| Name of Activity: Roll or Attendance | | | | Materials Needed: Stopwatch and place to |
| | | | record fastest times. |
| Purpose of Activity: The purpose is to add a | | | | |
| little more meaning to taking attendance. | | | | Description of Idea |
| Traditionally, we have children stand on | | | | |
| numbers. I have simply added to this. | | | | This idea works best at the beginning of the |
| | | | year when you are establishing your protocols |
| Prerequisites: At the beginning of the school | | | | for lining up to leave the class in a quiet |
| year I have the students stand on a number | | | | manner. It is very important that you stress |
| that corresponds to their last name | | | | that safety is the number one priority! They |
| (alphabetical order), and as we stretch, I | | | | must line up being cordial and nice with each |
| ask where number 3 or number 30, etc., is if | | | | other and in the proper manner. Teachers need |
| there is no student on those numbers. | | | | to understand that this may not be something |
| | | | you do every day as situations in your |
| Suggested Grade Level: 6-12 | | | | activity area may not warrant using this |
| | | | every day. |
| Materials Needed: Asphalt paint. | | | | |
| | | | Each time the classes line up, I time them |
| Description of Idea | | | | with the stopwatch. If anyone is pushed or |
| | | | hurt or if there is a lot of noise, the |
| I have lots of blacktop that is not being | | | | contest is invalid for that class that day. |
| used so I decided to use different areas to | | | | To start have each class complete only |
| add to my roll taking variations. I have the | | | | against each other in comparing their times. |
| numbers painted; then I painted the alphabet. | | | | (After a while you may want to consider |
| Thereafter, I painted the periodic table of | | | | having each grade level compete against each |
| the elements and assigned each student in | | | | other). |
| each period an element. (C, H, AU, etc.) Then | | | | |
| I painted out a keyboard and assigned each | | | | I post the quickest times, changing as |
| student a letter, punctuation mark or symbol. | | | | necessary. If they beat the quickest score, |
| (By this time I have fairly good idea who | | | | they get a bonus point in P.E. The students |
| would be an asterisk, question mark or | | | | really enjoy the competition and comparing |
| exclamation.) The numbers and alphabet are | | | | the times with other classes and it has |
| three feet apart. The keyboard is two-foot | | | | really helped with lining up efficiency. |
| squares but the elements are four foot | | | | |
| blocks. | | | | Teaching Suggestions: |
| | | | |
| Assessment Ideas: | | | | You may want to give points for the quality |
| | | | of their lining up and give them feedback |
| I am always surprised when I ask where | | | | about how well they did with respecting each |
| "Hydrogen" is and a little voice replies, | | | | other, and note those who made good decisions |
| "Oh, he's not here today!" Although I have | | | | when they lined up. |
| not actually done anything but take roll, I | | | | |
| can imagine getting into groups by forming | | | | It is very important that the teacher stress |
| molecules. I have taught prime numbers with | | | | that it is the process that is most important |
| the roll numbers and vowels and consonents | | | | and not the final product. There will be days |
| with the alpabet. I have had the "home keys" | | | | when the fastest is not the best so there may |
| take off on a lap and had the rest of the | | | | be days that you do not want to do this idea. |
| class chase them. | | | | |
| | | | May be best to just two this for 2 months at |
| Adaptations for Students with Disabilities: | | | | the beginning of the year and then maybe |
| | | | revisit after major holiday breaks such as |
| Though I have not had children with | | | | Christmas holiday. |
| disablities since I repainted the blacktop, I | | | | |
| can place students in wheelchairs in the | | | | Variations: |
| space bar of the keyboard and put wheelchairs | | | | |
| on the outside numbers or alpha spots. | | | | You may think of graphing the results either |
| | | | using a bar graph or line graph which |
| Name of Activity: Quickest Round-Up | | | | graphically shares with the students just how |
| | | | fast they are lining up. |
| Purpose of Activity: To improve on the | | | | |
| efficiency of kids lining up to leave the | | | | May want to have weekly challenges, by ABC |
| activity area. | | | | order, Age order, Color of shoe, etc. It may |
| | | | add a minute or two but it could encourage |
| Suggested Grade Level: 2-5 | | | | other skills as well. |
| | | | |