to one another.


RESOURCES/MATERIALS: Students will provide the ten items and their
own shopping bag. Teachers will need to remind students several times to
bring in their bags. This works best with 100% participation. Instruct
students not to bring in valuable or breakable items.


ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES: Ask each student to bring an unmarked
grocery bag from home and give it to the teacher. The bag is to contain
three or four items from the student's home that "say something about
who the student is." During the class period the teacher empties one bag
at a time before the class. The students are to react to the contents of
the bag before guessing the identity of the owner. As the contents of each
bag are revealed, students should discuss the following questions:


#1. Was the bag brought by a boy or a girl? How can you tell?
#2. What kinds of activities does this person enjoy?
#3. Is she/he an indoor person or an outdoor person?
#4. Why do you think she/he chose the items that are in the bag?
#5. What one item in the bag do you think she/he is especially proud of?


By the time the questions are discussed, the students will probably be
calling out the name of the suspected bag filler. Before having the person
identify themselves it is fun to say "O.K. on the count of three, everybody
point to the person whom you think belongs to this bag!" When arms are
pointed in all directions, a lively discussion can follow.


TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: Spend a few minutes at the end of the class
processing the exercise by asking the following questions:


#1. Through the items in your bag, what were you saying about yourself?
#2. How did you feel when the contents of your bag were revealed?
#3. What did you learn about others by studying the contents of their
bags?
#4. Did you find it difficult to guess correctly? Why?
#5. What did you learn about yourself from this exercise?

Free Teacher Quote: Albert Einstein

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."