Brain Waves Instruction: 2018

Positive Notes for Students

Let's face it, there are times when we all could use a little encouragement...and our students are no different. Sometimes, a little note does just the trick! That's why I put together a collection of note cards that you can share with students on any day of the year! I've even got ideas for how to use them in the classroom.

First, things first, if you'd like a free set of the note cards, just add your information below. Then, check your email and download the cards instantly. (I'll provide another link for signing up at the end of this post in case you want to keep reading.)

The collection of positive notes includes two versions. One set has a "nature" theme. This version is black and white so you can just print and go!

The other set has a "sweets" theme. It's full of color and whimsy!

Both sets include 18 different cards with words of encouragement. There are even 3 blank cards that you can hand-write messages on. They're designed to be super versatile! Here are a few ways that you can use them in your classroom:

DESK CARDS

Just cut out the positive notes and fold them along the dotted line. This way they can stand up all on their own. Then, place them on students' desks when they could use a little encouragement. These are especially fun to display before a big exam or as a celebration for awesome behavior!

WORK CARDS

You can also cut apart the cards and staple them along the tops of students' papers. It would be super fun for students to save them and try to collect them all during the school year!

NOTE CARDS

Since the cards can fold in half, they also work perfectly as note cards. Just cut them out, fold them, and then write a personalized note inside for each of your students.

GIFTS

The positive note cards make awesome gifts, too! First, fill a clear plastic bag with some treats. Then, add a positive note inside the bag and tie it up with a ribbon. Just like that, you'll have a super sweet gift for students! Just imagine handing these out during the holidays or at the end of the school year! Your students will love them!

If you'd like to use these positive notes in your classroom, I'll happily email them to you. Just add your information below and check your inbox!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Mary Beth

P.S. Have you seen this set of FREE posters that spread a positive message?

Laughing and Learning: The Science Behind Classroom Fun and Easy Ways to Get Kids Giggling

Ever wondered if laughter is not just good for the soul but also for learning? Well, hold on to your lesson plans because the American Psychological Association says it is! Turns out, laughter isn't just a mood booster; it's a fantastic tool for making knowledge stick. According to Zak Stambor, laughter is like the secret sauce that boosts student participation and cranks up their attention levels.

Now, we all know the magic that happens when kids in a classroom burst into laughter – it's contagious! So, let's dive into some super easy ways to turn those giggles into golden moments of learning. Trust me, your classroom is about to become the coolest place to be!

FUNNY VOICES - Let's face it, silly voices are so much fun! Here are some super easy ways to get students laughing with silly voices:

--- Have students read out loud with a partner or a small group in a silly voice. I love to have students pick different voice challenges out of a basket or bag. After they pick a voice challenge, they have to read to their partner in that voice. I promise, even your most reluctant reader will get reading and laughing!

Great news! You can find a set of 24 silly reading tasks in the Laughter and Learning Exclusive Freebie.

Just add your info. below and check your email inbox!

--- Read a passage from a text as a class, in unison, in a silly voice. This is especially effective during the second reading of a passage. Read the passage in "normal" voices first, then have everyone read as if they're underwater or whispering or even like a pirate.

--- If you read books out loud to students, you might want to experiment with some funny voices for characters. You'll get students cracking up and following along!

FUNNY STORIES - Sharing, writing, and reading funny stories is a wonderful way to bring laughter into the classroom. Here are a few ideas:

--- Have students write their own funny stories. You can do so with an entire writing unit like this Descriptive Writing Unit where students make up funny stories (along with research) about a wild pet. Or, you can get students laughing with Creative Writing Lessons. One of my favorites is the Write and Pass Story. This activity is super easy and very funny! All you have to do is assemble small groups of students. Give them each a piece of paper. Have them each begin a story.

Then, after a couple of minutes, have them fold their paper to hide the majority of what they've written. Next, they need to pass it along to someone in their group who will pick up the story where their classmate left off.

This process of writing and passing continues until the story ends. Then, students get a chance to read the jumbled stories. They'll be laughing for sure!

You can find all the materials you'll need for Write and Pass Stories in this FREE Laughter and Learning Resource. Just sign up below and check your email inbox!

--- Tell students funny stories about your own life. Bonus points if you can connect the stories to their learning!

--- Read funny pieces of literature! There are some funny short stories in Guys Write for Guys Read, and kids love the humor in the classic story, The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry. Oh, and if you'd like to get kids cracking up during a read aloud, try Crash by Jerry Spinelli. Poetry can be funny, too! Some of my favorite funny poems are in this blog post.

FUNNY TASKS - Sometimes the easiest way to get students laughing is to add a funny twist to an otherwise ordinary task. Here are my favorite ways to make traditional tasks a little funnier!

--- Homework Twists - Let's face it, homework could use a little humor. An easy way to get students cracking up while doing their homework is with homework twists. I love to staple Homework Twist Task Cards to the top of students' paper.

Or, you could roll a paper homework cube that challenges students to complete their work in usual and funny ways. Don't worry, I've included the Homework Cube in the Laughter and Learning Freebie!

--- Test Questions - The next time you're writing a test, why not include some funny phrases or situations? You might fill a comma quiz with sentences all about a befuddled zookeeper or write passages for reading comprehension about the misadventures of a mad scientist. The idea is to sprinkle some humor into an otherwise humorless task!

--- New Positions - Often, you can get students laughing by challenging them to do their work in strange and unusual positions. Instead of doing their daily warm-ups on top of their desks, why not have them complete them on top of their heads or behind their backs? You'll get students giggling as they try to complete the task and laughing out loud when they see what their work looks like!

My students loved these challenges so much that I made a paper cube that we could roll to determine silly ways for students to do their work! If you'd like, I'll send you a free copy, just add your info. below.

