Clio has taught education courses at the college level and has a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction.
As an elementary school teacher, you have many responsibilities for helping your students master academic skills and knowledge. At the same time, you're helping them grow and develop as whole person. One aspect of this growth has to do with developing independence. Students who are able to work, create things, and learn independently are well-equipped to be lifelong thinkers and learners.
The best way to move students toward independence is giving them activities they can reliably work on independently! A side benefit of independent activities is that they can free you up to work with small groups or individual children. The activities in this lesson help elementary school students develop their independence.
This section offers activities specifically oriented toward literacy alongside independence.
Ask your students to develop a habit of writing reviews or recommendations about books after they've read them. Whether your students are reading picture books or chapter books, their recommendations should offer brief summaries, things they liked or didn't like about the book, and suggestions about what kind of audience might especially appreciate the book. Have a place in the room where students can post the reviews they've written for others to read.
It's a great idea to get your students in the habit of writing reflectively in journals about different learning experiences they have. Develop a list of questions they can always write in response to, such as:
Students can write their answers and other reflective thoughts independently in a journal and look back at their entries over time.
Most elementary school students have some experience thinking of themselves as an author, and they also often love to draw. Have your students work independently over time to develop their own plans for picture books, then have them work gradually on the story and illustrations. Since it's a creative activity, they'll be able to be independent and not worry too much about getting it right.
These activities are independent ways students can develop their skills in different branches of mathematics.
Whether your students are working on addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, it's always helpful to get more practice with fact fluency. Each student should have a stack of flashcards at his or her spot. Independently, they can test themselves on which facts they do and do not know automatically. If you use this independent activity on a regular basis, you'll see improvements in math fluency, as well as the capacity to work and study alone.
If you're studying geometry with your students, this is a great independent activity that also lets them be creative and tactile. Put a stack of magazines or catalogs at each table. Ask students to choose one shape or set of shapes to focus on. They should cut out pictures of objects representing that shape, then glue them onto their paper in collage format. Students can write captions explaining the shape that they chose, why they chose it, and what they learned from the experience.
Many students get plenty of practice solving story problems, but they may have less practice writing story problems on their own. Write an equation on the board, such as 6 x 7 = 42. Then, ask each student to write at least four different story problems that apply to this equation. They should think carefully about the concept behind the operation at hand, but they should also work to make their story problems realistic.
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Social & Emotional Development Lesson Plans & Activities5 chapters | 224 lessons
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