Game Time! Classroom Sudoku & Boggle

As we finish up the year, my first and second graders are doing a mini unit on Sports, Games, and Play.  We are talking about the different types of play and activities, and what good sportsmanship looks like in all types of games.  Since my first grade literacy students are familiar with Boggle, and my second grade mathematicians have been playing Sudoku since the beginning of the year, I decided to make poster games for both activities.  For the rest of the year, I will change the games every couple of days.  The students will be allowed to work on the games individually as a fast finisher activity, and with partners at other times. 

I have seen numerous versions of Boggle on Pinterest, and decided to use various ideas to make my own.  I found the letters on mrsrojasteaches.blogspot.com , and printed them on card stock.  I had both the poster and letters laminated, and then put Velcro on all of the pieces.  I barely had the game on the wall and the kids were finding words!  I also made simple worksheets for the kids to use as they find words.

My second graders love playing Sudoku.  We started the year playing the 4 x 4 version, moved to the 6 x 6, and now we are working on the full 9 x 9 version.  What I like about this activity, is that it teaches logical and spatial reasoning in a way that is engaging and enjoyable for my class.  The board I made does not have grid lines.  I did this on purpose so that I could change between all 3 versions of the game.  For 4 x 4, I will only use the 4 squares in the top corner, for 6 x 6 the top two rows, and the whole board for 9 x 9.  I will be able to use this activity in class no matter what grades I teach in the future.  I wish that I had had this for an activity to complete with my high school reading students who were working on inference and logic skills! 

I used a 22" x 28" piece of tag board, pre-cut letters, and 7" x 7" squares of card stock - that is it!  I made two separate sets of numbers - a larger set for 4 x 4, and smaller for the other versions.  I will post pictures of the Sudoku game with numbers tomorrow.  The kids are so excited to start playing the "big board" version!

Sudoku Tiles 1

Sudoku Tiles 2Pin It

Don't Be Crabby ...

As the year comes to an end, I wanted a way to count down the final days.  All year we have kept track with stars on the wall the number of days of school.  Once we reached one hundred, we started counting backwards.  Since there are 21 days of school left, and I have 21 students, I decided to make a board where each student could represent one of the final days.  As we pass a day, one student will get to move a star from the wall and put it by their crab.  I came up with the design for this idea from a few similar projects on Pinterest: theusserys.blogspot.com gave me the idea for the phrase, and a hand paint/print crab project that I can no longer find.  My kids made the crabs by tracing their hand two times,  overlapping the hands, and then gluing google eyes to the top of the thumbs.  This project was fun for the kids and super quick to complete.  I love that we have a hands on count down to end the year as well!

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Organizing for Survival

This year, I was hired for my current position just a few days before school started.  Since then, it has been a daily job to find new ways to organize a space that does not have any storage space.  My latest means to organize my lessons has been my lifesaver.  I saw something similar in another teacher's classroom, and decided to adapt the same method to fit my needs.  I now organize everything by days of the week.  Whatever worksheets, activities, and supplies I will need for that day's lessons go in the corresponding drawer.  There is also a bin for next week's materials so that on Friday, I can pull out that drawer and just as easily put them in the correct drawers for next week.  I think this will also be extremely helpful for when I have a sub.  I won't have to go crazy pulling stuff together, but just pull out the drawer and make a copy of the days's lesson plans.

The teacher who inspired this organization method had each drawer labled for each subject, as well as for art activities, coloring pages, math games, and sub activities.  I also have a bin full of sub activites; however having another set of drawers for sub materials might also be a good solution for my storage and organization issues!  I'm excited to give it a try!

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