Activities Used to Help Engage Students

1. Tell Stories. Within my lessons I would incorporate stories that relate to my

students or that would hook them in the lesson. For example; one lesson we were
working on word problems. I used student names, objects, and places my students
were familiar with and could relate to in order to help them listen carefully to the
word problem and solve.
2. Teams and interaction. We use a lot of group activities during literacy centers
and sometimes during math lessons. The students enjoyed working together better
than working by themselves so these were activities integrated more and more
through out their day.
3. Appropriate Level of difficulty for each group. My students all learn at
different levels. Some students more advanced than others in other subjects. In
order to make it a fun, comfortable learning environment that would allow my
students to grow together I decided to give different challenges to certain
students. For those that would get done faster than other groups. I also encouraged
them to help others in the classroom that were still working.
4. Incorporating personal interests into lessons. This was #1 for my class! My
students love to share their stories and experiences with me. I realized it was
important to incorporate activities that would allow them to share a bit of their
thoughts. For example, at the literacy table, I had each of my students share a
story and use manipulatives with their stories.
5. Rotating Roles. Many of my students like to feel they have some control and
responsibility. I assign roles at their table activities during literacy centers. For
example, I could have a timer for letter phonic recognition practices.
6. Using Finger Freezes. Finger freezes was an activity frequently used in my unit.
This kept the students very engaged and moving. They could feel the numbers
they were pushing out with their hands. They loved doing partner numbers with
their fingers and counting teen numbers with a group of ten and then showing the
next number with their fingers.
7. Students Selection out of Jar. Students could select other students from the jar
for someone else to have a turn during guided practices.
8. Number Card Exercises. The students loved this activity. I would have one
student come up and hold a ten card, while another came up and held the number
over the zero in ten. The class would identify the teen number. Other students
would come up and repeat the process but with a different number.
9. Songs About Concepts. I like to incorporate music into my lessons at times.
Especially if it is a reviewing lesson. The students learn the concept and get to
participate in movement and singing motions, which helps them to process the
material in another way.
10. Guessing Game. For one activity, I had the students guess what was in a bag.
There were many objects that were different shapes. The students were excited
and able to think about the objects and expand their thinking on different shapes
they were familiar with and see everyday.