Contestant Number One, Come on Down!

In our cancer unit we worked on being “Scientist Researchers,” by researching different treatments. It went pretty well other than minor hiccups such as me giving groups the wrong research materials. We got it all knocked out today, and I like that because that’s pretty much all the time I can use for it, but I wasn’t able to allow them the freedom to present their findings in the way they want.  Last time I had them in research groups for social studies, they got to present their own way, and they did a wonderful job of it while having fun. This time, I pretty much made a template for them to fill out as they went along. It went over pretty smoothly, but was not quite as exciting. I really wish I had more time for researching treatments because there are so many, and quite frankly, I just think that some of them are really cool, and I believe they would have the same opinion if we had time to delve into the subject.

Social studies was a riot today.  Without any warning, I sprung a review game on them. The civil war unit is taking a ridiculous amount of time to cover because we probably only average about three days a week for social studies, so I figured it was time for a little review. There were a few kinks in the logistics of the game that I had to work out along the way, but other than that, it was a super success. The kids loved playing, got a good refresher, and I had a great time being the host. I snuck out during the transition from science to social studies and changed into a sweet outfit, then had my teacher play music from “The Dating Game,” to cue me to come in after he split the class into two teams. The best part was the shock on their face as I ran in high-fiving them because they had no clue what was happening. Once I announced that I was the host of the “Civil War Review Show,” they all began to cheer, and the game was on! It had a perfect balance of individual opportunity as well as group scoring opportunity, with a little strategy mixed in. In the end, it was a great change of pace, and a great learning environment in which to be.