by Jamie Pancake

Created on: August 18, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

Getting back into the swing of things after a nice and relaxing summer is difficult for you as the teacher and for the students who were enjoying their lazy days of summer just a few days before. Making the transition as smooth for them as possible is the key to getting the school year off on the right foot. Although it is not easy, there are a few ways to make them enjoy school more than they ever thought that they would.

It is important to review for the first few days to make sure that they have retained as much of the necessary information as is necessary to be on target with the rest of the class, so review time is always essential for the students, but you could make a game out of it. For example, in math you could hand out small things like pieces of candy for each right answer or you could offer to buy the person that gets the most correct answers lunch for the following day. You could also play a game of charades for getting the correct answers on some history questions, and offering the person who wins a prize.

After the school year gets into full swing and the review time has ended, there are other ways that you can make learning fun. Many elementary school aged children love scavenger hunts. You could create a scavenger hunt with prizes like a homework pass, or a pass to eat lunch in the classroom with you. The clues could be answers to certain trivia questions that are going to be on an upcoming test. The funner that you can make the games for the kids, the better their learning experience will be.

Another great idea for a lesson plan for school is to have the class create questions and answers for the particular lessons that are being studied at the time and have other students answer them for points. The student that gets the most questions correct can be exempt from the test and they will get a good grade for it. It will motivate the students to come up with good questions and it will also encourage to study to come up with the questions and they will need the time that they studied to be able to correctly answer the questions that are written by other students.

There are many ways that you can create lesson plans that are both fun and that teach them all that they need to know for the required curriculum. If you think outside of the box, they are less likely to become bored and they will actually enjoy learning.

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