Embracing Spring Fever

It was almost 80 degrees on Monday! 80 degrees felt so heavenly compared to the bitter cold winter we are still recovering from. My hubby and I went to visit family over the Easter weekend and we got inches of snow on Easter! Inches people!!

Yes this would have been wonderful in December, but it’s April! Not cool winter! Not cool! Ever feel the need to want to have the whole sharing talk with the seasons: “Now winter. You have had your turn. You need to share and let Spring have a turn now.”

Anyways, so after our much needed four day Easter break (we don’t get a Spring break in PA…no need for sympathy–shipments of chocolate and caffeine will do, thanks! 😉 it seemed that when we went back to school on Tuesday my kids had a new ailment. And no it wasn’t the awful stomach flu that was taking tables out at time in my class over the past month! I seriously considered taking stock in the Lysol company when a fourth of my class was out with it at one time! Yet this ailment was not causing any Lysol cans to make appearances nor causing any absences–all of my students were present and accounted for on Tuesday. Yet they strangely seemed to be experiencing the same symptoms and the diagnosis was pretty clear:

Clipart used in image from KPM Doodles

Now let’s all just take a teacher moment and throw our hands up in the air and scream NOOOO!! I know, I feel you! It’s too soon, right? We still have so much work to do and we need them focused and engaged! And by this time of the year we are exhausted and ready to jump in with Olaf as we dream about summer! Truth be told teachers get Spring Fever too! Can I get an Amen?

On Tuesday afternoon (let’s just add the after lunch slump to the symptoms, right?) when my kids were showing their Spring Fever symptoms, I was about ready to work on our spelling words for Houghton Mifflin which happen to be plural -s words. Why we jump from vowel team spelling words to plural -s words is always a mystery to me. However, I knew that I was losing my students and needed them ENGAGED! So I looked out the window and decided that it was best to embrace the Spring Fever instead of fighting it!

Clipart used in image from Creative Clips

So what did we do? I grabbed my bin of sidewalk chalk, told them we were doing spelling outside, and gave them the “teacher talk” with strict guidelines on why we were going outside and how to use and not use the chalk with promises to quickly abort the privilege of learning outside if students were not making good choices. I believe in hands-on, fun learning, and I also believe that we need to hold our students to high standards and set realistic expectations because our students are capable of success!

Clipart used in image from Creative Clips

Each student found a spot in a large circle on the playground blacktop. I called out a word and then they had to write the word in chalk and add plural -s to the word. My students were SO engaged and motivated to participate! What could have been a disaster of a lesson inside turned into a great lesson outside! Sidewalk chalk for the win! We will definitely be doing this again!

As I was reflecting on my day and realizing that Spring Fever, as it always does, had hit and hit hard I realized that this is our time to shine!! Teachers are some of the most talented and gifted people I know! Spring Fever is a great opportunity for us to pull out our best and be unconventional! Instead of dreading the energy and excitement of Spring Fever we can capitalize on it and use it for our benefit!!

Clipart used in image from Creative Clips

Here are four tricks & tips for Embracing Spring Fever:

When it’s gorgeous out, use it to your advantage! After a long winter in the classroom and countless indoor recesses both you and your students need to get out!! Any time I take my classroom outside my students are on target with our learning! They are focused, engaged, and motivated! Don’t do the same thing each time–switch it up! Do sidewalk chalk words one day.

Grab clipboards and have your students classify living and nonliving things outside.

 Breathe new life into writing by having your next writers workshop outside! Have students make paper airplanes and estimate how far they will travel and then measure their flight path. Truly, the possibilities are endless!

The other day we pushed all of our desks and chairs to the sides of the room, sat in a big circle, and turned out classroom into a human size hundreds chart! The objective: to learn how to use the hundreds chart to add 2 digit numbers!

This helped bring a challenging concept to life and actively engaged all of my learners! I also made up a little hundreds chart addition hop song that I am hoping to share next week along with more about this classroom size hundreds chart! So stay tuned! 🙂

Get your students up and moving! Turn worksheets into room hunts! Instead of having my students do 2 digit addition at their desk–I made it into an Easter egg room hunt. I forgot to snap pictures of the recording sheet, but how easy peasy to get them up and moving! They were on task, they were learning, they were having fun! Win, win, win!

Also, if you haven’t snagged this song and freebie yet for the Hundreds Chart this is also a great movement activity to teach or review 1 less, 1 more, 10 less, and 10 more!

Students love new things!! Even the same center can get new life by just switching manipulatives or introducing new ones!

Things like utilizing googly eye readers for read to self:

Click HERE or on the picture to get some Googly Eyes for your classroom.

Or send home a new literature bag–a great reading, writing, and listening and speaking activity:

 

My students LOVE these and this is a perfect time of year to start one! We are just about to start a new bag this week in our classroom! Click HERE or on any of the pictures to check them out!

There are so many ways to embrace Spring Fever! What do you do to keep your students motivated and engaged at this time of year? I’d love to hear any of your tips or tricks! I’m always looking for new ideas!