The Creative Classroom: Puzzles, Brain Teasers, and Games

Maybe you have some challenging puzzles, strategy games, books with logic puzzles, and other fun-yet-educational odds and ends. Consider putting them all in one place and giving the space a name...Brain Gym, The Puzzle Place, Conundrum Corner - you get the idea.

By making a Puzzle Place (or whatever you want to call it), you make materials that may have been hidden in a closet, inviting and accessible to students. Those kids who tend to finish everything early will love a center that offers them new challenges. It will also become a popular choice during free time and indoor recess.

There are all kinds of thing you can put in your Puzzle Place. Here are some ideas:

Puzzles: The trick with puzzles is to keep all the pieces together. Choose puzzles without too many components and be sure each puzzle has a home of its own. It is also good to choose puzzles that are quick to put away - you solve it or you don't in the limited time you have, and then it goes back to its home...no saving allowed. Some ideas include Tangrams, Happy Cubes, Soma Cube, Brick By Brick, Rush Hour, Toothpick Puzzles, just to name a few.

Pencil & Paper Puzzles I am particularly fond of Grid Logic Puzzles because they work on so many levels. But there is also Sudoku, and tons and tons of brain teasers and other puzzles. I am also quite keen on Evan Moor's Critical & Creative Thinking Activities series, but that makes sense since I wrote them. Another option is the Highlights magazine, Puzzlemania, you can pick those up for almost nothing at yard sales. Get out your favorite book, copy some off and put them in your Puzzle Place. Rotate frequently.

Games Like puzzles, choose ones without tons of pieces and that don't take forever to play. Some of my favorites for the classroom include: SET, Blokus 3D (I love Classic Bokus, but too many tiny pieces for the classroom), Mancala, Boggle, Connect 4, and of course chess.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Creative Classroom Series.

       

The Creative Classroom - What to do with Walls

Aside from holding up the ceiling, walls can serve several purposes in your classroom. They can help to make the room a warm and inviting space that kids feel comfortable in. They can support learning, and they can show off student work. Here are some ideas for decorating yours:

Consider Colors
Make your walls colorful. Most teachers use butcher paper, but I've also seen wrapping paper and fabric. Consider which colors you want to use a lot. Different colors set different moods. Her is an excellent article on room color and mood. It is written for homes, not classrooms, so you need to scroll down to get to the color info.

Focus Walls
Devoting a wall to a subject that you are currently studying is a great way to keep your walls interesting and fresh. You can include key points, vocabulary, brainstorms, student work, and anything else that seems to fit. This article has some great pictures of several focus walls.

Bulletin Boards
Need ideas? Kathy Schrock has compiled an extensive list of bulletin board ideas.

Student Work
Lots of student work not only livens your classroom, but also gives students a sense of ownership. Be sure and enlist those parent helpers to take down and put up student work. One easy way to display student work is to make a bulletin board with a piece of dark blue or black construction paper for each child. Put two large paperclips on the top of each piece of paper. When you use the paperclips to hang student work, the construction paper becomes a frame. Much easier to deal with than staples or thumbtacks.

IdeaPaint
Let kids write on the wall. IdeaPaint allows you to make any wall into a dry-erase board. Here is an article with some good pictures.

For more ideas, be sure to check out the rest of the Creative Classroom Series.

Check back next week for the next installment: Making a Puzzle Center

Image from Literacybytes.com

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Fun Comma Practice

The Creative Classroom - Got Your Back

Is this the back of the classroom? The front? Maybe a side wall? Can't really tell and that is what I like about it. One interesting way to use the back of your classroom is to not really have one. If you can teach from different places around the room, your classroom may not really have a back.

However, most classrooms do. So here are some ways to consider using that space:

• Putting your class library in a cozy corner toward the back is a nice way to make it a quiet place away from the rest of the class. The back is also a good place for centers, small group work, and messy projects.

• Extra supplies and storage go well at the back.
  
• An alternative use for the back of the class is as another front of the class. Some teachers have whiteboards mounted at the back and frequently teach from the back. If desks are arranged in clusters or sideways to the front, students can just as easily look toward the back as toward the front.
  
• The back could be a good place for a really big bulletin board -perhaps something interactive that displays student work and changes often.
• One strategy that helped me a lot was to post a large note to myself at the back of the room - something to remind me to do whatever I was working on to improve my teaching - talking slower, remembering to give more thinking time after asking a question etc. I generally used a picture or initials so that the reminder was only meaningful to me.

