Category: Student Engagement

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Spring Break Savers

Spring Break season is upon us, the weather is starting to get warmer, and the end of the school year is creeping up. School breaks are essential for students and teachers alike. The break from the rigors of school work gives everyone a chance to rest, relax, and mentally get ready for the next chunk of the school year. While the breaks are nice, it sometimes leaves parents trying to find ways to keep their kids engaged and entertained. Below is a list of fun, engaging, and educational activities for kids of all ages!

  • Using sidewalk chalk, make an obstacle or challenge course on the sidewalk or driveway. Include different movements (spinning, jumping, hopping, etc.) to keep kids paying attention to what comes next!
  • Head to your local library and check out a few books to read together.
  • Create a “Spring Break Challenge”– kids must complete 8/10 tasks to receive their reward (that can be whatever you choose). Give them two tasks they must do– tasks that are essential life skills– then provide them a list of other options to pick from. Tasks can include things like write a letter then correctly address it and mail it, learn to sew a pillow, learn how to mow the lawn, make a treat for someone you know is lonely, do a sibling’s chore without being asked, make a meal for the family, and so on.
  • Take a walk around the neighborhood and take pictures of anything interesting you see. Go home and learn more about the things you took pictures of.
  • Have kids draw up plans for their dream backyard.
  • Have each child learn how to do one new thing, then have them teach another family member how to do it.
  • Using a muffin tin and water, freeze small plastic animals or figures. Have the kids imagine they are scientists on a rescue mission to save the animals. Let them experiment with different ways to melt the ice– using syringes, medicine droppers, scoops of water, and so on. 
  • Go outside at different times of the day and observe the different lengths and positions of shadows. Learn why this changes throughout the day.
  • Let kids use their imaginations and creative thinking to create an obstacle course out of everyday things. Let them think through things as they come across problems.
  • For older kids, give them each $5, and send them around the store to purchase something for a family member. This gives them a chance to think of someone else, and helps them pay attention to costs of items compared to what they have available to them.

Breaks can feel overwhelming at times, but there are plenty of low cost or free activities to keep your kids engaged, entertained, and active during times away from school. Try some of these activities and let us know what you think!

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Historical Fiction: Unlocking History Through Literature

Young teacher with books and metal key on blue background

For some teenagers, reading is a struggle, and is often the last thing on their to-do list. Kids who once used to love reading have suddenly started seeing books as a burden. Perhaps this happens because of social pressure to see reading as a “nerdy” thing, or maybe they just have less time to read because of busier schedules. Another reason– perhaps the main reason– could be because they simply cannot find a book that interests them. Finding a book or a genre that pulls them in can get tricky. As teachers, we can help our students find engaging, fun to read books to hopefully spark an interest for reading. 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about dystopian novels for teens. If you need suggestions for that genre, you can click here. Today, I’ll share some great historical fiction novels. 

Historical fiction books are books that place fictional characters in real historical events, places, and times. This genre can be really engaging for students who are very into history. There are historical fiction novels written about nearly every big historical event, so there is something for everyone in this genre! Keep reading to learn about a few of them.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Set in Mississippi in the 1930s, Roll of Thunder follows Cassie Logan and her family, who are African-American, as they navigate segregation, racial injustices, and the Great Depression. This book does a wonderful job of painting a picture of what it would have been like for African-American families during the 1930s. Kids of any race can connect with Cassie, who is a spunky, determined little girl. 

  • An excellent read for ages 10+

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades takes place in 1941 during WWII in Lithuania and Siberia. Lina is a 15 year old girl who is taken by Soviet officers, along with her family, to a Siberian work camp. Lina is devastated when they are taken to the camp and she is separated from her father. During her time there, Lina uses her art to secretly document her experiences at the camp. This story focuses on resilience, perseverance, and survival, and teaches powerful lessons about the strength of the human spirit. 

  • Recommended for ages 12+

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Isabel is a young slave girl, along with her sister Ruth. When their owner dies, they are sold to a Loyalist couple who mistreats them. Isabel longs for freedom for herself and her sister. Hoping to secure that freedom, Isabel becomes a spy for Patriot forces, enduring horrific mistreatment. Bravery, resilience, and determination are highlighted throughout the novel as Isabel fights for her freedom. The story is powerful and moving, reminding readers that sometimes we must push ourselves beyond what is comfortable to remove the chains that bind us. 

  • Recommended for ages 13+. Chains is the first book in the Seeds of American trilogy.

Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe

This heart-wrenching story follows Hiram Hillburn, a 16 year old white boy who travels to Mississippi to visit his grandpa for the summer. While there, he meets a 14 year old black boy named Emmett Till, who also happens to be visiting family for the summer. Hiram and Emmett become friends as they realize they have a lot in common. Soon, Hiram discovers just how ugly racism is when Emmett is abducted and murdered. His body is found in the river a few days later. Hiram extends his stay so that he can be present for the trial and to offer any help he can in finding justice for Emmett. While this story can be hard to read because of the graphic content, it shares a powerful perspective on the events surrounding Emmett’s death. Hiram must make a decision between keeping the peace with his grandpa or standing up for what is right. 

For students who are interested in this story, Getting Away With Murder by Chris Crowe is a non-fiction book that pairs really well with it.  

  • Recommended for ages 14+

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Written in poems, Out of the Dust follows Billie Jo Kelby, a young girl living in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Billie Jo must face the realities of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. A fire kills her mother, and leaves Billie Jo’s hands badly scarred. She must navigate the harsh realities of life during this difficult historical time all while grieving the loss of her mother, dealing with her father’s emotional battles, and learning to play the piano again after the fire. The book is set up like a journal, with each entry being a free verse poem. 
Teenagers can connect with Billie Jo as she navigates the difficulties of being a teenager and facing hard things. 

  • Recommended for ages 12+

This is just a small sampling of the amazing historical fiction books that are out there, but hopefully it can provide you with some suggestions to give to a student who is needing a little help finding a book they can get into.

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CVC Easter Eggs

Last week, I shared some fun ways to use Easter eggs in your classroom. Today I have one more idea you can use! 

If you have students who are learning consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, this activity would be perfect for your kiddos. Using the downloadable file below, students can practice reading and recognizing various CVC words.

There are two pages to the file: the first is the student worksheet, and the second is the teacher page. Teachers, cut out the word strips on the second page, and put each strip into an Easter egg. Give each student a set of eggs with the word strips in them. As they open each egg, they can read the word strip, then glue it on the worksheet under the corresponding picture. 

This download is for personal or classroom use only. Do not resell, repost, or claim as your own. 

CVC Easter EggsDownload
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Jelly Bean Math

Continuing with fun Easter themed activities for your classroom, today we’ll use jelly beans as a learning tool. The best part of using jelly beans is that your students can eat them when they are done with them! A fun, engaging learning activity and a treat?! Sounds like my kind of fun!

This activity would be best for first or second grade on up. Give each student a small bag of jelly beans. Using the download below, have them sort their beans by color, count how many of each color they have, then create a graph showing their results. 

Jelly bean math is a low-prep activity, which makes it very teacher friendly, and is fun, engaging, and educational, which makes it great for everyone involved! 

Download the worksheets below and try it out with your class! Happy sorting and graphing! 

**This download is free, and is for personal or classroom use only. Do not resell, repost, or claim as your own.**

Jelly Bean Sorting & GraphingDownload
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Using Easter Eggs to Teach

Kids, especially younger ones, love hands-on activities. The movement feels like play time, and also helps build important neural pathways and connections. There are also benefits for increasing hand-eye coordination as students manipulate objects.

In the weeks leading up to Easter, I love to use plastic Easter eggs as manipulatives and learning tools. There are so many things you can do with them to make learning fun and engaging! The activities listed below are mostly geared toward preschool or kindergarten aged kiddos, but I’m sure older kids would enjoy them as well. 

  • Put rice or beans into eggs to make music shakers. Be sure to tape the eggs closed so you don’t end up with rice or beans all over your classroom!
  • Add eggs to a sensory bin for students to find.
  • Use eggs as a measuring tool– how many eggs tall is each student? How many eggs wide is their desk? How many eggs would it take to measure from one side of the classroom to the other? *For older kids, you could then have them measure the egg then calculate the actual distance.
  • Have students do a color sort with the eggs. Make it more challenging by hiding eggs around the room for them to find first.
  • Hide eggs around the room. Divide the students into small groups and assign each group a color. Whichever team finds all of their eggs first wins the game.
  • Make a chart with each upper case letter of the alphabet on it. Then, write each lower case letter of the alphabet on small pieces of paper. Put the papers in the eggs, hide the eggs, and have students find them. As they find each egg, they must match it to the correct upper case letter.
  • Inside each egg, put a piece of paper containing whatever it is they are working on learning– simple math equations, sight words, spelling words, trivia questions, etc. Hide the eggs around the room or in a sensory bin.
  • Put students in small teams. Give each team a container of egg halves. Set a timer and see which team can make the tallest tower from their egg halves in the time given. 
  • Students can use eggs to form letters or sight words.
  • Print off two sets of identical Easter egg pictures. Cut them out and have students play memory. You can also hide one set around the room and have them find each egg and find the match in the other set.  (see photo below)
  • Using the printed eggs, write a math equation, sight word, spelling word, etc. Students can pick an egg and complete the task on the egg.
  • Easter egg mix & match– Print the downloadable file below, then color each egg one color on top, and a second color on the bottom. Give students the cards and a container of egg halves. They can make eggs to match each card. (see photos below)

