Spring is here!  The flowers are singing and the birds are blooming – (wait…what?) – Are you feeling a little twitterpated? Can’t wait for the end of the school year? Don’t crawl over the finish line.  End a on Sprint!  Today on the Roundtable we discuss ways end the year and feel like a winner!

Lessons Learned

Dennis – AR Sandbox! It works! https://arsandbox.ucdavis.edu/

Chris Carter – Love never fails.

Fun Fact

Chris: The only places in the universe that contain the right conditions for the element gold to form are in the hearts of an exploding supernovas or in the collision of two neutron stars. Aside from divine intervention, the only possible origins of the gold that most of us wear is from the hearts of a dying stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold

Notes & Links

What NOT to do to end the school year:

  1. Have a daily countdown in your room.
  2. Dismiss great ideas because it’s too much work and you just want to be done.
  3. Let stuff slide…

Do!

  1. Take that risk that you feared taking with a lesson plan earlier in the year.
  2. Work with students to come up with original, creative approaches to learning. Hey, worksheets don’t cut it.

Engagement strategies for the Un-Engaged

It’s true, students tend to “check-out” at the end of the year.  What are some ways to keep them on task, focused, and maintain classroom discipline during these challenging days.

Elementary Students – ClassDojo.  I don’t use it regularly, but when you discipline slipping and what you’ve done all year doesn’t seem to work anymore, mix it up.  Gamify your classroom management with Class Dojo.

Mini-Projects.  Projects don’t have to be a big, month long activity.  Gamify your projects by creating mini “iron-chef” like challenges.  Create a goal and challenge students to create something in 20 or 30 minutes.  It doesn’t have to be perfect as long as they show what they know.

Stop Motion Animation – Create a quick animation project where students describe a process or a cycle.  Lots of fun choices here:

  • iPad – Stop Motion Studio  Have kids use paper cutouts, clay, Legos, or whatever to create animations that demonstrate understanding of a story or a concept.  Animation forces students to plan ahead and know what they want to show before they can begin taking photos.  Illustrate natural processes (water cycle, blood flow through a heart, cell division) or retell historical event.  Because of the time involved in creating an animation, students need to focus on key concepts and main ideas.
  • Whiteboard Animation – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxu0sc8SDKE
  • Google Slide Animation Hack – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BggTrajBKyG8RiL6qgmSwb4xf7VceRsXdhnQ-OrWsF0/pub
  • Don’t have a document camera?  Make one out of a cardboard box.  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQ6Knfu8mT0aW1TN055VUlYQUE/view