Teaching Tuesday {Linky Party}

Teaching Tuesday: What's your favorite lesson you teach or have taught?

I love all things History and Language Arts. My favorite lessons are definitely in those two areas. My first year of teaching I taught the Civil War. My students were really into it. I remember constructing dioramas of Civil War battles. My students did TONS of research on some of the major battles and then built their dioramas.

That same year in science we studied simple machines. Over Christmas break I assigned my students to create mousetrap cars. They brought them back in January and we raced them.

We use Shurley English (since last year) and one of my favorite things to do with my students is have language races. I give them a sheet with 10 sentences to classify. They all start with the sheet upside down on their desk and one student is at the Smart Board. When I say go they take off and start classifying. They then come to me where I am in the room. I collect their papers and quickly check them as they come up to me. Sometimes I give prizes (pieces of licorice or Tootsie Pops) to the first person to get everything correct. The first person is always the next to go to the Smart Board. The very first time I did it one boy won two times in a row. He asked if he could forgo his prize and turn to let someone else win/go. Now my students who have won once will always ask permission to forgo their win/turn in order to let someone else in the class have a chance.