I decided to bring in a learning center where
students can be creative and use their imagination. In my center, students are
supplied with crayons or colored pencils and a stack of blank postcards. The
idea is for each student to write a postcard to a friend about what they are
learning in Social Studies class at that time. Students should pretend to live
during that time period or event as they write the postcard, explaining
everything from the weather, what people wear, and anything else they see
around them. By doing this, the students can get a feel for specific time
periods and actually apply what they are learning in an artistic setting. After
they have written their message, they can draw a picture on the back depicting
a specific scene. Pictures of my learning center are displayed below.
With a variety of games, activities, and even
challenging quizzes, each learning center had the same underlying purpose to
get children learning through different methods. However, there is one very
important element to think about as a teacher: how do you assess children to
see what they learned or if they learned anything after they play in the
centers? One good way is to have a class discussion where the students can explain
how each center is played. Here, the students can respond to specific prompts
and questions that the teacher or other students may have. Then, they can
journal about the experience they had while playing in the centers. Another
good form of assessment is by designating one person in each learning center
group to be the representative. The teacher then asks him/her to say one thing
that they learned while playing in the center. Whether it be a new state
capital or a new definition, the students are learning even if they do not
realize it. When I have a classroom of my own in the future, I hope to have a
variety of good learning centers to get my students excited about learning as
they engage in different activities.