Thursday Throw Down: Craftivities

It's the first Thursday of the month so it's time to join Erin of I'm Lovin' Lit for Thursday Throw Down. Be sure to stop by her blog when you're finished here to see all the great ideas posted in the linky.

One of the best ways that I've discovered to make learning more interactive is by the use of craftivities. "What's a craftivity?" you might ask. It's a combination of learning activity displayed via a craft. The learning activity usually resembles a typical pencil/paper item... identifying the tenses of verbs in a sentence or the main idea of a passage, something that could be used as an assessment or practice piece. It's the next step that is fun and engaging:

taking that pencil/paper item and turning it into a craft... coloring, cutting and pasting, and assembling a cute, visually pleasing display that even my eighth graders enjoy.

I was first introduced to the concept of "craftivity" this past summer by my bloggy friend Deb of Crafting Connections. She is the Queen of Craftivities. Once I saw her products (who would've thought there was something like this for upper elem. kids?) I was HOOKED! And once I began using her craftivities with my kiddos, they, too, were hooked! I've used a few craftivities from other authors and even a few of my own.

The photos below show my students working on or displaying a few select craftivities for English Language Arts. Those created by Deb are linked to the actual product in her TpT Store.

Perfect Verb Tenses gr. 6

Snow Globe Writing, gr. 5

Nonfiction Text Structures gr. 8.

Nonfiction Text Structures gr. 8

Please note: NOT a SINGLE sad face in the bunch! Therefore, if you haven't done a craftivity with your students yet, you'll want to give 'em a try. You and they will be happy that you did.

Visit Deb's blog for a chance to win one of her uber-cute Valentine craftivity products. She has a giveaway in progress, but HURRY... it ends in two days.

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6