Be sure and check back next week for the next installment of the Creative Classroom - What to Do with Walls.

And don't forget to check out the rest of the Creative Classroom series.

Photo from Marissa Akason's Portfolio

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The Creative Classroom: Come to the Front

Your students spend a lot of time looking at the front of your classroom, so it is important to make the most of that space. This is valuable real estate, so think carefully about how you want to use it.

In most classrooms, the central feature is the whiteboard. If you are one of the lucky few that is blessed with an Interactive White Board (sometimes called an Activboard or SMART board) you may want to have a look at this excellent site on Interactive White Boards in the Classroom, which includes all kinds of ideas for uses, tutorials, and software downloads.

A document camera (sometimes called an ELMO), is another amazing teaching tool to have. If have one, you may want to take a peek at this site, which offers 100 Ideas for using a document camera.

Even if you have these fabulous tools, you probably also have a traditional whiteboard, and in fact, many teaches only have a white board. Hopefully, yours is big and magnetic. Here are some thoughts on making the most of it:

Markers

• Colored dry-erase markers cost the same as black ones, yet so many teachers just have black and red. Colors engage your students and can help make a point. Just stay clear of yellow and light shades of orange and pink.
  
• All dry-erase pens are not created equal. Find a brand you like and stick with it.
  
• If your school does not budget enough for dry-erase pens, have each child bring a pack at the start of the year as part of their school supplies.
• I've heard that storing dry-erase markers vertically, caps down extends their life. Consider mounting a marker holder on the whiteboard try for that purpose.
• Keep nondry-erase markers away from the whiteboard (seems obvious but...)

Magnets

• Make sure you have lots of strong ones. Great for displaying specific lesson visual aids, posters, charts, etc. You can get some with hooks too.
• Make a set of magnets with each child's name. Make sure they are big and easy to grab for the younger grades. These can be used to split kids into groups, take attendance, show the results of a poll, track individual students, show classroom jobs etc.
• Rather than writing the daily schedule on the board each day, use strips of tag board (sentence strips work great) to write the names of the subjects, laminate, and put magnets on the back. Now you just have to move the subjects around each day and maybe add the times.

More Ways to Use the Space
In addition to the alphabet, roll-up screen and maps, clock etc., you might also want to consider some of these ideas:

• Table space with commonly used teaching supplies.
• A tall stool.
  
• Banners above and/or below the white board with you favorite quote or saying.
• Charts or posters you'd like to be in the front of your student's minds, e.g., classroom rules, steps to the writing process, editing symbols, classroom jobs etc.
  
• An extra whiteboard, flip chart or giant pad of paper on a stand.
• You can make a class dictionary by labeling a library pocket with each letter of the alphabet and then putting them below the whiteboard. Add index cards with the corresponding letters for each pocket. When students need a word, they bring it to you (or another classroom helper) to write the word on the card. By December, many of the words students need are already on the cards. When a student needs a word, he simply gets the card, copies the word and puts it back for the next user.

Every so often, sit in one of your student's desks and take a look at what they see when they look at the front of your classroom. Ask yourself: Is it interesting and appealing? Is it too busy? Is it too plain?

Be sure to check back next week for ideas about how to make the most of the back of your classroom.

You may also want to check out the other posts in the Creative Classroom Series

Image from Ms. Larsen's Classroom Homepage.

The Creative Classroom - Your Class Library

The two main challenges with a classroom library seem to be making it cozy and inviting, yet easily accessible and keeping it organized. Here are some thoughts on both.

Make it Inviting
Most kids love cozy spaces. Ideally, your class library should be in a corner of your room, away from the door and the sink. A rug is a must. Bean bags, big pillows, cozy chairs, or even a couch will really add to the space. I've also seen lofts, tents, tepees, and hanging curtains or beads to help make the space special and different from the rest of the classroom. Using furniture such as a low, sturdy bookshelf to divide the space from the rest of the room is also a good strategy. Decorate the walls with something interesting. Some possibilities:

• Dust jackets from your favorite books.
• Quotes from your favorite books (poster or banner size).
• Book posters - there always seem to be some from the scholastic book clubs.
• Photos of your students reading together.
• Construction paper circles with the names of books kids have read (they write the titles and put them up themselves, you just have the circles available)
• One year I decorated with five colorful clocks set (and labeled) to different times around the world. The words that went with them were, "There's Always Time for a Good Book."

