Well Hello, thanks for stopping by. I wanted to share my first ever classroom transformation thanks to Angie over at Lucky Little Learners for all the inspiration. Every Friday, we have "Flashlight Friday" where the kids get the entire period to independently read while I conference with them. The kids still love "Flashlight Friday" but I felt the kids were a bit bored and not focused. To be honest, a lot of "fake" reading was going on. You know asking to go to the bathroom or wanting a drink a million times, changing books but not finishing any, using their flashlights for anything but read, and the constant noise of giggling and talking. Grrrrrrr!
Hype It Up
The first thing I did was give the class clues about the up coming, "Flashlight Friday." Then I posted a picture of the tent sent up in my house on my classroom app, Yapp App. This app is where I share all my classroom pictures with my families. I have the free version but I am unsure of the current pricing. The day before I put a sign outside my classroom telling the kids that "Flashlight Friday" was moved to "Camp Read A Lot."
Day Of
The day of, I stood outside my classroom and welcomed each "camper" to "Camp Read A Lot." The kids were given their teams on the front board and which station they were to go to first and how to rotate. They rotated every 7 minutes to a new site. I went over the number one rule, If I see "fake" reading they must go back to civilization (their desks) to finish reading. Yes, I had a few kids who had to go back to civilization.
Picnic Station
At this station the kids sat at our cafe to read while eating smores (Golden Graham cereal, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows). Yum!
The Cave at Camp Read A Lot
I threw sheets over a table in my classroom and the kids read in the "cave.'
Sleeping Quarters
I brought in a real tent and blankets and they read in the tent. I need to thank my hubby for dragging the tent in on a Sunday for one of my crazy ideas. I love that guy!
Base Camp
Since we were starting a new book club, mysteries. I needed the kids to look at the book choices and vote for their top three books they would like to read. So I put together a Google Slide of the choices which I posted in our Google Classroom with another powerpoint on the subject of mystery genre.
Lake Camp Read A Lot
On my Smartboard I found a video on Youtube that showed a moonlit lake with nighttime creature sounds. The kids sat on yoga balls to help them feel like they were really on the lake reading. Look at the awesome miner light that one kid used to read. Love it!
Campfire
At this station my oldest daughter made a campfire out of construction paper and I threw blankets on the floor and they read around the campfire.
We had so much fun at "Camp Read A Lot." It definitely spiced things up and the kids have been begging to go back to "Camp Read A Lot." I told them we could only do camp reading once since I wanted it to be special. I do have another transformation up my sleeve.....maybe Camp Read A Lot goes to the beach or amusement park. Hmmmm I need my thinking cap. Have you done any classroom transformations? What have you done? I would love to hear about them.
I hope you are having a fabulous Wednesday!