These activities would be so much fun for younger grades– give them a try with your students and let us know how they go! Parents of young children, these would be fun for you to try at home, too!

Play memory with matching eggs.
Print & color each egg card
Students can make eggs to match each card
Easter Egg Mix & MatchDownload
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Hearing vs. Listening

You finish teaching a lesson and give instructions for the assignment. As usual, you ask if anyone has any questions, and you are met with radio silence. But because you’re a teacher, you know better than to believe that everyone in the class knows exactly what to do. You’ve learned that there are always questions– sometimes it’s because a student is too shy to ask in front of the whole class, and sometimes (or maybe most often), it’s because a student was not listening. They might have heard you talking, but they weren’t really truly paying attention. Repeating instructions 32 times gets exhausting! 

Students often think that hearing is the same thing as listening, when in reality, they are two different things. We hear a lot of things throughout our day. We hear people talking, noisy halls, bells ringing, music playing, and so on. But until we actively hear, we generally don’t truly register what our ears are taking in. Actively hearing – or listening – requires our minds to focus on what is being said or heard so that our brain can make sense of it and understand it. We make a conscious choice to take in the noises and turn it into something more concrete. 

In our classrooms, we can implement different strategies to help our students learn to listen rather than just hear. 

  •  After giving instructions, pick 2-3 students in the room, and call on each one individually and have them tell the class what the instructions were. Knowing they might be called on encourages them to listen more intently so that they can give an accurate answer.
  • Before students begin to work, ask them to turn to a neighbor and retell what the instructions were. They can help each other remember what is to be done. This also encourages students to effectively communicate with each other.
  • Write instructions on the board or display them through the projector– then if they weren’t listening, you don’t have to answer the same question several times, as they will have the instructions right in front of them. 
  • As you give instructions, have them write down the instructions on their own paper. Writing things down helps to create a connection between what is written and remembered. 

While it can be frustrating to have students not listen, it can be a great teaching opportunity, and there are strategies that can help students retrain their minds to be more active listeners. Not only is it a valuable skill to have within the classroom, students can learn that being an active listener is an excellent life skill to have in all areas of life– work, relationships, school, recreational time, and so on. Hearing is good, but listening is great.

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Question of the Day

As teachers, we try to make our classrooms an inviting place to be. We want our students to be excited about learning, and to be engaged in the content we are teaching. We want them to look forward to coming to school. But the reality is that not all of our students will be excited about school. Even still, we must give our best effort to make school as appealing as possible. We can do this through a myriad of ways. Rather than immediately jumping into the lesson for the day, teachers can take a few minutes at the start of class to warm students up and get them ready to learn.

One way to warm up students at the beginning of each class is through simple journal prompts. You don’t have to be a language arts teacher to incorporate journal writing into your curriculum– it can be used in any content area! Giving students a “question of the day” can help them get their minds ready to learn, focus, and participate. The question doesn’t even have to do with the content; it can be a silly, funny, or random question. Regardless of the kind of question it is, giving students a fun way to begin class can help ease them into learning and get them ready to focus. 

You can even go beyond just having them write by having them share their answers with a neighbor, then have a few students share with the class. This can be a fun way for everyone to think about the question in different ways, which encourages critical thinking. It also gets students talking to each other, helping foster class communication and relationships.

Thinking of a question to ask every day can sometimes feel a bit daunting. In case you need some question ideas, I’ve compiled a list for you! You can download the list and print a copy to keep in your files, ready to be used any time you need a question suggestion.

**This download is for personal or classroom use only. Do not sell, repost, or claim as your own.**

Question of the Day-2Download