wonder wednesday: scrabble wall.

I’m not sure how feasible this is, but you can bet it something I am going to try to get going in my classroom ASAP.  If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, and I will try it in my niece’s and nephews’ rooms.

Wait for it…

A SCRABBLE WALL!!

This will probably work better with older students, but after working with younger students for the majority of my experiences, I have faith that this is something they could handle if they were taught how to play properly.  I can think of countless uses for this Scrabble wall.

• Word Wall: If you don’t want to use this as something interactive, use your own creative juices to make it work as the word wall in your room
• Sight Word Center: Ummmm, hello?!  What better way to practice sight words than to send kids back there and have them play a friendly game of Scrabble?  You can modify this based on needs, either just using one week of words or have all the ones learned so far as options.
• Center Game: Why stifle students by making it only a sight word game?  Let them build their own vocabularies by playing what they can create with their letters.  A virtual station could be set up using a classroom computer to have a Scrabble dictionary pulled up.
• Ticket Out the Door: Let each student get a chance to practice on this wall daily by making it a “Ticket Out the Door” activity.
• Thematic Wall: I plan on teaching in units, and this wall would be a great way for children to add words that revolve around that unit as we discover more about the topics encompassed within.
• Classroom Community: This would be great at the beginning of the year, but it would also work throughout.  Student names could be arranged on the wall, or favorite sports, colors, games, books, etc. of each child, and the class could guess who is who to bring them closer.
• Phonics Practice: For younger students still working on phonics, small groups can be pulled back with a teacher, and nonsense words can be made on the board.  Children could practice sounding out and writing these words.

These are just some ideas off of the top of my head, and I’m sure I could come up with many more.  I just love the idea.  You can really arrange it for any purpose you need in your room.  That being said, I just thought of the idea that if you created it so it was not merely a Scrabble board, tiles flipped and used on the other side as Dominoes for several math activities and games.

I know it is a big project to take on and could get pricey, but we are teachers.  We are thrifty.  I know if we put our minds to it, we can each think of ways to create this without spending a cent (think cardboard boxes, styrofoam, paint, velcro…).  It’s for the kids 🙂  You know they will all want to be in the room with the larger-than-life Scrabble board.

calming jar.

We have several students in our class that suffer from anger management problems.  They are all sweet as sweet can be, and then out of the blue, something will set them off, and they will become so angry.  Sometimes their anger makes them cry and flail around on the floor.  Other times it causes them to scream, disrespect teachers and classmates, and destroy furniture and classroom surroundings.  I hate to see this happen because I know something is hurting them inside.  I hate to send them to time out because I know this will just give them more time to simmer in their anger and grow even more livid sitting there thinking about it.

That is when I discovered calming jars.  While they do not always work, it is a good way to give the child an opportunity to calm down, control the time he or she needs to take a break from what is happening, and to think about something else other than the situation that just occurred.

A calming jar is a mason jar or old peanut butter jar filled with water, glitter glue, glitter, and food coloring.  When students become angry or need to be taken out of a certain situation, they can shake the calming jar.  They are supposed to sit there and utilize the calming jar until the glitter all settles and they are feeling as calm as the glitter.  If they need more time, they can shake the glitter up again.

While this could lead to children acting up to use the calming jar or saying they are not ready to spend more time away from instruction and activities, remind them that it is a privilege that can be taken away if it is abused.  On a completely opposite note, it will not always work.  I would like to always give them the option, however, to let them be in control of how the situation will be dealt with.  I want them to know that I have the faith that they can pull themselves together and overcome whatever is going on.

I have not perfected the creation of the calming jar, but I will go ahead and post the instructions I have found for making one.  I will update if I discover any other ingredients or methods that produces an even better one.

How to make a Calming Jar:

Materials: glitter glue, hot water, glitter, food coloring

Procedure: Mix 1 tbsp. glitter glue with 1 cup hot water.  Increase the sizes of these depending on the size of the jar.  Mix in a small tub of glitter and a couple drops of food coloring to match the color of the glitter glue.

 

behavior rocket ships.

The behavior rocket ship is something another first grade teacher on my team introduce my mentor teacher and I to.  It is a rocket ship on a piece of paper that has different levels with each part of the day written in each level.  You give one to students who are having trouble with behavior.  As you discuss it with them, you talk to them about a reward they would like to have for coloring in every two sections, the whole thing, whatever is necessary.  Then, throughout the day, the children get to color off each level if they followed all the rules after one warning for that subject.

While it causes minor problems with the children constantly asking if they can color their level in, it is so far the only thing I have seen work with some of our toughest students this year.  In order to alleviate the need to ask if they can color in a level, I suggested to my mentor teacher that we give them stickers to mark off each level instead, and one of us would just put the sticker on their desks after each subject if they earned it.  We have not tried it yet, but I definitely think it is something that could work.

I was nervous about these because I thought once the other students in the class saw them that they would want their own to earn rewards each day, but we have been using them for months now, and no other student has ever said anything about them!

Like I mentioned earlier, you can start out giving rewards for every level or two that is colored in, and as time progresses and behaviors become more controlled, you can increase the amount of levels between rewards.  I think one of the most important parts is letting the children having a say in those rewards.  I think the other most important thing is leaving the children in charge of their own rocket ships.  They need that constant reminder and responsibility in order for it to be effective.