Alex Ferrier
October 31, 2019
Strategy Bank
Level 1
Recite: Grade 6
What/Why: By using an in class reading, such as Number the Stars or
Anne Frank’s Diary, students will read aloud, recite, with students
assigned to characters and the narrator as an activity to better interact
with the text for a class reading. Each student will have their own copy
of the class book to follow along with.
Enhancements: If multiple students are interested in the reading, then
breaking into small groups to read aloud with more students participating
would be a great way to get more student involvement. Students may
also choose to act out the reading.
Interventions: By only assigning reading part to volunteers, students
who do not feel comfortable reading aloud to the class will not be asked to, however they will
have their copy of the book to follow along with. Alike to the enhancement that could be made to
this activity, if students would be more willing to read aloud in smaller groups, breaking up into
groups could be used as a way to get more students comfortable with the activity.
Changes: One change that could be made is by having the students already broken into reading
groups with different levels of reading, that way when students have time to read together in
class, students may feel more confident reading aloud.
List: Grade 8
What/Why: Watch CNN 10, student news, as a class introduction. To
stay on top of relevant and current events, and maybe to start a group
conversation for the day. Students will watch CNN 10, student news, and
take notes (list) the important/interesting points and facts made in each
section of the video. This is a fun way to start the day and an engaging
way to practice note taking.
Enhancements: At each table, groups of students can be assigned a
specific section of the video and be responsible for thorough notes to
share the highlights with the class after. That way instead of being
worried about 10 minutes of notes they can enjoy the rest of the video
then have a chance to share their findings and notes afterwards.
Interventions: For students practicing note taking, a template can be made with prewritten,
bulitened topics and if needed, subtopics for them to comment on.
Changes: It would be a good idea to also take notes during the video to share with students after.
If this activity is a daily routine then having an example will give students a better idea on how
to organize their notes each day and will strengthen their note taking skills.
Use: Grade 7
What/Why: By using https://wp.wwu.edu/timeline, the
Bellingham Racial History Timeline, have students read through
the history of their local community. It is one thing to read about
the racial events in the south but it is important to recognize that
racism happened and happens everywhere and that even though
things may seem better t oday, there is still a battle against racism
to be fought.
Enhancements: To enhance this activity, students can select a
specific event that intrigues them and write a reaction paragraph to the event and whether it
shocked them, if they had ever heard of it before and what can be done in the future to prevent it
from happening again.
Interventions: If students would like they could in a small group in the back of the class to take
turns reading aloud, that way they just need to follow along and it will be less reading for each
student.
Changes: Instead of having a small group read aloud in the back the whole class could do this
activity as a read aloud, if there was a need to get through the activity in a certain amount of time
or the teacher wants everyone at the same spot to discuss.
Recall: Grade 4
What/Why: A game of Jeopardy that helps students learn a
particular region of the US. There will be different categories
that align with the GLE’s of particularly important categories.
Having an interactive Jeopardy board may be more incentive
for a younger grade like fourth grade because they will
physically earn something for getting a question right. This
game is a great review strategy and a fun way for students to
practice recalling information for an upcoming test.
Enhancements: If students seem to have a firm grasp of the
review activity there could be a bounce round with bigger risk
and reward for points, these points could be possible bonouce
questions on the test and if they do not get it right in jeopardy then do not give the answer and
tell them they should look it up for the test.
Interventions: If a team is having a hard time producing an answer or guess they could use a
“life line” and pick a different group to help suggest answers, or the teacher could be the life line
to give just a clue to help aid the group towards the right answer.
Changes: If this game were used as test prep it would be great to talk about which question to
pay attention to and if a group got the answer wrong, talk through it, make sure they understand
the correct answer and why its correct.
Level 2
Organize: Grade 8
What/Why: Organizing parts of the government. In this activity,
students will be given cut outs of all three branches of the government
as well as a few responsibilities to each branch. Students will organize
the three branches to match the definitions and responsibilities.
Enhancements: To enhance this activity, students may also be given
different laws, bills and actions taken by the branches and have to
match those to the correct branch as well.
Interventions: If a student needed extra support for this activity they
could be given each title of the branch with the definition and have to match the branch that is
responsible for a specific action.
Changes: Adding pictures to the branches would be another tool to help aid students who can
get confused about the meaning of the names of the branches.
Construct: Grade 6
What/Why: Use Sheppard Software to play the capitals game
to practice learning the capitals for each state. With this site
students can practice anywhere with whichever level of
support they need.
Enhancements: There are built in enhancements and levels to
this game that will challenge students knowledge and
understanding.
Interventions: There are built in interventions and levels to this game that will challenge
students knowledge and understanding.
Changes: If a student prefers paper copies to work they may be given materials to work with the
content with hands on or paper and pencil.
Predict: Grade 8
What/Why: Students will predict what would happen if different
civilizations had a different type of government. After learning
about a forien government and culture, either Russia or China, have
students predict how the country's laws, forieng policies, forien
relations, political stances, governments, and citizen involvement
might change if they simply had different government structures.
This is a good activity for students to realize and try to visualize just
how much governments impact us and to help motivate them to appreciate the type of
government we have and the impact or votes can have.
