what's my shape?

A couple weeks ago, I was blog browsing and I found a cute shape game from Primary Punch that I thought would be perfect to review for the MCAS.  It's called "Guess My Shape" and is played similarly to 20 questions but with 2D and 3D shapes.  The kids each picked a card and stuck it on their forehead.  Then they had to ask yes or no questions until they guessed their shape.  It was a great way to review and the kids asked me if they could play again the next day.  

Good luck to everyone who still needs to take state tests!  

Have a great weekend!!

mcas

Well, it's April, and you know what that means.  No more snow, flowers blooming, birds chirping, warmer weather (it was a balmy 45 degrees today!) and teachers are in full blown MCAS prep mode.  And by prep, I really mean panic.  We all have that crazy look in our eyes, like we are on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  The kids can sense our nerves and smell our fear.  Okay maybe not.  Actually, they are just worried about whether they can have a sleepover during April break next week.  They couldn't give one hoot about MCAS.  And really, that's how it should be.  When can the teachers feel this way too you ask?  Why, that is an excellent question.

Needless to say, we have been incorporating a lot of test prep into our curriculum lately.  Today we looked at examples of open response scores from the DOE webpage.  The students had already tried the open response on their own, and we had gone over the correct answers.  Then each table group was given a set of open responses, and the kids needed to work together to decide each response's score.

Meanwhile, I wandered from group to group facilitating the discussions.  Afterward, they used what they learned to score their own open response and then rewrote it to match what a 4 looks like.

What I loved most about this lesson was that the kids had a lot to say about why they scored the way they did.  And when I challenged their thoughts, they didn't get down on themselves.  They worked through it together and made thoughtful changes.  It makes me so proud to see how much they've grown this year.  Tear.

yoga in the classroom

With the MCAS looming over my head this week, I have been thinking about how to ease my students' anxiety.  Every year I make an attempt at this and fail.  So this year, I decided to try something new: yoga.  I introduced it yesterday and told them to make a big space in the center of the room.  They must have been excited because they moved faster than the lunch line on taco day.  In less than a minute, they were spread out facing me, with one exception.  One boy decided to be my assistant - he informed me that he was already a yoga master since his mom did it once a week.  (I wasn't exactly sure how this made him a yoga master, but I didn't mention it).

I put on my Enya Pandora station and started with some breathing exercises.  Then we moved into some toe touches, reverse swan dives, and finally chataranga, upward dog, and downward dog.  At first, the boys were a little self-conscious and silly.  But as we continued, they began to take it seriously and their demeanors changed.  They all ended up really enjoying themselves, and we had a wonderfully productive literacy block afterward.

Today was our first day of ELA MCAS and the official start of my experiment.  We had already set up the classroom the previous afternoon, and so when the students arrived, they quickly found a spot and joined in.  I noticed that the boys who were silly yesterday were challenging themselves to hold the correct form today.  I also noticed that no one was visibly nervous; instead, they were excited about our new routine.  We continued through morning announcements (stopping to stay the pledge of course) and finished after about 20 minutes.  Then we transitioned right into MCAS.

Of course, I have no idea if our yoga session helped their test-taking abilities. I'll have to see their growth rate this summer before I can make any judgement on that.  But I did observe less anxiety and a lot of perseverance.  They worked their butts off today!  I also noticed less fidgeting after they had turned in their tests and were waiting for the rest of the class to finish.  Usually, I have kids getting up constantly, going through their desks, or asking to go to the bathroom multiple times.  But today, I had none of that.  And I don't think it was a coincidence.

If you are wondering about incorporating yoga into your classroom, it's easier than you think!  There are a lot of research articles that promote kinesthetic learning as well as websites out there.  I especially like Classroom Yoga Project.  They have a lot of videos and easy ways to start small.  They also have lessons that integrate yoga into the curriculum.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!