Finding creative and fun ways to use your classroom materials and supplies has always been an important part of being a teacher. Kids are always challenging us to come up with ways to make each class more interesting than the last, and they always welcome it when we utilize items in unexpected ways.
Magnetic Name Tags
Many schools today have adopted magnetic name tags as a way for teachers to make sure everyone uses students’ names correctly from day one. However, kids usually learn their peers’ names incredibly fast and they see no need for name tags after a week, which is a shame since they look so cool and neat.
But that does not mean you should store your magnetic name tags until next year. They can help you organize incredibly fun activities all year round. Here are some for you!
The Best First-Day Game
If you have access to high-quality and reusable magnetic name tags, you can give them a lot of use during that first day of school. Kids come full of energy and excited to meet old friends and newcomers too.
After all of your kids have written their names on their name tags and introduced themselves, why don’t you spice things up a bit?
Think of two or three categories of “favorite things”. It can be about their hobbies, superheroes, ice cream flavor, you name it. Then, read each question aloud and write some of the answers you get from the children on your whiteboard (you can write your favorite options too). Finally, ask each student to come up to the whiteboard and place their magnetic name tag under their chosen option.
This will not only give everyone the opportunity to get to know each other but can also spark a fun morning conversation.
Sentence Building Activities
Who does not love scrambled sentences?
They provide a way to teach students about the nuances of grammar and syntax but also guarantee a few laughs as students start playing around with words. To guarantee everyone takes part in the action, you can use your magnetic name tags as building blocks by writing a word on each nameplate and then mixing them up on the board. Then ask the children to go and create sentences using the magnetic name tags. You can even use different colors to separate words in groups. Blue for nouns, red for verbs, green for adjectives, and so on. You can also use your words for other activities like building a word wall or sorting words for tasks like separating words by initial or ending sounds in columns. This activity will guarantee that your magnetic name tags will see a lot of use throughout the year.
Mind Maps And Graphic Organizers
Demonstrating relationships among items is part of almost any subject from history to science. Magnetic name tags allow you to create interactive and fun Venn diagrams by drawing circles on the board with large blank areas so your students can complete the graphic organizer.
This idea can be expanded to mind maps where students can write specific dates on their name tags and then associate them with corresponding events on the board. This helps them visualize the order of events or the sequence of a process better, so they can later research or write a small essay about what they see on the board.
Of course, you need magnetic name tags that are durable enough and retain their quality under heavy use (and sometimes abuse). Imprint Plus provides magnetic name tags of the best quality for learners and educators. Visit their website or contact them at 1-800-563-2464 to find the best products for your needs.
