Fun Friday
Every Friday (or the last day of the week) our school has Fun Friday. This is a reward program for our students. In order to participate, students are only allowed to have one bad day during the week. In order to have a good day, students must have their planner signed, homework done and their behavior card has to be on green, yellow or red (purple and blue come after red). This week only 3 of my 22 students went to what is called Task Room instead of participating in Fun Friday. In Task Room, students work on any missing work they have or they read a book.
Each week we have a different theme. Our theme for today was Science Day. Each teacher had some sort of an science experiment or activity in their classroom. In our 5th grade, we had a teacher doing experiments with electricity, another doing what I would say is a science craft, and I had students designing paper airplanes to fly down the hallway. Students would spend 20 minutes in one classroom of their choosing and then they would have the opportunity to spend 20 minutes in another classroom. As you can imagine, Science Day is a popular Fun Friday theme. Students love the hands-on activities! In my classroom, students would design paper airplanes, fly them down the hallway to see whose flies the farthest, and then they had the opportunity to redesign them to see if they could get them to fly farther. Some of the students said they loved doing this because they felt like the were able to break the school rules without getting in trouble! Yes, I do have a few ornery boys and girls!
I'll admit, sometimes I get frustrated with Fun Friday because it is taking away from our classroom time. But then I have days like today. I see that kids are having fun and yes, they are even learning too! They are also building wonderful school memories. Days like today remind me of the days before the high-stakes testing. The days before students were labelled advanced, accelerated, proficient, basic or limited. There is learning going on. And, oh my goodness, it can be fun! Imagine that!
Planner signed, homework done, good conduct, FRIDAY FUN!!!
Sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it kinda sad that you feel guilty about kids having fun at school? I catch myself doing that sometimes...and then remember when school WAS fun, everyday, and we all learned, and not just book smarts, but heart smarts. Thanks for the Friday smile!
ReplyDeleteYour post makes me think of that line, "What is learned with laughter is never forgotten"(wish I could remember who said it!) I hate that we have so little time for FUN in school right now!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of Fun Fridays!! It sounds like a great motivator! I'll have to keep it in mind!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! At our middle school we just offer a dance or a movie for reward days. I'd love to step it up to something more like this--at least some of the time. Those middle schoolers love their social time, but this sounds like fun!
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