BVMS CiA Newsletters

🕵️March C.I.A. Newsletter

In this edition:

Ideas for gamifying review (OST, unit tests, etc.)
March Madness Hooks
Eduprotocols "Smart Start" Ideas
- Use THIS YEAR'S kids to try some fun new things out with low/no cognitive load--you can get experience with a new lesson frame and students get a "fun day" that can pay off in spades instructionally for you both!
- Let me know if you want to try some!

February Reflection

First, did anyone notice it's now the SECOND week of March before I published the March newsletter? I gotta be real; I kept adding things to my day and plate recently and it pushed this edition back. A bit too much.

“Whenever you say yes to anything, there is less of you for something else. Make sure your yes is worth the less.” – Louie Giglio

The above quote was first shared in an early episode of Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast about time management. I said yes to a few more important things to serve others this past month. It meant this newsletter was "backburnered" but that is ok--my yes WAS worth the less. I'd rather drop everything to support our building's organizational needs and your personal teaching needs than write a newsletter no one has the capacity to dive into.

Gamifying test prep/review to up engagement

The Class is Lava

Class is Lava Gamified Syllabus

This is originally shared on EDrenaline Rush (free blog), but is now on EMC2Learning (2 levels of paid vs free "Netflix for lesson planning).

A few teachers at BVMS have asked about ways to up the engagement for test prep and skills practice. This template is built for gamifying your syllabus day for kids, but you could easily borrow the idea to put kids in teams and they complete tasks (whatever you want--worksheets, review, etc.) to collect "furniture items" to survive the longest in the floor is lava competition. Click HERE for the how to and a template!

Board games

Think Jenga, Battleship, Operation, Candy Land, etc. Create a question set and give kids tasks to complete to pull blocks, find ships, etc.

Battleship Idea #1

Battleship Idea #2 (+ a Google Sheet)

For Jenga it is as simple as writing numbers on a set of Jenga blocks. Then create a list of questions or tasks. Kids pull blocks as they get them right. Amp it up? Have kids try to compete to take down another team's tower

egg dash callenge

Any classroom. Any Age. Any lesson.

Click here for the process!

Want to work with me to use a "pretty" template from EMC2Learning? I have paid Engagement Engineer Account and can use it with you--I just can't post it here.

"Buster" Activities

Click above to check out worksheet, homework, and lecture BUSTER "plug and play" activities when you think the thing you already have and don't have time to remake/think about needs an engagement boost!

Want more lessons that kids will say are "Way better than a movie!" fun lessons! Let's dive in!

March madness themes & hooks

How can you use March Madness in the classroom? Want to explore this question with me? Let's do it! I love using the site Challonge.com to build my own personalized brackets for whatever the madness is around. I did this in SS with vocab (competing for the most impactful term for a unit). Check out some of these samples below!

March Madness of Vocabulary
March Madness of Books
March Madness Math Review (doing the problems in your teams can
Check out how 7th Grade Science Teachers here at BVMS did some bracketology around renewable energy!

Renewable Energy Madness

March Madness of Vocabulary

Teach with Magic - Go Small to go Big! Since our return from Spring Break last week I've seen a significant drop-off in the already low engagement of my students in virtual learning. I thought maybe I was just noticing it more since my return to one day of in-person learning (despite it only being 4 students) reminded me what teaching

March (okay April) Madness (shared)China Edition APRIL

R2CW Madness

Jefferson's Team & Jerseys CB Project @JenMPage

Copy of Live Lesson Option: MAAA (Asia) Bracket Review

Copy of March Madness Bracket /templates share

Eduprotocols "Smart Start Ideas

- Use THIS YEAR'S kids to try some fun new things out with low/no cognitive load--you can get experience with a new lesson frame and students get a "fun day" that can pay off in spades instructionally for you both!
- You learn the protocol and kids have fun--perfect for those days after testing but before spring break. THEN...you get pay off the rest of the year and/or next year when you want to use them with REAL CONTENT.
- Let me know if you want to try some!

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