First Day Seat Finder

I teach 5th grade science. Last year, I thought of a fun way for the kids to find a seat but also has a little educational fun to it. I put a science tool at each seat, 24 total. I printed off and laminated descriptions of the function of that tool. For example, a card said "used to find direction" so they had to find the compass and that was their seat. Another card said "used to protect your hands" and that person would find the gloves and sit there.

Before I introduced myself or did anything else, I went to each tool, read the card and asked that person if they knew the name of their tool. It was fun to see the curiosity for those that didn't know and the excitement for those that did.

I thought this was not only a fun way to get seats but a great introduction to science tools. Hope you can use something like this in your classroom, perhaps with pictures of math objects (parallelograms, cylinders, hexagon, etc.). With reading you could do parts of speech, or figurative language. You could give them the definition of an idiom or an example of they have to find the idiom card on the desk. The ideas are endless! Happy teaching!

Prize Box

I have had some interest in my prize boxes (regular and my FANCY one) so I took pictures to show what kinds of prizes I put in for my kids.

This first picture is my regular prize box (really drawers but whatever) and the kids get more chances to get into these prizes than my fancy prize box.

I get most of these prizes at orientaltrading.com because they come in large quantities for pretty cheap. I also get some of these in the $1 section at Target (pencils, kleenex) and so these end up being pretty cheap when I'm needing so many prizes.


And this box of goodness is my FANCY prize box! Fewer chances to get into and more excitement than the other one.

I get a good chunk of these prizes in the $1 section at Target but still get some from orientaltrading.com (twisty erasers, crayon pens, stacking owl colored pencils). Those items are more expensive and come in smaller quantities so that's why they make it into my fancy prize box.

Ticket Trivia

Have you ever found yourself with 10 or 15 minutes of time left over at the end of class and you're just standing there wondering how you are going to keep the kids calm? I found this happening a few years ago so I came up with something to take that time up that the kids LOVE. And I mean LOOOOOVE!!

I call it Ticket Trivia.

I bust out my roll of tickets, find a center spot in the front of the room, plop down in my tall teacher chair, take a deep breath and tell the kids to get ready. They all wiggle in their chairs, get their legs out from under the desk, hands in their lap, tails wagging, ready and waiting.

Ticket trivia is just what it sounds like. It's trivia. Trivia over what we have been learning. I ask a question and the first person to raise their hand gets a shot. What's hilarious is people shoot their hand up, even if they don't know it, just because they're so excited. I always loudly emphasize the last word so they know it's time to raise their hand.

For example: "What tool do you use to measure...(pause) MASS!?" and then the hands shoot up. It's even funnier if someone's hand is under the desk. Lots of bruises on days like this.

The first person to get their hand up gets a crack at it. If they get it right, they get a ticket. If they get it wrong, I move on to a new question. Sometimes, I ask a really hard question that's worth 2 tickets. When I announce this is a two ticket question, they always go "Oooooooooooooh." At the end of ticket trivia, the kids that got tickets put their name on it and put it in a mini bucket I have for each class. I will randomly draw tickets to get in my "fancy" prize box. I am constantly being asked if I will draw for ticket trivia.

It's fun to see the kids get excited about answering questions over stuff we've learned. I have yet to meet a kids that didn't like Ticket Trivia.