Spy Lab Classroom Transformation

-


                                                           


You mean it’s possible to make a scripted math lesson…. Fun?!?! YES!!! When Rock Your School day falls on the day of your formal observation, magic can still happen! I took a big risk and completed a room transformation during my form observation.


My students were on a mission to find our missing school mascot! We used the exact same math lesson that we would have been doing anyway, from a "scripted curriculum," but my coworkers and I put our heads together to add in a few key components:

🔍 Build suspense. I put "Missing Eagle" signs around the school the week leading up to our lesson. Even students in other classes were engaged and interested in finding out what was going on. On the day of the lesson, I put caution tape on my door. 

🔍 Decorate the room: black lights, white string (to look like lasers), and some Mission Impossible music from YouTube on loop go a long way!! Here are some links I used for inspiration: 

🔍 Make all the math problems in the lesson detective themed! Don’t change the numbers!!! Just make the content related to theme, and throw it all on a cute themed slideshow. Here is a copy of mine that you're welcome to use for inspiration.

🔍 Divide your students into groups and give them differentiated assignments for independent practice (easier problems for low learners, challenge problems or enrichment for high) in a “Top Secret” manila envelope.

🔍 Pick 6 popular adults around campus to be your suspects. Create clues that students receive when they solve problems to narrow down the suspects until they’ve found the culprit at the end. Not necessary (but so fun): I created a short video with clips from all the suspects and then the culprit at the end. Check it out at the end of our slideshow!

🔍 Be extra: We dressed in all black that day, with blazers to really give in to the drama. I scanned everyone's fingerprints on a free app (Secret Finger Protection Lock Scanner Prank Free) as they walked in to class to see if their access would be granted or denied. I also gave each student a badge with their group name on it. Students were allowed to do their work with an invisible ink pen. that they could keep after the lesson.

The base is simple, and now that I’ve done all the work for this one lesson, you better believe we’re doing it year after year! Check out the story highlight on our profile to get ALL the details and see videos and pictures from our spy lab. If you have any questions please feel free to message!! I'd love to help you pull this off in your classroom!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Glow Day!

-
Image
Glow Day has quickly turned into our favorite day of the year! It's an opportunity to amp up the fun and engagement for ANY content area. We were inspired by Hope King and heavily relied on experience from @AdventuresofMsSmith. After researching how they pulled off a glow day, we took some of their ideas and made it our own. We hope YOU do the same as well! So we started with a Teachers Pay Teachers pack of Glow Day math centers from @AdventuresofMsSmith . Her Instagram highlights helped this process tremendously. We also gathered inspiration from Hope King's blog post on her Glow Day.  We also have Instagram Highlights if you'd like to see videos detailing how we pulled off each station and gathered materials to make this possible! These Glow Day game station ideas can really be used in a lot of ways and for any subject matter. We started with her pack and then added a couple stations of our own to make the day cross curricular. Once these supplies are purchased and the
Read more

March Madness Tournaments

-
Image
                      A few years ago, I saw Miss 5th's idea for a March Madness book tournament and LOVED it! I decided to adapt her idea and use it in my 4th grade classroom as well! It has become a hit every year and one of our favorite things to look back on! In this post, I'll detail how I incorporate it in my classroom and I'll also link Miss 5th's pack about the tournament on Teachers Pay Teachers.           On the first day of March when students walk into my classroom, they'll hear "Are You Ready For This?!" playing with the lights off (Double Teamed vibes anyone?!). I'll have some fancy lights on and sometimes I'll bring in a basketball to dribble. We have to set the mood! This is what gets them bought in from the very beginning! Once their curiosity is peaked, and they're wondering what is going on, I introduce them to the March Madness Book Tournament!  The Sweet 16          Each student picks a book to enter into the tournament. Th
Read more

Class Jobs

-
 Class Jobs- Saving Teacher's Time Every Year      One of the best kept secrets to classroom management (and teacher sanity) is student jobs. Something taking you too much time? Make it a student job. Don't have the patience to do something trivial? Make it a student job. Can't ever remember to do something? Make it a student job. The best part is... students LOVE it! They feel a sense of ownership over the classroom and gain experience with real life situations. Logistics     We have students fill out job applications at the beginning of every quarter. Check out the job applications we use by clicking here! We go over all of the jobs and job descriptions so students know what they're applying for. They apply for three jobs at a time, in order of preference, and give reasons why they'd be good at those jobs. They are allowed to put down one job that they absolutely DO NOT want as well.      We try our best to fulfill everyone's wants, and take their reasons and
Read more