Guest Blogger: Making the Classroom a Fun Experience

Making the Classroom a Fun Experience

I feel classrooms don’t have to be boring for students. In fact, they should offer a fun experience to students where they don’t feel the pressure of learning. I believe that it’s not only important to motivate students in the classroom with rewards, but it’s also necessary to make the whole learning experience enjoyable. Because that’s the only way students will want to give their best.

One way to do this is to mix up classroom games with learning plans. Yes, the students will find it more fun to participate in classroom activities when it involves games that they enjoy. The whole idea of making the classroom a fun and unique experience for the students can actually begin with games - plenty of them.

Have Some Classroom Trivia

I’ve seen that children love trivia because there’s a sense of competition. It’s about winning. What you can do is use some of the lessons that have been learned in the classroom to create some trivia questions that you feel would work.

Ask your questions individually. The first student that raises his/her hand gets to answer the question first. If the student answers correctly, he/she gets a point. But in case he/she doesn’t get the answer right, then you simply ask your question again so that another student can answer. Eventually, you will have to declare a winner, which would obviously be the student with the most number of points at the end of the trivia game. The winner then gets a small prize such as a homework-less night.

Act Out Stories When You Can

I find this activity fun and exciting mainly because it’s a group thing. What usually happens is you assign a story that the students read as homework. But instead of that, what if you could have them read it as a group? You can assign students “parts” from the chosen story. When a particular student’s part of the book comes up, he or she reads it out loud in front of the whole class while acting out actions that go with the words.

Want to make the reading more entertaining? Then go ahead and use props that tend to relate with the story. What’s more, your students can even act as “inanimate objects” so every other student gets involved in the whole story.

Set a Strong Foundation

As an elementary school teacher, your goal should be to set a strong foundation for the students by providing solid education. You do this by involving the students as much as you can in your teaching by making the whole experience inviting. Your students are at a stage where they are being molded. By creating a healthy and fun environment in the class, you make it easy for yourself to lead students to a better tomorrow.

You should add more fun activities to your teaching so that the students actually look forward to the learning. That’s how they will soak in what you teach them and will become better students in the future when they take up college and graduate studies. Whether they choose to learn medical billing at Sanford Brown or go for any other education stream in college, they will have a much more open mind for learning. So yes, give your students the space they need to have fun while learning and you will see them shine as they grow up into responsible professionals.

Contributed by Becky W.  

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Guest Post: Becky W - Furthering Your Kid's Academic Career, the Fun Way

Hi all!  Guest blogger Becky W. is joining us again to give some insight about supplementing their kids education using after school enrichment.  Please leave feedback, comments, etc... and I'll make sure to pass it onto her.  Thanks!-----------------------------------------

Furthering Your Kid's Academic Career, the Fun Way

Great academic careers today do not only constitute an outstanding grade sheet. Extracurricular activities are an integral part of your child’s academic path, and they help in developing their skills like nothing else taught during school hours. Schools have ventured into providing quality options in after-school clubs and classes, where children can learn new skills in a fun way.
 If your child is learning more than what is taught to everyone else at school, he or she will have a definite advantage. This is the best way to expand your child’s potential and help in staying ahead in the competitive academic race. From earning scholarships to entering coveted university programs, the advantages of taking a few extra courses are endless.
Overburdening of syllabi and the stress of time management is often the first apprehension of parents in this regard. However, remember that all the time invested in these extra courses is worth it! If your child is learning American history in school, it’s great to study world history in after-school lessons or tutoring sessions. The same goes for other subjects like math, literature, and chemistry; extra classes further increase understanding of the subject at hand.
The fact that these after school clubs are very creative and less formal makes learning more fun. These clubs and extracurricular classes are not just limited to conventional school subjects. Students can opt for other interesting courses, such as learning how to play guitaror joining the basketball team. These extra activities are valuable for your child’s academic career today. A student with good grades and many other skills will usually be the preference of higher educational institutions.
If you are looking to get your kid enrolled in some additional activities, try speaking with the teachers and counselors at your child’s school first. Most schools have interesting and productive clubs that boost creativity and confidence in children. Nearly all in-school courses are free of cost, or have a very minimal cost. Since these courses and clubs are aimed at developing extra skills in the children, they typically won’t have any specific requirements, and anyone can sign up.
In case your child’s school does not have clubs that interest him or her, you can always find evening classes elsewhere. Try enrolling your child in clubs that suit his or her interests best. The aim is to boost the overall academic career by bringing out the best in your child. So in case they are holding back at school, the extra academic activities may help them realize their strengths and use them in the best possible way!

