[Friday Free-Day] Yo! Snaps

I'm puttering around this post trying to figure out how to describe what became, this Spring, a phenomenon in my classroom. It's quite near indescribable, but it's also amazing and worth sharing.

Where to begin...?

On a Tuesday I "threw a snap" to one of my students. It's something I used to do with my friends growing up.  It makes little sense in the real world, but every once in awhile I have a student that identifies with it.  In this game you pretend to throw, bounce, dribble, and catch a pretend object.  Each time the pretend object is caught, or thrown, or bounced, you make a snapping noise. I found a game called snapball on Urban Dictionary.  Maybe they explain it better? Or this YouTube Video.

Anyhoo, two of my turkey-butts became enthralled with it and threw snaps at each other for the rest of the day.  Their little fingers were all red from snapping all day.

Then I was out sick for day, and I came back to brand-new, highly-developed game called "Snaps." Fifteen to twenty of my twenty-five students are throwing snaps at each other in their spare time.  They are creating "designer snaps" on paper, and then "snapping" them into play through a complicated induction snap.

For the rest of the school year, the kiddos created snaps on paper, inducted them into play, and "tossed" them back and forth throughout the day.

Here is the original page of snaps form that day.  These were later revised and entered into a "Snap Notebook" (revision!!!  of a sort).  Below are the following snaps (left to right):

Row 1: Rasta Snap, Cracked Window Snap, Dr. Pepper Snap, Bacteria Snap 1, Bacteria Snap 2, Plaid Snap, Ribbon Snap, Smart Snap, Iron Man Snap, Row 2: Crying Tree Snap, Star Trek Snap, Boss Snap, Asterisk Snap, Yellow Snap, Rainbow Snap, Quest Snap, Ninja Snap (?), Teeth SnapRow 3: Tiger Snap, Firework Snap (?), Pizza Snap, Boss Snap #2, Striped Snap, Abstract Snap, Church Snap, Cat Snap, Two-tone Snap

 True, it became distracting at times.  Truer still, it was a wonderful learning opportunity that completely tickled my fancy.  When I sat back and looked at it from a different perspective (a la Monopoly with my favorite San Diego Area Writing Project Fellows), I found ways to incorporate all different things into what the muffin-heads were already highly motivated to do:

• learning, discussion and practice using implicit and explicit rules
• Naming, grouping, and defining snaps
• using Google Hangouts to share our snaps with a fellow teacher in a neighboring district (so much fun that was!)
• using planning tools and the classroom Ipod Touches to design an app to share our snaps
• understanding and dealing with our disappointment when time and technology interrupted our app-making plans
• art (drawing snaps takes effort!)
• imagination and creativity
• fine motor skills and gross motor skills
• PE (we had a rousing game of snaps outside one day--we were all exhausted)

So...  that is the Snap phenomenon.  It tickles my heart and my brain.  My turkey butts are amazing!

[Student Work] Late

From a student journal today.  We've been writing 15 minutes a day all year.   This makes my heart smile.

Late start.

Barely made it.

Happy I'm not late.

The guy in the taco shop took forever,

Singing his songs and drinking coffee.

Irritated already

So please

Leave me alone

Stomachache

Foot cramps

Head ache.

                                                          -A.

[Teaching Art] Ch'i-Head Calligraphy

Hmmm... not so bad, eh?

[Student Writing] Journal Excerpts

I posted yesterday about my students and their journal writing.  I asked permission to share some of the entries.  I'll show a series for each author to show the change over the last four weeks of writing. I'll also transcribe exactly--including errors, run-ons, etc.:

T.

8/18

Yesterday when i got home I watched my brother pay his PS3 he was playing dead Rising 2 when he was done I played and of course I played blackops I was doing goog I had 4 kills and 28 deaths and I was sniping with the L9641 I played until I had to go to bed and when I went to bed I was watching deadliest warrior It was the IRA V.S. The Taliban The IRA won. 

8/25

Yesterday When I got home I stared at my Pet scoripon I still don't know what to name him Pablo? no maybe I need to think harder about my tannish brown scorpian. moving on I also thought about making a World of Warcraft account maybe I'll be able to play with A. and A. hm sounds like fun I also went to the beach around 8 and cought sand crabs or whatever those Things are called I go thome Around 2 or 3 I was dead tired I had a bunch of sand crabs.

9/2

[Location] [Date] [School Name]

The outbreak has already begun They've taken everybody I'd ever loved The only surviving are me, myself, and I I'm rumaging through the trash tryint to find useful tools Then I see a zombie down the road I automaticly turn in the stealth mode and hide and wait for him to pass. As soon as he passes I head down the road then I find a safe house I'm not taking any chances I keep heading forward I see a waepon shop I grab a baseball bat and spike it up Then I move on Then I hear a group of zombies scream but then again they see me and sprinting towards me like a pack of ravenous dogs...

9/12

Chapter 4: RAM

Theres a zombie that is wearing a straight jacket he sounds like a horse in dispair he tries to ram me but he misses I was trying to run away but he ramed me and stood over me like the Leaning Tower of Pizza, grunting like a pig, and staring deep into my soul. he turns around and I quicly get up and kill him he falls like the Twin Towers.

P.

8/18

My summer was Hot I was in mexicali

9/2

Me and my firends say a abandon house so we turn it to our club house. At nigh we heard a scream. we ran in to cheek but no body was their but a doll. My friend picked it up and someone is pulling a prank, we looke for a stereo, but nothing was theer but that doll...

9/6

Tic tock

Pit Pat

tic tock tick tock

I am bored so I will play with my dog pit pat pit pat

The rains starts, in my mind I think is time slow

the clock is still 8:15 am tic tock tic tock its still 8:15 am

A. 

8/19

I have a game called Star wars Knights of the Old republic its the same game as star wars the old republic just the first game in the saga so I sujest you play that game

9/2

This morning was crazy first I almost over sleep lucky my mom woke me up. Than i go to take a shower and theres a spider in there and I'm afaird of spiders so I half to use my mom's shower. Than I went to make hot choclate and It was the kind where you use milk instead of water. Yuck I used water instead. Than i went to make it with milk and i end up not putting enough choclate into my milk so i end up putting 6 teaspoons into my milk for it to be good.  Than I come to school and find out no badges or computers.

9/13

I am the spider in A.'s bathtub moohaha! He shall never take a shower and wills tink for eternity.  If he tries to walk in I will bite him and he will die. If he tries to step on me I will bite him and he will die. If he trys to shoot me with a bb gun I will dodge it. If he gets a family or friend to try to kill me I will get my spider friends outside to bite them.

I think you can see some of the growth.  There is some loosening up, some more advanced vocabulary.  Slightly fewer run-ons (we'll be working on that), and some imaginative thinking.  I'm loving reading these, and they're enjoying writing!

Yeay for the turkey-butts!

In an attempt to reach my goal of twenty posts by next Friday, I have resorted to sifting through my unpublished drafts.  Here's one from December-ish....

We are studying photography.  For two weeks we reviewed the various elements of design (e.g. line, texture, pattern) and vantage points (e.g. direct view, side view, worm's-eye view).  Their final assessment was to take a series of photographs around an object showing the six vantage points, and using the elements of design.   There are many great projects coming out of it, and I will post this all soon-like*.  Today though, on the Wednesday before the Friday before a Sunday with a Full Moon AND a vacation (read: it's crtazy 'round here), I will post the series that made me laugh.  

 

*Note--Heh.  Soon-like.  Totally didn't do that.


Goal Progress: 8/20