FUNNY GAMES - Games are a great way to get students cracking up while they are actively involved in their learning. Here are a few of my favorites:

--- Carpool - This game is inspired by the popular Improvisational Theatre Game, "Hitchiker." I altered it slightly to use in the classroom. It's a great game to practice inferencing skills, vocabulary, and character analysis. Students LOVE this game!

Here's how it works. Bring four chairs to the front of the classroom. Set them up like a car with two seats in front of the other two seats. Point out the driver's seat and passenger seats to students. Explain that the game will start with 3 students in the "car." They'll need to have a conversation for about 20 seconds until they pick up another student who is carpooling with them. Before this student gets in the car, you will need to give him/her a personality trait or vocabulary word. For instance, if you are studying "A Christmas Carol," you might give him the words miser, generosity, solitude, or specter. He will be responsible for acting in a way that the other passengers can guess the word or trait he is acting out. So, if he was given the word "generosity," he might offer the passengers his shoes or volunteer to drive or suggest going to a drive-thru so he can buy them lunch. The idea is that the new passenger will continue acting until the others catch on. Then, the other passengers should start behaving in the same way. Once everyone is acting incredibly generously, the game ends. Bring new students into the car and invite another student with a new trait to be the carpool-er.

This game is a super funny way to help students master character traits and/or vocabulary! After you play it once, and get the entire class laughing out loud, be prepared to play it many more times! It's a hit!

--- Listen Up - This quick game combines listening skills and jokes to get students giggling. I've included it in a popular Listening Comprehension Unit. To prepare, find a joke or two that you think students might like. Then, "hide" the punchlines in a very different sentence. For instance:

Joke: When do astronauts eat?
Punchline: At launch time!
Hidden Punchline: Rats laugh on chairs with tiny mice.

Create a set of instructions to help students eliminate the other letters in the hidden punchline phrase. For instance, "Cross out the first and last letters in the word 'rats.'" Then, to play the game, tell the joke to students. Have students write the hidden answer phrase on their papers. Explain that they will have to listen to and follow the directions that you read out loud to discover the punchline. Give students the directions one at a time until they reveal the punchline. This game is a funny way to practice listening skills!

To save you time, I've put together a set of "Listen Up" activities in this exclusive FREEBIE.

I hope you've found a few ideas to make your classroom a little funnier!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Mary Beth

* This post contains affiliate links.

Free Halloween Lessons and Activities for the Classroom

Are you on the hunt for some fun (and free) Halloween activities? If so, then you're in the right place!

I'm sharing 3 of my favorite Halloween-themed lessons that will have students writing, reading, and analyzing poetry! That's right! Who says that a holiday-themed lesson can't be rigorous AND engaging? Not me! I love lessons that pack an academic punch and these freebies do just that!

Capitalize on students' natural love for Halloween with this fun creative writing activity! The writing activity begins when students roll story element dice (setting, character, obstacle, and a story starter) to create a random set of story components. Once students have their story elements, they'll plan and write a spooky story by combining all of the spooky parts that they rolled.

Of course, this lesson taps into students' natural love of scary stories while helping them develop critical writing skills. You'll find a detailed planning page in the resource to help students outline their stories before they write their own. The cubes and guide not only make the activity more fun, they also set students up for success! You can find this lesson here...and I'll provide all the links at the bottom of the post.

Speaking of celebrating special days, if you're in the mood for even more ideas, be sure to check out this mega-freebie filled with 40 pages of ideas for celebrating special days in the classroom.

I'm always trying to give students opportunities to read and analyze poems. So, it's no wonder that I put together this FREE poem analysis lesson!

In this FREE Halloween lesson students will analyze the Halloween-themed poem “Mr. Macklin’s Jack O’Lantern” by David McCord. Then, they’ll record their understanding and analysis of the poem in an interactive flip book.

The lesson encourages multiple readings of the poem which leads to a deeper understanding and comprehension of the text. While analyzing the poem, students will identify the sequence of events, its mood, and elements of figurative language. Students will support their analysis with evidence from the poem.

McCord’s poem is a perfect celebration of Halloween and the flip books make analyzing poetry fun!

I may have saved the best idea for last! This lesson is such a fun and educational way to celebrate Halloween. That's because this lesson gives students a trick AND treat!

In this resource you’ll find a “Halloween Fun” activity. This one is the ‘TRICK’. In this activity students need to read the instructions very carefully. However, most students do not read the entire set of directions before beginning (that’s the trick). That means that students will follow the directions to create a Halloween drawing and complete a figurative language activity before they realize that they only needed to do the first 2 steps of the 16 step activity.

Wondering where the ‘TREAT’ comes in? Well, this resource is also filled with a nonfiction passage and questions about the history of Halloween. When all the questions are answered students will reveal a “No Homework” message. Of course, this is their treat.

FYI: Since, the Halloween Fun activity requires students to write figurative language, you may want to teach this Figurative Language 5-Day Unit FIRST.

This free resource is a super fun way to get into the spirit of Halloween! Plus, students will practice figurative language and reading comprehension skills!

If you're looking for even more teaching ideas for October, here's another FREEBIE for you...

And of course, if you love free lesson plans and ideas for the classroom, be sure to sign up for this 40-page Seasonal Sampler!

Here's a quick round-up of the links:

--- Spooky Story Writing Lesson

--- Halloween Poem Analysis

--- Trick and Treat Reading Passage

--- Figurative Language Unit

--- October Plan Book

--- Veterans Day Lesson

Wishing you a very happy Halloween,

Mary Beth

P.S. Veterans Day is right around the corner. Here's an engaging and meaningful lesson. First, students collect facts about Veterans Day for their Doodle Infographic. Then, they write a solider poem. LEARN MORE HERE.

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