Winter break officially ends tomorrow. Like me, I'm sure my students are bummed, but excited. I know their minds will be elsewhere…Seeing their friends; Is it time for recess; Hey, guess what I got for Christmas; I can't wait to play with my new…I learned a long time ago to embrace the notion that the first day back from any break is not going to be jam-packed with curriculum. Let's just say that I've learned to incorporate these distractions into a framework. That's where Kagan Structures come into play. For the first part of our school day, students will interact with their peers and describe their holiday excitement using various Kagan Structures. Some of the structures I can adapt include: Jot Thoughts, Draw It!, A-Z Brainstorming, Four Corners, Body Graphs, or Puzzled People.
Kagan Structures engage every student, and require every student to participate. What a great way to refocus the class on procedures, expectations, and teambuild. Just throw in topics like Winter Break, Santa, family, gifts, and toys…what else could you need on your first day back? {A couple Red Bulls, maybe!?! HA!!}
