Grammar ER Activity 2014

A couple of years ago, I transformed my classroom into an Emergency Room for a grammar lesson, and the students operated on "sick" sentences.  I decided to bring this activity back, and it was a huge success!  The students took it seriously and were so engaged!  This was a culminating activity for what we've been learning about in grammar, and I used it as a formative assessment.  The students had to identify vocabulary; use correct punctuation for various types of sentences; recognize synonyms/antonyms, types of analogies, nouns, etc.  They did this using their own unique "patient."  Click the link above for more info on this activity. 

This assessment was fun for the children, and I now have a better idea of what the students are understanding and what I need to reteach.

Without further ado, here are the pictures from today's "surgery:"

I set up the classroom while the students were at P.E.

Prepping for surgery: 

I had "hospital sounds" playing in the background while the students prepped.  I had the sound of a beating heart playing while they worked.

This year, I had the students use tape instead of glue.  This seemed to work a little better, though some of the students had a tough time with the tape.  The glue, however, was very sticky and made the papers soggy last time.  If/when I do the activity again, I'll stick with tape.

The children even stayed focused when we had a friendly visit from the administrators.

These kids were completely engaged!

"Is he going to make it?!" 

Whew!  We were all so happy that the surgeries were successful! 

Punctuatiónas Restaurant Grammar Activity (Week 7)

This week, in grammar, we focused a great deal on how to punctuate dialogue.  I ended the week by transforming my classroom into an Italian restaurant called "Punctuationas" (be sure to say that six-syllable word with an Italian accent!) where my students were served individualized menus stuffed with grammatically incorrect sentences.  They had to fix the errors with elbow macaroni, penne pasta, and small shells.  This hands-on culminating activity was a hit with my students!  Let me share some pictures with you and then explain in more detail how I created this activity.

My classroom door:

Look at that awesome flag a parent donated for the activity:



Décor from Dollar Tree:

For more decoration, donated empty pizza boxes from a local pizza place:

 I love that the community is always willing to help out my classroom.  All I have to do is ask!

A parent helped me set up the room while my students were at P.E. 

I dressed the part as Chef Bowman and my accessories came from Party City:   

 FYI, it's very difficult to smile with a stick-on mustache! 

Me and my "waitresses"

My parent volunteers were a huge help!  This activity would not have gone as smoothly without them!  They circulated the room while the students worked and were able to answer any questions the children had.

 

Okay, so you've seen some fun pictures...now let's move on to talking about how I planned this 40 minute grammar activity.   

 

I decided that I would give each student five unique sentences to correct.  They sit in groups and I didn't want anyone to cheat!  At first, I thought I would just write these on sentence strips but soon realized that there wouldn't be enough room.  I typed up various sentences, making sure to space twice between each word so the students would have plenty of room to glue pieces of pasta in the correct places.

I only had the students add commas, quotation marks, apostrophes, periods, and exclamation marks.  I included the correct capitalization and made sure that I didn't have any interrogative sentences.  What kind of pasta would be used for a question mark, anyway?

 

My students worked independently to punctuate their sentences, but I did offer clues in case they got stuck.  On the back of each page, in the bottom right corner, I wrote a number that indicated how many errors there were on that page.  Also, the students could refer to our "special menu" for help:

I just pulled information from a few references in our Shurley Grammar textbook, typed them up, printed them out, and stuck them in a plastic frame from Dollar Tree.  They made great table tents!

 

Using manila folders, I created menus for the sentences to be placed in.  To keep things in order, I carefully numbered the menus and sentences:

My entrée numbers corresponded with my menu numbers. 

Each student got the exact number/type of pasta pieces they needed to complete their sentences:  

Once they finished their hands-on editing, they had to transfer their answers to a sheet of paper that I could grade:

To begin the activity, I picked my students up from P.E., dressed as a chef, and they were shocked!  I spoke in my best Italian accent and told them that they were about to have a unique dining experience.  I explained the grammar activity and made sure they understood what their task was.  As an incentive, I told them that I would award a special prize to the boy and girl who finished first with a perfect score.  I made the prize something I knew they would enjoy. 

When we got to the classroom, the waitresses seated the children and they quickly got to work.  One child tried to call out to another one across the room and I quickly walked over to him and quietly said, "Excuse me, Sir.  This is a nice establishment and I can't have you yelling across our dining room to other patrons.  Thank you."  From then on, the students took their job seriously and you could hear a pin drop in that classroom!  They were focused and engaged and I was thoroughly impressed.  I had Italian music playing in the background and a slideshow rolling with scenes from Italy. 