Enhancements: An enhancement to this activity could be to have students predict how the US
would be different if it had a different government and how it may directly affect their day to day
life.
Interventions: If a student is struggling to picture changes on such a large scale, they could have
the option to imagine if just their community was under a different government system, or the
school. This may help a student picture small adjustments that would change in day to day life
based on government.
Changes: A template could be made about “how things are” in ethier Russia, China or the US
now, that way students can compare and go through a list wondering if that specific aspect of the
culture would change if the government had a different structure and to take it one step further,
students could add how it would change. A pre made list of aspects for students to focus on and
research will help give direction yet my limit them to other findings that exploration sometimes
finds.
Cause/Effect: Grade K
What/Why: “What happens if someone says:____”. This is an
activity that can be used in a kindergarten class to help foster a
healthy sense of community and make sure students treat each
other respectfully. Scenario cards will be made that show peers
interacting either friendly, or as a bully. Students will then be
shown the scenario cards asked what would they do if this
happened to them. This is a preventative intervention that would
hopefully give students more tools for how to respond appropriately to either a bully or an act of
kindness.
Enhancements: To make this activity more realistic, students could be given cue cards and
asked to say a phrase to a peer, then the peer would private giving an appropriate reaction.
Interventions: If there is a specific student that may need redirecting for the type of reaction
they typically give, a model can be shown to the class with two adults and then ask that student
to model next.
Changes: A book about being a friend or bully could be read before this activity to introduce the
topic and maybe even models the type of community that should be displayed in the classroom.
Ultimately, these scenario cards could be made to fit any grade level if there were issues with
how students were treating one another.
Level 3
Cite Evidence: Grade 6
What/Why: While taking a field trip to a local business, entrepreneur ,
students will be given time to ask questions about how the owner got
the idea, materials and support to start a business. Students will then
take the information shared from the local entrepreneur and write up a
short business plan for a potential business they would start. This is a
great activity to empower students to believe in their dreams (if that
includes being a entrepreneur) and showcases a local entrepreneur who
was able to turn their passion into a livelihood. For some students who
do not feel college will be a good fit, this will either inspire them to go to a trade school in order
to be their own boss, or pursue a business degree so they are able to support themselves in a
future business.
Enhancements: To take this one step further, students could produce actual numbers for the cost
and time it would take for them to accomplish their business.
Interventions: If a student is having a hard time coming up with a possible business idea, they
could be assigned a business to think about and what materials and funds would be needed to
support that type of business.
Changes: One change to this project could be to use a business model of someone they know, a
family member or friend or a local business they admire and they write up a business plan for
that particular business and then show the owner to see how close their business plan is to what
the owner had to do.
Compare: Grade 7
What/Why: Using dollarstreet.com, find two families from
contrasting economic countries that would both be considered
“average wealth” for the country. Then find the biggest differences
in the lifestyle of these families and the most similar aspects. This
activity will help show that families who are considered “average”
in different countries have very different advantages and disadvantages, yet can also have things
in common.
Enhancements: To enhance this activity students could be asked to find a third family in
another contrasting country, or be asked to compare the two families with their own life.
Interventions: If a student is needing extra guidelines with this activity, two constrasing families
could be chosen for them and they will not have to worry about starting the project. Using
preselected families, could be an option for any student who does not want the extra pressure of
finding them.
Changes: A good change to the activity would be to allow time for students to explore the
website, give them time to look at multiple families before there is time pressure to pick. It is
always good to allow students time to explore the tools and resources they will be using.
Investigate: Grade 8
What/Why: Investigate a person from history and make a
profile (facebook or instagram with some pictures and captions).
In this activity, students will choose a historical figure and either
on a device or by making a poster they will research/investigate,
their person to be able to make a social media profile for them.
With information like where they were born, what their
education/job was, what some of their likes and dislikes are as
well as their beliefs and morals.
Enhancements: To enhance this project, students may also be
asked to create a resume for their person from history. This will
require a lot more research and written text from the student rather than being able to use
pictures and would be a great way for them
Interventions: One intervention could be to choose the social media platform for the student
while also giving them a specific template that clearly shows the student what information they
need to find.
Changes: A change that could be made to this activity would be to let the students pick which
type of social media platform to use to make the profile. If a student chose Facebook, there
would be a bigger “bio” to write about. Rather, if a student wanted to collect pictures of their
person to create an instagram profile with, there would be less writing and more pictures with
captions to explain who the person is and to answer some of the required questions.
Draw Conclusions: Grade 6-8
What/Why: BBCearth, https://www.bbcearth.com/blog?tag=Quiz ,
sustainability quiz. Though students will not have a summative test
for this online quiz, this is a great tool to get students thinking about
sustainability and how they can apply it to their day to day lives.
After taking the quiz, students can come to a conclusion/draw a conclusion, if they have a
sustainable lifestyle and if they would be willing to change anything.
Enhancements: To enhance this activity, students could choose one aspect of their life they will
try to make more sustainable and keep a log about it for a week or longer to see if they can create
a habit out of it or if it is realistic for them to keep up.
