GURUS and WHIZzes

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Home : 2004 : August : 20

GURUS and WHIZzes
By HEIDI

I have a word guru who picks a word-a-day word from my pile and announces it and holds it up for other students who do a dictionary drill to find the definition.

My poetry bug (a ladybug laminated notepad page) shows up
each day in a different desk. that person gets to go use the poetry wall during D.E.A.R. time rather than his regular reading. The poetry wall has a variety of laminated poems on velcro dots so they can be removed and taken to her seat then replaced and another one chosen. This is great for the kids who can't sit still for 15 minutes reading time. Change the poems each month to reflect

the season. The poetry bug also gets to be the one to go collect our class's milk order and pass them out at lunchtime... they get really excited about this job!

I have a weather watcher who uses the internet or a newspaper int he class to find the day's temperatures and weather conditions and post them on our bulletin board.

My computer whiz gets to spend D.E.A.R. tiome playing an educational game on the class computer, or using it for research on-line or typing up an assignment. I used to change the name weekly, but think I'll go daily on this because the kids love it and I want them to feel they get there more frequently.

Newshound uses the newspaper during D.E.A.R. time and a dry-erase marker to summarize any news items he finds interesting on a poster.

I don't assign a paper passer because I prefer to use that activity at my discretion to get my ADHD kids an opportunity to get up. Also, if the paper passer is not finished their work and I need a page passed out, there is a dilemma. So I don't get tied into assigning that job.