Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Roll 6

Oh my goodness, y'all!  My students had so much fun with this game today.  The best part?  The game was played while reviewing a map of Europe for their test that's tomorrow!


The great thing about Roll 6 is that it is so easily adaptable to any topic that you are covering.  I used it today to review for our map test over Europe tomorrow.  Students will need to be able to locate 10 countries and 10 physical features on a blank map of Europe.  To help them review, I put students into partner groups and gave each group a map and a dice.  Once I told students to begin, they had to begin rolling the dice until they landed on a 6.  They could not label anything on the map until a 6 was rolled.  They could then only label ONE thing.  Then they had to roll a 6 again before they could label the next thing.  So, they had to roll a 6 twenty times in order to label all of the locations on the map.  The first group to label the entire map correctly won Canes Cash (our PBIS reward currency).

Here's the new thing I incorporated today - a 10 second penalty if the dice fell onto the floor.  One of the worst parts of classroom games that use dice is that some kids get really into rolling the dice and they end up on the floor more than on the desk.  This 10 second penalty worked BEAUTIFULLY at curbing their dice rolling enthusiasm!

I must say, this is quickly becoming my favorite games to use in the classroom.  Students really enjoy it, it is very easy to prepare for, and the dice were super cheap!  I got packs of 5 dice for $1 at The Dollar Tree.  I definitely plan to put this game in the lesson plan more often!

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Personal Laminator Lovin'!

Admit it...we teachers have a laminating disorder.  Most of us would run our first born through it if we could just to keep them shiny, clean, and protected from the world.


Well let me tell you, if you do not have a personal laminator...YOU NEED ONE!  I'm bought one last year for a craft project that I was working on and it has become my favorite teaching tool!  The big laminator at school is great for bigger projects.  But the quality and sturdiness of the Scotch personal laminator can't be beat.

I'm all the time needing to laminate small items or single pages for classroom use (and usually at the last minute).  Having a laminator and laminating pouches at home has been a life changer.  Just tonight I laminated 35 bingo cards for a review game we will be playing in class tomorrow.  I love that the cards come out much more sturdy than from our regular laminator at school.

It's super easy to use, too.  Simply buy the laminating pouches, place the item you want laminated inside and run it through the laminator.  Easy Peasy!

There are tons of personal size laminators on the market.  I have the Scotch Personal laminator and love it.
Click here to see the specs on the laminator that I have

I promise you, if you don't have a personal laminator, you are definitely missing out!