Keep it Organized
If you have a lot of books (and hopefully you do) then keeping things organized is likely to be a challenge. Here are some thoughts:

• Labeled bins work really well, even for older kids.
• Rain gutters nailed to the wall can also be used to display books.
• You'll need a check-out system of some sort. There are some good ideas at Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk
• The class library is a great place for class books (books in which each student has contributed a page.)
• You can also encourage kids to recommend books to each other with a Class Book Review Notebook. Use a 3 ring binder and a simple and fun-to-fill-out book review sheet. You can get a free one here. Encourage students to add their reviews as they finish books, grouping them alphabetically.

Call your class library something inviting like The Book Nook or The Reading Corner.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Creative Classroom series and be sure to come back next week when we'll talk about the whiteboard/front of class.

Looking for more Class Library Ideas? Check out the linky party at The Sweet Life in Third Grade!

Green Bins Picture from Coaches Corner
Book Nook Picture from Krista Franklin

The Creative Classroom - Desk Arrangment

Image from Environmental Engineering

• Tristan, Alex, Lucy, and Kayla really needs to sit near the front if you want them to focus.


• You can't put Ashley next to any of her friends - which is most of the girls in the class because she will constantly talk to them.


• No one wants to sit next to Bradley. He is that kid no one likes, and he doesn't bathe enough.


• You'd really like all desks facing forward, but rows are so very out of vogue these days...

So many variables to consider. Whatever is a teacher to do? There are many articles on classroom seat arrangement. Here is a good one complete with animations. Environmental Engineering also has some great ideas. Honestly though, they probably don't tell you much that you don't already know from your own experience. So, in this post, I will try to bring out some points you may not have considered.

In Defense of Rows Walk into a classroom with straight rows of desks not touching and words like boring, uncreative, highly structured, and traditional may come to mind. However, sometimes this arrangement is exactly what is needed, and not just for test taking. Having your own space is great for messy art projects and it keeps all those wiggly bodies facing forward for instruction. In addition, we all know that this arrangement really does result in kids staying on task a higher percentage of the time.

This arrangement also works well for "quirky" kids. These days every classroom seems to have its share of ADHD, Asperger's, anxiety, kids with sensory issues, introverts or just kids who like to do things in their own way. Yes, they need to learn to work in groups, but all the time? As adults, few of us work side-by-side, with our desks touching our coworkers'. Why should we make kids work this way?

Still, the straight rows does give the classroom a traditional, almost militaristic feel. One way to get around this is to angle your desks and make rows like chevrons.

Clusters Great for group work, of course, but it comes with so many issues, and not just kids talking. I believe that many teachers are woefully ignorant of what is really going on socially in their classrooms, especially in the upper elementary grades. As adults we don't really get what is going on just outside our hearing. When we place students in close proximity, we may be making an already difficult situation worse without even knowing it.

I'm not saying we should never cluster desks. If you have actually managed to create a positive, emotionally safe learning environment where everyone is respected and student really do work together cooperatively, then clusters are great. They are also good for learning these skills. I just think we should proceed with caution.

Clusters of 4 seem to be most common. One thing to consider trying is clusters of 3 - by having one desk face the front of the class and the other two facing each other, sideways to the front, no one has to sit directly next to another person. If you do a lot in partners, you can just partner two of the ones that are not facing each other together.

Some More Things to Consider There are also U shapes, circles, and any other number of other arrangements, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Whatever you choose, I think it is a good idea to rearrange often. Change is good for stimulating creative thought, and I think it is also good for kids to experience sitting near many different people in many different parts of the room.

And finally, please don't stick that one kid in the corner away from everyone else unless you absolutely have to. I have seen this more than I would have expected and it always makes my heart sink.

Be sure to check out the rest of The Creative Classroom Series.

Next week, I will be doing the 4th installment of the Creative Classroom - Making an inviting classroom library. So be sure and come back for more ideas!

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The Creative Classroom - Let's Get Down To It

Okay, now that you've come through the door, we are ready to get down to the floor.

