The Fly Swat Game
The fly swat game is very versatile. You can use it for spelling, academic vocabulary, math and just about any subject that requires students to identify a word, sentence, phrase, number or equation.
I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this game.
Here’s how we play it in my classroom. First, I divide the board up into two sides, a side for the boy’s team and a side for the girl’s team. Next, I assign a score keeper. The score keeper sits on a little stool off to the side and keeps track of the points.
On the board, I put up the vocabulary words we are studying or short sentences that focus on the grammatical skills we are building. I’ve even put up clocks to reinforce time-telling skills.
This is also a great game to play for test reviews and reinforcing vocabulary.
Unit Spelling Words
What's the scoop? Well, the scoop is that each week the new spelling words will be posted in a PowerPoint that has links to the dictionary for definitions, pronunciation and oh, so much more!
Each week from now on, until the end of the school year, I will post our new unit spelling words. Even if you aren’t part of my class, please feel free to download a copy of the PPT and use it in your classroom to reinforce spelling and vocabulary.
Next to each word will be a “click here” link. The link will take you directly to the dictionary where there will be the definitions, examples and a sound file that students can listen to for the correct pronunciation of the targeted word.
Plant and Animal Cell PowerPoints
Download these PowerPoints if you are teaching about the parts of plant and animal cells.
I’ve run into a few snags this summer, my laptop got a nasty virus and isn’t functioning properly and my ipad isn’t set up to do blogging, but never fear, I’ve been busy putting together PowerPoints that you can use in your classroom.
I’m teaching 5th grade in an international school now and we are studying cells.
The Parts of a Cell - This PPT goes over all the different organelles. It is good for reviewing. I had the students take down the information and save to study for the test.
Organelles2- this PPT is based on the popular Who Wants To Be a Millionaire PowerPoint template. Use it as a fun quiz right before giving test.
Read and Draw Silly Monsters
Students read sentences about silly monsters and then draw them exactly like they are described.
Check out the two worksheets I developed for my first graders. They have to read a sentence about an imaginary animal and then draw it exactly as it is described.
G1 Greeperdorn – This worksheet has two imaginary monsters on it, the greeperdorn and the bumblesnap. I’m going to use it to walk the students through the process and then they can take it home to use it as a study sheet.
G1 Woogle – There are two monsters on this worksheet, the woogle and the wubble. I plan on taking a grade on this one. Be sure everyone knows what a beak is otherwise there maybe some confusion.
Free Study Skills PowerPoints
Do your students have effective study skills?
My colleagues and I are giving a study skills workshop for the upper school students this Friday. Below is a sampling of the PowerPoints we will be using.
American Style Learning Strategies -This PowerPoint covers the proper use of highlighting, how to use two column notes and concept mapping.
Study Skills PPT by Lynn Husen – This presentation covers all the basics.
Time Mangement Skills – A visually appealing presentation that offers practical time management suggestions.
Best Test Taking Advice Ever – I used this PowerPoint when I was prepping the kids for the FCAT.
Free Online Gradebook
Engrade.com is a user friendly online gradebook.
I ran across the best free online grade book a few months ago. I shared it with the administration at my school. They liked it so much they decided to adopt it for the entire international department.
Check it out at Engrade.com
You can do so much more than use it to keep track of your grades. One of my colleagues uses it to post quizzes and homework assignments.
Best of all, it’s free!
PowerPoint Game Templates
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and several other PowerPoint game templates are ready to be downloaded for you to use.
If you aren’t familiar with creating PowerPoints or aren’t as tech tech savvy as you would like to be, don’t worry. All you need is little practice and you’ll pick it up in no time. Click here for an article with tips on how to incorporate PowerPoint games into your classroom.
In the meantime, I’ve scoured the web and compiled a list of popular PowerPoint games that are sure to be a hit. PowerPoint games are an excellent way to break up the monotony on review days and will go a long way in motivating students, but most importantly it will bring a smile to their faces.
- Wheel of Fortune PPT – Pilot theme music, 1989 opening theme, 1989 closing theme, 2000 theme music, prize 1, prize 2, prize 3, prize 4, prize 5, and prize 6. It’s the little things that make a big difference, and here are the little sound effects that will help your students transition on to the next segment of the game: bankrupt sound effect, bonus sound effect, the buzzer, category selection sound effect, the last spin, the wheel of prizes, and no more consonants.
- Pyramid PPT - There are two to choose from: the 10,000 Dollar theme and the 25,000 Dollar theme.
- Password PPT – There are four themes to choose from: Password All Stars, the 1971 version, the 1961 version, and Password Plus.
- Millionaire PPT -Click here for the sound files that go to each round.
- 20 Questions PPT -The kids will love the silly music and sound effects.
- Funky Jeopardy PPT & Jeopardy PPT – The theme show music, ending theme, final theme, final 60 seconds and the ending theme music.
- Guess The Word PPT – The sound effects are built right into the slides.
- Deal or No Deal PPT -Click here for the theme song, commercial break music, contestant music, and the high stakes music. Click here for the Slide Share version.
Free PowerPoints
PowerPoints are a fantastic way to capture your student's attention.
I love using PowerPoints in the classroom. Once you get the hang of it, you can knock them out fairly quickly. You can jazz it up with pictures, media and audio too. Also, there are lots of free PowerPoint templates that you can download to keep things interesting. (I’ll post more on that subject later.)
If using PowerPoints in the classroom seems like an overwhelming task then please read this article by Don L. Fisher and put your mind at ease. Also, I found this tutorial that will walk you through the process.
Now back to the topic at hand, there are loads of great free PowerPoints all over the internet. The problem arises when you are looking for a specialized topic, but if you are looking for general ESL PowerPoints then there are plenty to choose from.
Below are a few sites that offer free PowerPoints on general ESL topics:
- Scroll down for a few free demo PowerPoints from ESLgalaxy.com
- The Internet TESOL Journal has a handful of free PowerPoints on verbs, contractions, and common root words.
- ESL Castle has a few free Powerpoints on grammar.
- English 4 Kids has a list of four PowerPoints that can be used as games or used for grammar review.
- ESL Kids World has several PowerPoints to choose from.
- EL Civics has a large assortment of Powerpoints including holidays and US Citizenship.
- 4 Kids ESL has a a list of about 4 free PowerPoints to choose from.
Check out the links below, especially if you are looking for something specific in the content area:
- 4th grade Social Studies
- Elementary Presentations
- Jefferson County’s PowerPoint Collection
- Jeopardy Games
- More PowerPoint Games
- World of Teaching
And finally, click here for some really creative ideas for getting the students involved using PowerPoint presentations in the classroom.
Take a Happiness Test
"The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts" – Winston Churchill
Here are a few sites that are designed to test your level of happiness:
The Happiness Test: How Happy Are You?
Authentic Happiness: Using The New Positive Psychology – Looks like you will have to register to access the quizzes.
Oprah’s Satisfaction With Life Scale
Personal Alchemy’s Happiness Test
This is how I would use it in the classroom:
1. Print it out and test the students take the test. Then break them up into pairs and let them discuss each question, what they chose and why.
2. Cut and paste the quiz questions to Powerpoint slides. On each slide put the question and the choices. Then have the students number the questions on a sheet of paper where they will put their choices. After everyone has made their choices, put the scoring index on the screen and give them a few moments to score their results. After everyone is finished, you can flip back to the first question and ask them what they put down as their score. Additionally, you can assign someone to add up all the scores and divide it by the number of students in the class for an overall happiness score for the entire class.