December Activities

It is December and the holiday season is upon us. Students are excited and it is hard to get them to focus during these times. I find the best way to control them is to give them smaller assignments and allow them to make choices. Of course, this means a lot of prep work in advance but once everything is prepared, I can enjoy watching students explore and learn.

I start off by thinking about my goals and objectives. Once I know what I want my students to achieve, I think about activities that they can do to learn the material and practice the skill. These activities usually involve making or drawing something if possible. Different activities may vary according to difficulty. Some activities may be duplicated so that students don’t have to wait for someone else to complete an activity so they can do it. I like to use little baskets for each activity and all the materials go into the basket along with the instructions in a plastic sleeve. I number each activity basket. These baskets are placed around the room.

Then I look at each student and their ability level before giving them a choice board. I like to give students no more than 4 choices for the day. For example, Student 1 may choose two activities from activities 1, 3, 4, or 7. Student 2 may choose from activities 2, 6, 8, or 9. Student 3 may choose from 1, 5, 8, or 10.

Students seem to enjoy having a choice and this allows the students to move around the room. The activity is interesting enough to keep them engaged and focused.

I allow 10 minutes at the end of class for everyone to gather and reflect on the activities. I ask the students to share why they liked the activity they chose. This might motivate others to try that activity the next day if given that choice.

Do you do something like this? If so, please share.