Tic Tac Toe Summer Research Project Starts the Year Off Right!

Remember writing "What I Did this Summer"  when  you were a kid?  Our students want to share with us about their experiences over the summer, but most don't want to write a paper.  As teachers, we all know that our students are unique with their own learning styles, so why not start the year giving students a choice of activities as they research more about something from their summer?

This is one of my favorite ways to start the school year, and new students come into my class looking for this assignment!  There is that much buy in from the families!

What I do is give the students a tic tac toe board with various activities based on gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory.  They must choose three activities in a row to complete, and they can choose a fourth activity for extra credit if they wish.  The activities have been placed on the board strategically, so whatever three they choose will yield a variety of learning styles.

These presentations are presented orally to the class, but they are interesting for everyone.  The topics that the students choose are so varied that it never gets dull,  I've had students choose places they visited, things they learned, sports they played, and one student even did a study on the music of Disneyland!  You get so much insight to your student's interests and their learning styles on the very first week of school!

Here are some sample products:

Why use a Tic Tac Toe board?

1.  Giving students choice insures buy in from the students

2.  The activity choices utilize Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory - there is something for everybody!

3.  You learn so much about your student's interests and their learning styles early in the school year.

4.  You are setting expectations regarding research, plagiarism, crediting sources, and presentation skills.

5.  You start the year off with a fun, yet academic project.

I've put together my Tic Tac Toe board along with handouts, expectations, and a rubric for all of you to enjoy!  Check it out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Summer-Research-Tic-Tac-Toe-Multiple-Intelligence-Activities-283572

Three in a Row and you win!

Continent Twister - Geography Learning with a Twist!

Last year, I came up with the idea to introduce geography and mapping skills by having the students create their own Continent Twister.  You know, rather than "right foot blue" they would play "right foot Europe!"  The students absolutely loved this activity, and I was quite pleased with the learning that took place!  Sneaky teacher that I am, I was able to get in map skills such as continents, oceans, equator, latitude, longitude, compass rose, without the students even realizing that they were learning!!!

This project requires cooperative learning in small groups and problem solving skills, so I was able to learn so much about my students right away!  I allowed the students to choose their own groups, which gave me great insight to which students could or couldn't work together!

The hardest part of this assignment was figuring out how to make it into a game - the standard Twister spinner does not work for this game, so problem solving was required for the teams to come up with a workable solution.  Each team came up with a different idea - but they all worked!

I am definitely going to start my year with this project again!  But this time I have organized everything in a great little Teachers Pay Teachers unit!  All of you can benefit from my learning curve!  Check it out!  I priced very affordably, so everyone can enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Continent-Twister-a-Common-Core-Aligned-Twist-on-Mapping-and-Geography-819648

This is a true "Butts Up!" activity!!!!

Happy Mapping!!!

Shari