Yesterday, I set four goals for myself with the Sentence Scramble game.

Goal. Provide a novel practice opportunity with clauses and phrases. Goal. Provide opportunity for kids to collaborate. Goal. Minimize my role in the learning process. Goal. Provide a fun learning experience for kids.

 

Today, I am pleased to announce that I achieved all four. The game was a hit, and I could not be more proud of my kiddos for diving into practicing, collaborating, and having fun–without me. Mission accomplished. It was a noisy, busy affair, but the kids were perhaps the most engaged I have seen them all year. In fact, they were so engaged that they didn’t have time to explain to Mrs. Campbell, one of our assistant principals, what they were doing. It was, indeed, a scramble, in which literally every second counted. So, since I had nothing to do, I explained what we were doing. Pretty cool feeling to have kids so engaged in the learning that they cannot be bothered to talk about their learning. And in truth, it was no less a cool feeling to simply be a member in the audience, an onlooker, a witness to the experience, a witness to teamwork, to learning, to fun.

 

Today, we will score the game. Each group will have an opportunity to score the others’ boards. My goal here is to provide even more practice with clauses and phrases, but this time it will be in the form of a critique. And of course, the kids believe that there has to be a winner, so we will crown a champ in each period. Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will…

…begin with Smiles and Frowns.

…score Sentence Scramble boards.

…write Conference Letters (I will talk about this tomorrow).

…reflect in Journey Journals.

…end with a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.