Linda McKeighen

Sponge
Activity: Wake up your brain!

Sometimes students energy levels are noticeably lower during math classes or after lunch, and this is a great activity to get their endorphins going. No materials are needed. This is great for all ELL students to practice remembering directions using memory skills, building their vocabulary, and stimulating their brains so they can continue to be in learning mode. All students are asked to stand up. The teacher calls out commands such as: Attention; salute; march in place; stop; sit down; stand up; walk in a circle; clap your hands; stop; run in place; stop; jumping jacks; stop; swim in place; stop; climb a rope; touch your toes; shake hands with your neighbors; sit down. At rst, students will copy you but later, they should be able to do the commands without you. ((Idea retrieved from Tania Bibbo, http://www.eslkidstuff.com/ Classroomgamesframe.htm) I chose this activity because it worked to stimulate and wake up students when they were not engaged and began to drift. Again, I watched this while observing a 3rd grade classroom for two weeks. National FL Education Standards: Communication Standard 1.2: students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics. Communities Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.

Linda McKeighen

Game
Charades on Smart Board

Charades is a fun-fun-fun game for all K-5 grades to play for a couple of minutes while waiting for the different dismissals that occur in elementary schools. This is applicable for a foreign language class to enhance camaraderie, build vocabulary, and assess their comprehension. You will need a Smart Board, its colored marker, and a student chair. Students gather around in front of the board and sit on the oor. A student is chosen by the teacher to be the guesser and sits in the student chair under the board facing their classmates. The teacher writes one of the daily vocabulary words on the board while the student in the chair has to guess the word written above their head. The classmates know the word, take turns, and act out the word in order to give the student in the chair clues to help them guess the word. Once the guesser has guessed the word, they also have to give the meaning of the word for the action to be complete. If not, the guessing continues. The student that helps the guesser guess the word takes their place in the guesser seat. This activity can continue as the group becomes smaller while dismissals take children away from the game. I chose this activity because the 3rd graders I observed became so engaged, happy, and calm while playing this game before their various dismissals. I observed the class for two weeks, and this game was a fun interaction. National FL Education Standards: Communication 1.1 Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

Linda McKeighen

Song

Fall is in the air, and our elementary students in a dual language and foreign language class will learn a cultural song. While I play the guitar, I will teach them the words and they will stand up and sing along, using hand motions, connecting new words, and enjoying each others participation. There are words that will require correct pronunciation, so the sounds make sense with the actions .This is an easy and fun song to teach to students while the teacher models the moves. Materials needed are a guitar and ve pumpkins. (I will also give free guitar classes to any interested classmates!) I chose this activity because I enjoy singing with students. They, in turn, have always shown great participation and enjoyment too. Here are the lyrics to the song: 5 Little Pumpkins Five little pumpkins, sitting on a gate. The rst one said, Oh my, its getting late. The second one said, There are witches in the air. The third one said, Well, I dont care. The fourth one said, Lets run, and run, and run! The fth one said, Im ready for some fun! Wooooosssssshhhh, went the wind! Out (clap hard) went the lights (have a student turn light out) And the ve little pumpkins rolled out of sight. National FL Education Standards Comparison Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.