Happy Holidays! Can you believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving are officially in the books for 2017? If you’re like most of us, December tends to be overwhelmingly busy — not just at home but in the classroom too. In addition to everything you’re trying to accomplish there are class parties and school assemblies and gifts for colleagues.
Sometimes lesson planning in December is complex because the timing is so intricate. You have to be at a natural pause when Christmas break hits but you also want to continually introduce your students to new learning experiences. Because of that, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite print + go activities that you can work in no matter what unit you’re currently covering.
- Tic-Tac Choice. This review activity is the perfect way to allow your students to have conversations while reviewing. Print out the review board and let them partner up. They can get tons of review squeezed into 5 minutes or less!
- Science Buzz. Edit this review game to fit any topic. An easy way to create the clue words is to have your students jot down a list of 4 synonyms for each vocabulary word. Use their lists to turn it into the game. Bonus: you don’t even have to print this one!
- Cause, Effect + Explanation Chart. No matter what you’re currently covering, a cause and effect chart can fit somewhere. This chart encourages your students to take it one step further and explain the why behind the effect. It’s a great way to incorporate literacy and science.
- Interactive Vocabulary Strategies. Vocabulary is an easy thing to gloss over because it’s never-ending. It’s also one of those really easy things to tell your students (especially the older ones) that if they just put a little bit of time into it, they’ll learn the terms. Extra time is the perfect chance to elevate the importance of vocabulary terms.
- STEM Reflection. Anytime your students complete a STEM activity, use this ready-made graphic organizer so that they can log their experiences.
- Explore A Scientist. Let your students learn a little bit about their favorite scientist. We often study Benjamin Franklin’s lightening rod but do your students know about his failures? How important it is for our students to understand the defeats that each scientist has been through as well.
- Creative Writing. These slides are complete with images and questions that your students can respond to. You can require them to write 2 sentences, an entire page, or anything in between. Once you open their minds to thinking creatively about science, you’ll be amazed at where they will go. Bonus: this one doesn’t have to be printed!
- Close Reading. Anytime you need to stretch out a unit, annotating a current event piece is an amazing way to connect science to the real world. With the steps listed here, you can help your students read in a new way without becoming overwhelmed.
- Blackout Poetry. Don’t let the term poetry scare you off — this one is just a way for your students to creatively edit a published article. If you want to be amazed by your students, don’t skip this one.
BONUS! If you need to pop in a science movie, we’ve gotcha covered: 10 Science Movies You Can Show in Your Classroom.
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LearnEd Notebooks provides teachers and students with an innovative notebooking solution. We specialize in providing educators with a unique curriculum that allows you to break free from conventional methods of instruction and spend more time on labs and inquiry-based science. We provide the framework of an interactive notebook with the flexibility of teaching strategies that seamlessly integrate with each teacher’s own methods of instruction. Our complete programs include printed student notebooks, digital presentations, and access to teacher resources — each focusing on diverse learning styles and engaging instructional strategies.
Click here to get LearnEd Notebooks in your classroom!
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