Sample Lesson Plan

To extend our reading unit on Western expansion, our class completed book studies on two books that took place in the Old West.  To differentiate instruction, a group of higher students read a book together and took turns leading discussions about what they read.  The rest of the class read a different book as a whole group, and I led discussions and activities after each chapter.  

In this game, students are divided into four teams.  One player from each team comes to the board with a fly swatter.  I read a prompt such as swat a fraction equivalent to 1/2, swat a fraction equal to one whole, or swat a fraction that is greater than 1/4.  The first student to swat a correct answer gets a point for their team.  

I believe making learning fun is vital to student engagement.  I incorporate games throughout the week to help students practice and master skills.  In this picture, students are playing a board game to review synonyms.  Some of my (and my students) other favorite games include antonyms Simon says and adverb-verb charades.