Today, we played a vocabulary review game called "trash-ket ball". The classes were split into teams to play the game. There were three rounds. In the first round I gave the students a definition and asked for the word. In the second round, I gave them the word and asked for a definition. In the third round, they had to use a vocabulary word or words correctly in a sentence. Each time a team answered a question correctly, a student from that team got to shoot the basketball into the trash can. There were different point levels awarded depending on where the students shot from. The team with the most points at the end of the game won candy, but everyone got to have fun while practicing using their vocabulary words!
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My students wrote "Four Metaphor" poems today. I had them choose an abstract noun and write a poem where each stanza is a metaphor using that abstract noun. I did not have very high expectations for these poems. Most of these students are not used to any type of analytical thinking, and they had a hard time coming up with an abstract noun to write about and metaphors to use. However, several students' work was awesome! A lot of the metaphors the kids came up with were hilarious! I thought I would share some of my favorites from their poetry. Dreams are
Ninjas in the night. When you see them - If you see them at all- You forget them very easily. Faith Is a mouse in the wall. You know it's there But never see it. Hope is a river. It flows through you in rough times. Misery is a snake. When it strikes, The poison seeps in the skin. Doubt is a chain It holds you back From greatness Trapped. Faith Is fried chicken. It warms your soul. Misery Is a bathtub. Your dreams sink Down the drain. I had a great lesson this week! The students are doing a poetry unit, and I wanted to teach haiku. Haiku's short and simple format makes it easy for most of the kids to understand. My seventh graders enjoyed reading them, especially the ones that are formed like riddles and make the reader guess what the poem is about. The first day I covered the basics of haiku, and then we read a few aloud. I then had them work in groups to write their own riddle haikus which the rest of the class had to guess. They had a lot of fun. The second day I printed out easy origami instructions for a variety of animals and plants. The students each choose an animal to fold and then wrote a haiku to go along with his or her origami. They all loved it. Several of the students finished the first animal and went on to create more. The eleventh graders were all jealous when they saw the masterpieces later that day! I like doing fun lessons like this. I feel like these are the types of lessons that will stick in the students heads for the rest of their lives: not some boring lecture, but a fun hands-on activity! |