Literacy News

Yes! You’re job will be a lot more rewarding for you and the kids if you are prepared with a good “bag of tricks”!!! :-)
I work with youth from K to Grade 6. I just found this website: http://www.After-School-Care.com They have a lot of wonderful ideas for the type of thing you’re looking for. Some link threads are:
Fun with Literacy-based Activitieshttp://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp…
Low Energy, Passive Circle & Table Gameshttp://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp…
Mixing Math & Funhttp://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp…
Drama Gameshttp://after-school-care.com/Replies.asp…
Good Luck! R

I taught in the primary grades for 5 years. So many of my suggestions are geared towards the primary grades. However , many would also be great for intermediate grades too.
Games
Brain Quest – (All Grades) Basically, it is a set of cards that has trivia, math, reading skills, and other fun questions that kids want to know or should know. I usually would break my class into teams and ask the questions. You can find them almost anywhere. I got mine at a price club, they cost about $7.00 USD. I bought the level for the grade I taught and then the level for the grade they would be in the following year. We used these often. Great for as filler or for those 5 minutes before lunch. Here are some more great ideas how to use Brain Quest http://www.brainquest.com/educators.php
20 Questions – (All Grades) I called on a well behaved student to pick anything they want the game to guess. Then have the class answer the questions that come up on the game. I purchased mine at Target for under $10.00. Great to use when you do a lesson about questions. http://www.amazon.com/Radica-I6026-20Q-R…
Around the World – (All Grades) Purchase or make some flash cards. You can find them for about a dollar at many discount stores. Get the basics, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Then you can play around the world. “Students sit in a circle. Choose a starting person. This student stands behind the next student in the circle. The teacher holds up a flash card. The first student to say the answer stands behind the next person in the circle. If a sitting student says the answer first, the standing student sits down in the winner’s chair. This process continues until at least one student makes it completely around the circle.” Check this out for other math games: http://www.multiplication.com/classroom_…
Other Resources
Dr Jean – (K – 3rd) Many of her songs and activities are geared towards the younger primary grades. However, some are still useful in 3rd, math activities mainly. Check out her website. http://www.drjean.org/
She also has great song CDs http://www.drjean.org/html/cds_f/cds_fri… that teach concepts. Another great investment if you end up in the primary grades.
Go here for her list of monthly tips and tricks. http://www.drjean.org/html/activityPg.ht…
Go here http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/a… to get her cheer cards. So fun and great for positive reinforcement. She has dozens of these, just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the various pages. I used the cheers when my students did amazing things. I had them all cut up and laminated in a bag. I would draw one randomly and do it or we would do it as a class. They always got a kick out of it. As a sub these would be great to have on hand. You just have to be clear in your expectations that you quickly do the cheer and get back to work. They aren’t effective if they are a distraction. Once in a while they couldn’t handle doing them so the bag went a way for a few days. I would only bring it out if we could quickly do the cheer and get back to work.
She also has published two great books that I recommend. You could probably find them at a library or borrow them from a fellow teacher until you knew what grade you would be in fulltime. Lots of fillers, tricks, and helps to teach concepts. Again more for early primary age.
Transition Time http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Time-Le…
Transition Tips and Tricks (my favorite of the two) http://www.amazon.com/Transition-Tips-Tr…
The Mailbox Magazine – http://www.theeducationcenter.com/cgi-bi… Truly a wonderful source. Their sources go up through 6th grade, so dependent on what you are doing you could pick the magazine. You can also check eBay for people who are selling their old issues. The magazines correlate with most district/state curriculum maps. This is great because you can have a magazine and more than likely students will be covering/reviewing some or most of the topics in the magazine. Great ideas for lessons, management, fillers, etc. A must once you start teaching.
I truly have loads of stuff. I am not teaching right now due to a move and I miss it so much. If you would like any other info. Let me know! I am happy to help!