Lesson Love!

Like most teachers, I had a lesson love day last week!  You know, that one day, where all is right with the world...students' get it, the lesson goes well, everyone is enjoying the day. Friday was that magical.  It was "Conjunction Junction" Day. Remember that old song? You are probably singing it right now! Because we are in testing crunch time, I am trying to come up with anything and everything to make what we need to know stick.  So, in that spirit, I wanted to play off of something that had always stuck with me-School House Rock.  One of our Texas TEKS is on compound sentences and it is HIGHLY tested.  So, I decided to marry the two and Voila! Conjunction Junction day was born. Now those of you who know me, know that when I do something, I go all the way. Friday was very cheesily train themed.  In order to get a ticket to board the "Conjunction Junction Railway", the each had to tell me one thing they already knew about conjunctions. Once they were in the door, we did began watching the video(see it here). After that we began our activities. I had four station stops set up. Each one involved using conjunctions in a different, train-themed activity.  For starter, I had a train-car combining activity.  Students had to combine an engine, comma and conjunction cars, and a caboose.  Want it?  Check out the free download (for a limited time) in my TpT store...TpT Store...Write on Down the Line.  The next station was a Clip 'Em activity.  Students pulled sentences from a baggie and use clothespins to insert commas properly based on the conjunctions.  The third station was a revising and editing passage modeled after the STAAR test with 4 questions centered around conjunction questions.My fourth station utilized the Study Island program my district has purchased.  It is a great program that has lessons and activities focused on specific skills.  My students completed a lesson and activity on what else...conjunctions! At each station, I acted as the conductor and hole-punched their tickets showing they had made each stop. In true Kotara fashion, every crazy day must have an accompanying soundtrack! We listened to train themed songs the whole day. From Ozzy's "Crazy Train" to the Quad City DJ's "Come on Ride It" to Gladys Knight "Midnight Train to Georgia", we covered the whole gamut of train related music.  I loved seeing the kids laugh, sing, and most of all, begin to internalize what a conjunction was! We have a Game Day Assessment (AKA "Chunk Test") coming up this Friday.  I can't wait to see what kind of progress we have on this TEK,  Friday was a lesson love day for me...what have been your lesson loves?