Interventions: A subject can be selected for a student if they are resilient or tenative to choose
their own topic.
Changes: If it is not financially reasonable for a student to attempt a more sustainable lifestyle,
they could have an opportunity to participate with a response paragraph of what they would want
to change if it were an option.
Level 4:
Analyze: Grade 8
What/Why: Dueling Documents; one document that supports
Columbus Day and one document supporting Indigounos People's
Day. This activity is great to do for Columbas day, the purpose
would be for each student to read a document and then pick one
that they can relate to or agree with more. Then a class discussion
can be had about “truth” and what kind of person Columbus is.
Being able to see two sides to a story is such an important skill and
this activity is great practice of that skill.
Enhancements: Once students pick the article they agree with or relate to more, they could find
another supporting article of that point of view to see if their position holds true and notice the
similarities and differences between the articles from the same point of view.
Interventions: One way to aid a student for this project would be to highlight the specific parts
of each article that makes clear statements about the point of view. This way it can narrow the
information the student is looking at and they can have a clearer picture of what they are trying
to agree or disagree with.
Changes: If a student is reluctant to see a side they should be allowed to speak as to why they
are able to clearly understand both points of view. Likewise, if a student has a strong opinion
about a specific point of view it would be interesting to challenge them to write about Columbus
as if they were seeing through the eyes of their opposing opinion.
Prove: Grade 7
What/Why: Activity: “Dream Location”. Students will use
www.OpprotunityAtlas.org to find city in the US they would
want to live. It would not have to be as specific as a city, it could
be explained as the upper right corner of new jersey or circled on a screenshot of a map, or
looking up the name of the closest city to the area they have chosen. They will have to prove
why they chose that location based on income, political views of the area, current news, job
opportunities, crime rates, high school graduation rate resources, etc.
Enhancements: An interesting enhancement to this activity would be for students to also
research the downfalls to the location they have picked, and what they have sacrificed by
choosing the location they have.
Interventions: If a student does not know where to pick and that is their hold-up, it would be a
nice option to have multiple locations/ cities on paper in a hat to draw from. That way a student
can go straight to the research rather than searching for a city for too long and find what they end
up liking about the random location and the downfalls of the area.
Changes: A tool that may be helpful would be a template that clearly asks students what to find
about the dream location they have picked. The template would include a bulletin list asking
about the income, political views of the area, current news, job opportunities, crime rates, high
school graduation rate resources, as well as one interesting fact. Though this may limit a student
to coming across other interesting facts that exploring would find, it does help keep a student
directed and focused with a task.
Create: Grade 8
What/Why: Writing a grant that would provide a new service to
the school. For this activity, students will get into groups of 4 or
5 and find an aspect of the school they believe could use
improving, such as; new water bottle filling stations, compost on
school grounds, school garden, or new writing utensils for the
school to provide. Then, students will research to find a grant that
could fulfill that improvement for the school. Students will work
together and each make their own copy of the grant. Once the
drafts are made the group will compile their grants into one
document so that they have created the strongest work possible.
Finally students will submit their grants and eventually hear back
if they have been awarded. This activity will teach students that even though that are young,
there is something t hey can do, and it could make a great positive impact on their community.
Not only does this activity have potential to improve and support the school, it will walk students
through a process that they could use in their near future for college or in their future practice.
Enhancements: There are two ways to go about enhancing this project, that depend on the
outcomes. If a grant is not awarded, one option could be to receive the proposal and rsubmit it.
Another option to enhance would be if the grant was awarded, to give the group of student
school wide recognition and credit for the service their grant will provide for everyone to use.
Interventions: A great way to start this project would be to have a class discussion about what
features about the school students would change if they could. Have them brainstorm for 3
minutes to themselves, then come together and share as a class. Then direct the class
conversation to changes that a grant would help make and once the students are broken into
groups they will have a clear list to pick from.
Changes: As a teacher, it would be a good idea to also write a grant while the students work on
this project. Setting an example is important and if students are to believe this activity is truly
important and has value, what better way to show that then to prove it is worth the teacher doing
as well.
Design: Grade 6
What/Why: Creating (Designing) a Civilization. For this
activity, students will be given the opportunity to
create/design their own civilization. This will be a project
that is submitted in parts over time and focuses on the 5
features of geography; location, place, human-environment
interaction, movement, and region. Students will be asked to
address these features on a civilization map that will also
include their natural resources
features, natural resources, write up of the culture, type of government, laws
Enhancements: A challenge and additional aspect to this project would be for students to have
an understanding of how their civilization, geography, lines up with other students. This way
they can think about the nearby resources and who they could trade with and their laws and type
of government may be based on working with surrounding civilizations.
Interventions: Students can have the same land layout and converse about the types of features
there civilizations have. Having a similar civilization to another student would not result in any
deduction of points, as long as each student is independently producing each part of the project.
Changes: Showing previous years projects as an example will be very helpful for students who
prefer a visual of the expectation. Along with a rubric, the visual of what is expected throughout
the project with some ideas that have been used before will be a great way to get students
thinking about what they like about the example and what they would want to change for their
own.