For the most part, the floor of a classroom doesn't get much attention. It mostly just gets walked all over until we notice that there is too much stuff all over it and realize it is time to get our students to do some cleaning up. Here are some thoughts about the neglected floor:

Rugs are Nice They make the room more cozy. They cut down on noise. They add color. Rugs on floors are essential. Rugs on carpet are great too. At the very least, you should have a rug in your book corner and in your circle area. And while we are on that subject, I think you should have an area for kids to sit on the floor, even if your students are in sixth grade. It doesn't have to be all cutesy, but chairs can get tiresome and sitting on the floor is a nice way to break up the day and teach in a more intimate way.

• For little kids get one with the ABCs, roads (like a map), or colorful pictures. The one in the picture is an English-Spanish one.


• Older kids might enjoy the states or a checkers/chess board (but then you need the pieces to go with it).


• A colorful welcome mat by your outside door is nice.


• My first year teaching I was broke, but I did find someone selling brand new carpet sample squares at a yard sale for a quarter each. So I duct-taped a bunch of them together (on the back) in an interesting pattern for our Book Nook. Worked out great!

A Place to be Messy You might not be too keen on making paper mache dinosaurs if your room is covered in wall-to-wall carpet. Hopefully, you have some floor space for these messy projects, but if you don't, make some.

• If you have a lot of cash at your disposal, you could cover a corner of your classroom in those plastic office mats (the ones people put under wheelie chairs to keep them from damaging the carpet).


• If you are short on cash (uh, yeah, I'm a teacher, duh!) you could buy one of those bright blue tarps and tape it down with brightly colored duct tape.


• In a pinch, get painting tarps (those really thin plastic ones). Not great, but they are cheap and big. Good for a one time project - get 'em messy, throw 'em out.

A Final Thought If you teach little kids, take a minute to get down on the floor (you probably do this a lot a lot during the school day. Try it when your students aren't around). Look around. This is the view your students have. Make sure it is a good one. Sometimes things that look fine from up above don't look so great from down below.

Next week, we'll be exploring desks, tables, and chairs, oh my!

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The Creative Classroom - Come on in!

You know how some classrooms grab your attention as soon as you walk in? You can tell immediately that this is a place where kids are excited about learning, where creativity is welcomed, and where ideas are shared. You probably already have that kind of a classroom,* but you are probably also always on the lookout for new ideas, hence the inspiration for this series.

This is the first in a series about how to add creativity and critical thinking to your classroom environment - the walls, the desks, the book area, and of course the door, which is where I am starting, because that is where every one come in!

On the Outside
If you teach in a school where you are allowed to decorate the outside of your door than by all means, do! Here are some ideas to consider:

• The picture above features kid-generated ways to say hello. The class was celebrating the 100th day of school, so there must be 100 of them! Always great to incorporate student work. I think it gives students a feeling of pride and ownership in their classroom.
• Doing a creative project in which each child's name is displayed is a great way to start the year. My favorite is the giant puzzle - cut a large piece of white butcher paper into enough jigsaw puzzle pieces so each student has one. Students (or you if they are very young) write their names in the center and then decorate any way they wish. Then they work together to assemble the puzzle and you put it on the door. Decorating stars with names is another nice approach.
• How about having your students decorate the letters in WELCOME TO OUR CLASS (or the room number, or teacher's name)
• When I had a classroom, I always posted a copy of Shel Silverstein's poem, Invitation on the door (I copied the original from the book and enlarged it on the copier). I think it sets a nice tone.

On the Inside
Kids spend a lot of time looking at the door. They line up there and wait quite a bit. They probably stare at it a lot in the few minutes before the recess bell rings, so why not give them something interesting to look at?

• I didn't know what this door was at first. Turns out is a plant cell, because Kila Young's 5th graders were studying cells. How clever is that? Consider changing your door with your units.
• Other interesting things to look at: optical illusions, brain teasers, or inspirational quote of the day.
• Try a magnetic white board - write a daily or weekly student poll or would you rather question and have students move magnetic name tags to their choice.
  
• Another idea for that white board - divide it into areas with a different emotion in each one (basic ones like sad, happy, angry, tired etc. work well). Have each student put his/her name strip in which ever space fits his/her current emotional state. Strips can be moved as emotions change. Gives you and your students a nice little window into the emotional climate of the class, and might even help you to alter your teaching style or lesson plan to fit how kids are feeling.

Don't forget to take a peek at the rest of The Creative Classroom Series
Please feel free to share your ideas and be sure and check back tomorrow when we move on to....the floor!
*I suspect that those teachers with ultra-neat classrooms, bare walls, and desks that are lined up in neat rows are not big fans of Minds in Bloom.