Well a new adventure begins for this educator! I have made the move to Chicago for this upcoming school year. I will be teaching 3rd grade and am so excited about beginning this new adventure. I already got lost using the trains around here but you live and you learn! They have a Makers Lab in their Harold Washington Library. Makers Lab are the new fab and are amazing opportunities for students. If you would like to see the different opportunities they offer be sure to check out my Twitter account (@teachersnaps).
Anyways! A new school, new life means....new BREAKOUTS! I actually have a couple of breakouts that I started this summer so I'm excited to try and share them with you this year! I even got the Breakout EDU boxso now I have even more resources to use! I also created a breakout at Wells Blue Bunny ice cream! They did it as part of a "team bonding" experience! It was fun to do a Breakout that was with adults rather than students. I have also been making a few bachelorette party breakouts. If any of you are interested in those please let me know! Thoughts on this breakout: This breakout was challenging for my students. It was their hardest one but it was also the end of the year so I thought they were prepared. I threw in an invisible pen (pause for effect) and my students LOVED it! To make sure there were no arguments, I picked a student to be the "pen person." If the pen was found that student would be in charge of it. We went through the rules of the pen (like how to not leave it on all the time). The students did a great job with it! I hope you guys enjoy it as well! Link to game template: Help Mario Escape Template Link to game printables: Help Mario Escape Printables Link to YouTube Set Up Video: Help Mario Escape Set Up
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First off thank you so much for reading my blog! It's a great feeling to know that my activities are being used and thank you for the feedback! Here is my latest Breakout EDU (yet to be reviewed by the Breakout EDU website). The skills that I focused on in the breakout are counting money, reading a calendar and the different animal groups (mammals, reptiles, etc.). The students find themselves in a "classroom" jungle. The "classroom" jungle has a class calendar of events, lunch menu and the lunch accounts of all the animal groups. The students must put themselves into an animal's mind in order to solve the clues. This breakout is a little more challenging than my others. My students broke out with only a couple minutes left to spare. I was happy about this because I was feeling like my other breakouts were getting too easy for them. They also only had 3 hint cards this time. Also if anyone would like me to make a breakout based on a certain topic, skill or theme please let me know. I would be happy to try for you! Link to game template: It's A Jungle In Here Link to printables to game: It's A Jungle In Here Printables Link to set up video: It's a Jungle In Here Setup Video Thoughts on Breakout EDU Overall I LOVE the way that the breakouts have helped my students think more independently, while also helping them improve on their social skills. In the beginning of the breakouts, I had a lot of arguing and now my students are forming themselves into groups right away and working together to solve the clues. I think one concern I have is I always have one or two students who don't really get engaged and just stand there during the breakouts. I think I might designate a "spokesperson" in each group. This student will decide whether to use a hint card or not. I will rotate the spokesperson each time so every student gets a chance to decide for their group. Will it work? Stay tuned to find out.... Ever played the game Guess Who? It was one of my favorite childhood games to play. We would go back and forth asking questions until each of us had one person left. Well now you can bring Guess Who to life in your classroom!
!I had a request for my Scared Squirrel breakout so here it is! This breakout was much better for my students. In this breakout the students were trapped in Scaredy Squirrel's emergency box. If you haven't read Scaredy Squirrel yet to your students I would start with that. This breakout is focused on 2 digit addition and solids, liquids and gases. My students LOVED this one. Scaredy Squirrel is one of their favorite characters. Watching my students do these breakouts is an amazing experience. They are working together, listening to each other and applying what I have already taught them in order to get out in time. I am planning to do one more breakout before break which is themed around our elf on the shelf, Dash.
Also my previous breakout with Viola Swamp was posted to the www.breakoutedu.com website! I am very excited! Here is the link for my Scaredy Squirrel breakout. Happy gaming! Scaredy Squirrel Breakout So they can learn to get out by working together and thinking critically with Breakout EDU! Breakout EDU is a great new way to get your students up, moving and thinking. Basically the students have to work together to find the clues to open the locked box. There are so many ways you can accommodate this to your students. I went to http://www.breakoutedu.com/ and found some already made games but they weren't really for lower elementary students, so I created my own game. In my game Viola Swamp, the meanest substitute teacher ever, (from the book Miss Nelson Is Missing) has captured the students. In order to get out, the students must work together to unlock the box and escape!
Here is the link to all the directions and everything you need to play the game. My students LOVED this game and I can't wait to make even more games for them! The SWAMP Breakout EDU Hope you guys like it! It's a great start up game for your kiddos! Let me know what you guys think of it! I thought this title was appropriate for my first ever blog entry. My school is on Garfield Street and this is sort of where it all began. This is my third year teaching second grade. So where to start? Well why did I decide to create a blog? There are many times throughout the year where the perfect teaching moment occurs, or a student says something amazing, or one of my lessons went exactly as planned (this one never happens) and I want to share it out to the world! These amazing moments happen in my classroom and I'm the only one to witness it. That's where the blog comes in. I also want to connect with others who have my passion and could collaborate on different ideas! I love reflecting and thinking of how to make my lessons better so feedback and comments are appreciated!
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