Children learn to socialize and develop confidence through these activities. Clubs like debating, journalism, and spoken languages help children in developing vocal skills and speak with confidence. As they advance to higher classes, the significance of extracurricular activities increases because they help them get into good universities. These clubs can be a great source of letters of recommendation or simply for boasting on the academic record. 

Contribution by Becky W.  

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Hope you had a great day!

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Guest Blogger: End of the Year Gifts

Hello everyone!  I have Becky W. visiting me today on the blog.  She wrote an informative article on easy and inexpensive end of the year gifts for our students and wanted to share.  If you have any comments, ideas, questions, please leave them below and I'll make sure to pass it onto her.  :)  
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Great End of the Year Gifts for Students
If you are a teacher, you may be wondering about the best end-of-the-year gifts to give to your students, especially as the end of the school year is steadily approaching. Giving your students a gift at the end of the year is a good idea, especially if they have worked hard and have done well to receive good grades in your class. There are lots of ways to reward the students with different types of gifts, some of which are quite creative.

Kiss and Hug Creativity
Before you think anything inappropriate, this is actually a cute idea to give to younger students. You can take the Big Hug fruit drinks and tie a small sandwich bag of Hershey Kisses, tie them together with colorful ribbon, and pass them out to the kids. It is an affordable and useful gift for the younger students, especially if they enjoy a little chocolate and something to drink. Just about everyone can get a kick out of this creative gift idea.

Homemade DVD of Memories
A special present for him or her could include a homemade DVD loaded with all of the memories for the entire school year. Throughout the school year, you may have taken plenty of pictures with the students for all types of events, such as the Nondenominational School Dance, Thanksgiving Celebration, and even an Earth Day trash cleanup. You may also have gone on several trips with your students where you would have even more pictures, such as a trip to the zoo, local farm, or a museum. 
You can upload these photos to your computer, put them together in a slideshow with nice music, and then burn them onto blank discs. You can hand the discs out to your students at the end of the year so that they never forget what an enjoyable school year they have had. Not to mention, the discs can be held onto for years. If you need help making the DVD, you can use Movie Maker, which is a program that is likely already available on your computer.

Rulers
Every student needs a ruler at some point in time. This may not seem like an ideal gift, but there are ways to spice it up and make it fantastic. You can attach a finely decorated note to the ruler that says, “Dear Student, You Rule!” After you address the student, you can also write a short poem for all your students, thanking them for behaving and letting them know how much you enjoy being their teacher. The students will be able to use the ruler when they head back to school during the following school year and they can keep the poem as a keepsake for as long as they want. 
There are lots of great end of the year gifts for students. It is always best to be creative and fair with what you are giving the students. You want to give the students something fun, memorable, and useful. There are just a few of the ideas that you can put together to create amazing gifts for your students to enjoy. With these gifts, your students will feel appreciated and will be very thankful to have been lucky enough to have a teacher like you that cares about them.

  *Contribution made by Becky W.*

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Thank you Becky for sharing :) 
What gifts do you usually make for your kiddos?  
Hope you had a great day!  Can I mention again that I'm on Spring Break?!?  So excited!!!  Well, not super excited that my middle son woke up at 4:30 with the same stomach flu as the rest of us... but at least hubby cleaned it up and stayed home today with him.  I couldn't miss the egg-stravaganza that I had planned.  
I'll share more later about my day, but make sure you check back tomorrow because I'm so close to 400 followers that I've decided to celebrate!!!  It's party time and 7 lovely bloggers are helping me out!!! 

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