Students come up with 3rd level critical thinking questions related to the current benchmark for a chance to win extra credit. The chosen question(s) are posted on the class blog at the end of the week, authors are recognized and classmates have a blog conversation on the question.

I like to do a "pick 6" lotto game on the first day of school to begin thinking about numbers. I have the students pick 6 numbers between 1 and 50. I display a $20 that I will give to the winner. Students get very excited. I use a graphing calculator's random number generator to generate the 6 random numbers. I have students sit down if the first number displayed is not one of their numbers. (Most must sit down). This continues until all 6 numbers are picked (or until all students are seated). Usually all students are seated by pick #3. This allows us to talk about probability as well as combinations. I have never actually had to give away the $20.

My youngsters are on the Autism Spectrum or developmentally delayed, and require much encouragement to "get to know" the others in their class. We start the day for the first several weeks of school by singing a get to know your name song-
I sing (if that's what you call it...) Good morning, student1, I say "hey, hey!" Come on, class, what do you say?
class responds: goodmorning, student1, we say "hey hey", good morning, student1, what do you say?
student1 sings (with teacher backup) good morning, student2, I say "hey hey!", Come on, class, what do you say? and this continues til everyone has had a chance to sing good morning to the class, and the class then sings good morning to me!

I’m A Viking! Is the name of this Game.

This game requires no props and is good for 10 or more people.

If you have more than 15-20 you may want to break up into separate groups to play.

Have the players stand in a circle and designate someone to be “it.” That person stands in the middle of the circle.

The Goal of the person in the middle is to get out of the middle. He/She does this by standing in front of a player and says a action.

If the action is done correctly the person in the middle moves onto another player. If the action is done incorrectly the players switch spots.

These are the actions:

When the middle person says “VIKING” the player he/she is talking to puts their index fingers on their head like 2 horns and says, “I’m a Viking! A mighty, mighty Viking.” The people on the right and left of the player who is a Viking, row like they are on a boat.

When the middle person says “COW” the player he/she is talking to puts their knuckles together in a fist with the thumbs down (like an utter) and says “MOO” while the people on the left and right take and “utter” and milk.

When the middle person says “ELEPHANT” the player brings their left arm to the top of their head and puts their right arm through their left like a trunk. While the people on the left and right act as ears by making “C” shapes with their arms toward the “elephant’s” head.

When the middle person says, “BOP” the player doesn’t talk.

When the middle person says, “BIBBITY BOP” the player has to say “BOP” before the “caller” finishes saying “BIBBITY BOP”

If a player does not do the action in time 1-5 seconds depending on how familiar they are with the game, or a player on either side doesn’t do the action they are in the middle. Or if a person says something when they are not supposed to, as in the case of BOP then they are in the middle.

Play long enough that people get the hang of it, but not too long that it gets boring. Be ready to start the next game in about 15-20 mins.

If you move quickly from this game to the next the fun will continue to build and your guests will have a great time!

I have a project that I do with my 3rd graders. First we have a learn the basics day with the digital camera. I show them all the proper techniques for taking a good picture, how to take macros(close-ups) and how to review the picture. then they spend about 30 min. taking pictures inside the lab. The next step is to go outside and take any pictures they want. They know they will have to create a poem from 3 of the pictures. After uploading the pictures into their network folder(another lesson) - they learn how to do some basic editing of the pictures. The next step is to use KidPix Deluxe 4 to create a poem and insert the photo along with the poem. They then export the slide as a jpeg. Once all the slides and jpegs are made - Title slide, 3 poem slides and end slide, they import these into Windows Photostory (a free program found on the web). They are then able to narrate their poems, add background music and pick their transitions from slide to slide. At the end - they convert them into a windows media movie which I link onto our website for their parents to see. They also all have flashdrives that they put the photos and the movie on to take home. Some of the photos were so good - I had them printed on good photopaper and we had an Art Gallery on one of the walls in the school. People couldn't believe that 3rd graders took the pictures.