A literary (but not really) game for distance learning

If you were to pop in on a digital meet I have with students and our music teacher, you might find us going on scavenger hunts or playing Heads Up, but a huge success came last week when I played Bring Your Own Book with our 4th and 5th grade Reader Leaders.

This version has been modified for younger audiences.


I played this game once before and don't own a copy of it, but the website had free prompts (when you put in your e-mail) and I gave it a whirl.  We had a blast!  (This feels like Apples to Apples with a literary spin).

First, I gave all students 30 seconds to go get a book and bring it back.



Next, we declared a "judge" who could still participate, but not "win" the round.

I read the prompt and we all dove into our books to find a phrase that would fit (or send us into fits of laughter).  45 seconds later we shared what we found and the "judge" gave the winning point to the best line.

Examples:

Famous last words
"Gregory, I have been waiting for you..." - The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney

Advice for graduating seniors
"None of us is what you'd call 'normal.'" - Roll With It by Jamie Sumner

Breaking news
"We're gonna have to hide from the women" - Roll With It by Jamie Sumner

Some of our favorite prompts:

  • A hero's catchphrase
  • Sentence in a fortune cookie
  • Alien's 1st words to mankind
  • Secret password to a magical cave
  • Name for a cat

We played so that every person who wanted a turn as "judge" could do so.  We tallied the points and declared a winner.  I declared this activity a winner!

My takeaways

These are the moments that are pulling me through difficult days.  These are the days that make me feel alive again.  I am surviving "teaching from home" but I am living for those opportunities to connect with students.

I started this year focused on relationships.  This is the center of all my digital meetups.  I am not teaching curriculum during these times.  These are opportunities for us to connect with one another, check in, and laugh together.

Our students will remember the blur of days they "learned from home," but honestly how much content will they remember?  I hope what they will remember is that their teachers were there for them.  Their teachers listened to them, cared for them, and reminded them they are loved and missed. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Reading Identity: Who am I as a reader?

Image
This lesson was about making a visual representation of our reading selves.  We drew, we laughed, we learned about each other as readers, and started building a reading community.  We did this on a remote day.  *This was developed in conjunction with my brilliant colleagues.* Standards:  AASL: Inquire/Share I.C.1 . Interacting with content presented by others. I decided we needed a theme to tie a disjointed year together and settled on the question:  I spent much of my summer thinking about "identity" but needed a concrete landing place for those big, abstract thoughts.  I wondered what would happen if we thought about "identity" through a reading lens. We read Reading Makes You Feel Good We practiced looking at two options and showing our choice for where we like to read by holding up that number of fingers. Next, we moved on to our directed draw. When we were done drawing, we had a big reveal.  Students were tasked with looking for someone with ...
Read more

Circulation Policies in our Library

Image
Developing relationships with students and families is my priority. I want them to have what they need from our library, but I also want (and need) them to respect our library and other students and return books so others can borrow them. Lost books are a reality. We lose MANY of them (too many of them) because it isn't something I spend much time or energy dwelling on. My hope is that the "lost" book has found its way into a home and is being loved there. However, this is something that has been increasingly on my mind. This past summer I read Rebeka Barringer's Knowledge Quest article  “How Inclusive and Human-First Circulation Policies & Practices Can Impact a Child’s Relationship with Elementary Library Spaces” (Nov/Dec 2022) and it spoke to me. It made me think about the language used to communicate with families student buy-in (or lack thereof) in the circulation of books I decided on action items for this year to address lost books: Help students underst...
Read more

Books as mirrors and windows (with sticky notes & reflections)!

Image
Every year I examine books as mirrors and windows with my students.  Every year I tweak the exploration and this year was no different.  This year's additions included sticky notes and reflections.   Day 1: Mirror moments Sticky notes I created with Tony Vincent's template (link below) After modeling mirror moments (and having students make "me too" signals), students identified a mirror moment from a stack of books at their table.  "This is like my sister and I.  We fight all the time." - 3rd grader "When my mom tells me to clean my room I just sit because I don't know where to start." - 3rd grader Day 2: Window moments In the next class I modeled "window moments" and we drew windows in the air when we heard moments that were "not like us."   Students identified "window moments" at their tables with sticky notes. Students shared their "window moments" through the window we passed around our sharing circl...
Read more