 

For those of you who are interested, here's the majority of my playlist:

Bella Notte--Lou Monte

O Sole Mio--Lou Monte

Papa Loves Mambo--Perry Como

Mambo Italiano--Renato Carosone

Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano--Renato Carosone

Tarantella Napolitana--The Godfather

That's Amore--Rocco Granata

 

I gave the students 30 minutes to complete the gluing and then they had to transfer their answers.  Of course, the students finished at different times, so I just had my early finishers read at their desks.  I wrote everyone's finish time down on their papers so I'll know which two students to award a prize to. 

For a surprise ending, our waitresses brought out pizza slices for us to enjoy for lunch!

I'd say Punctuationas was a success!

 

 

*My classroom transformations were inspired by my visit last year to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.  You can read about my first classroom transformation HERE.  You could transform your classroom for any subject area, but I plan to focus on transforming my room for grammar lessons because grammar is my students' least favorite subject.  My hope is to get them more excited and engaged.*

ER Grammar Activity

At the end of September I had the incredible opportunity to visit the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA.  I was inspired by all the teachers at this school, especially Kim Bearden, who uses creative teaching methods to engage children.  During a workshop, she encouraged us to transform our classrooms into different kinds of learning environments in order to bring learning to life for our students.  I decided to follow in her footsteps and turn my classroom into an Operating Room for a grammar lesson; my students worked on "sick sentences" in an activity that reviewed parts of speech, synonyms/antonyms, appositives, analogies, types of sentences, and punctuation.  Everything the students did aligned with our Shurley Grammar curriculum. 

This type of activity took a great amount of preparation and planning, with each child getting his/her own, unique "patient" to work on, but it was so worth it!  The students were completely engaged and really seemed to enjoy this lesson. 

When I was in college, one of my professors explained that we, as teachers, should try to engage as many of the students' senses as we can during a lesson (this helps the brain learn, of course), so I tried to do that throughout this activity. I attempted to create a visually stimulating environment that actually looked like an operating room--I covered students' desks with white sheets, hung white curtains, had bags of fluid and "blood" hanging next to plastic tubing, and projected a picture of nurses and doctors working in an Operating Room. The students dressed the part of doctors/nurses by wearing gloves, surgical caps and masks, and disposable surgical coats. I even dressed in scrubs and donned a stethoscope around my neck. While the students prepared for "surgery," I played sounds from my Promethean board that one might hear in a hospital--phones ringing, doctors being called over an intercom, machines beeping, etc. During the "operation," I played the constant beating sound of a heart. Finally, to alert the students that they had 1 minute left to work, I played sounds from an EKG with a flat line alarming them in the last 10 seconds. I initially gave the students 20 minutes to operate, but ended up have to extend the time a little in order for everyone to finish.

 My young surgeons, getting ready to go into the OR:

 Since there were no written directions on the patients, I clearly explained beforehand what the students were to do once they arrived in their Operating Room.  They immediately got to work:

 I circulated while the students worked and asked if anyone needed assistance.  At times, I would hear a student yell, "Dr. Bowman, you are needed in Operating Room #2!" when help was needed.  I encouraged them not to yell since I was making my rounds.  Once I was able to assist, I, of course, responded with, "Yes, Dr. ____?"  They loved this and it was so much fun to see them in character; two of them began using a British accent...I'm not sure why but I just went with it. 

The students were allowed to name their patients if they wanted: 

 Mainly, cutting and pasting were involved in this activity.  However, I did have students highlight the nouns in several sentences.

 Here's one patient--Harry--and you can see how I created him.  I wish I could attach the documents and share with you, but each patient was different.  I used an 11x17 size copy paper and hand drew the patients.  In the head area, you can see that I created fill-in-the-blanks for vocabulary words and definitions.  On the left arm, I created basic sentences and had the students glue down the correct end marks.  On the right arm, I gave a couple of analogies and had the students identify the types.  The legs had sentences listed in which the students were required to highlight the nouns.  As you can see, this student messed up on Harry's leg, so he needed a Bandaid.  Finally, the feet had synonyms/antonyms listed and the students had to identify them. 

  You could use this any way you want (or for other subject areas!).  I just put information on the patients that lined up with what we are currently learning about in our Shurley Grammar program.  This activity was a huge hit and I think the students will remember it for a long time.

 

Note: I used clothing racks to hang the sheets and enlisted the help of parents in order to get all the supplies.  I did go around to local hospitals and doctor's offices and ask if they would be willing to donate materials.  While some places couldn't give me everything on my wish list, I always walked away with something, even if it was just a bag full of tongue depressors!  The community was very willing to help out my class.  As I said, though, the parents were the biggest contributors.  They let me borrow the racks, sthethoscope, etc.  One mom in my class is a nurse, another dad is a doctor...so they were able to bring in lots of supplies to help make sure this activity was a success.