7 Memorable Secondary ELA Winter Activities & Resources to Make Your Class Merry & Bright

Looking for ELA winter activities and resources that are guaranteed to have you surviving and thriving before-the-break? Look no further, teacher friends! As winter break approaches, it’s the perfect time to bring some festive flair and excitement into your classroom. We’ve rounded up seven memorable ELA winter activities and resources that are tailor-made for the season, designed to keep your students engaged and learning right up until the holidays. From digital escape rooms that challenge their problem-solving skills to free student gifts that add a touch of joy, these ELA winter activities are sure to make the last days before the break lively and productive. We also include innovative teaching tips for managing the pre-break excitement and a fun holiday comparative song analysis that will get everyone into the festive spirit. Dive into these ELA

Carina Assayed December 3, 2024

5 Fun End of the Year Activities to Wrap Up the School Year

Want FUN end of the year activities to celebrate another successful year? We’ve got 5 to suit various teaching needs! As the school year winds down and the anticipation of summer begins to bubble among students and teachers alike, it’s the perfect time to inject some extra fun and creativity into the classroom. For secondary ELA educators, finding engaging and meaningful end of the year activities can be the cherry on top of a productive school year. Whether you’re looking to review key concepts in a playful manner, inspire reflection on the year’s growth, or simply create space for you to get your last minute grading done without throwing on a movie, this blog post is here to spark your imagination. We’ve curated a list of 5 fun and educational end of the year activities

Carina Assayed June 18, 2024

3-independent-activities-you-can-grade-during

3 Awesome Independent Activities You Can Grade During

Want some independent activities you can grade during? There’s no shame–we all need those days to catch up in order to keep healthy work-life boundaries. We’ve got you! You know when grades are due or a unit has ended and you’re drowning in ungraded summative assessments? Yeah, I’ve been there. I worked for a district that was pretty against playing movies, so even if I had a cool analysis activity to go with it, it still wouldn’t fly. But, I really just needed some uninterrupted time to grade without having to do it at home. I am FIRM on work-life boundaries, so how can I combine learning, engagement, and an independent activity? Easy. Digital Escape Rooms. Below, I share my three favorite (which also happen to be Danielle’s 3 top-selling escape rooms). So, whether you’re

Carina Assayed February 6, 2024

ELA digital escape room to survive the holiday season

Survive & Thrive this Holiday Season with an Engaging ELA Digital Escape Room

Do your students have the before-break-blues? Check out an ELA digital escape room that will have students embark on the ultimate classroom adventure! Are your students…✅ Asking “day one” questions✅ Checking out quicker than usual✅ Using their phones SO MUCH MORE✅ Groaning about “actually doing stuff” (the AUDACITY)✅ Itching for a movie day (maybe you are more so than them)✅ Crawling towards the holiday break (again…maybe you are more than them) If so, your students have the “before-break-blues.” Don’t worry, it’s totally curable. What does the trick for my students?1️⃣ Something FUN that does not feel like learning2️⃣ Something digital to keep the phone itch at bay3️⃣ Something collaborative because my kids LOVE to talk…about strictly off-topic things this time of year So, what’s the cure? 🥁 DRUM ROLL PLEASE 🥁 An ELA digital escape

Carina Assayed November 28, 2023

Over 20 Escape Rooms for ELA and Beyond!

Whether you’re a pro at escape rooms or a total newbie, this post will help you find a game that your students will love! I’ve blogged before about using escape rooms in ELA, and I’m here to tell you I still believe in the power of these sorts of games. Whether you’re using digital or paper escape rooms, students have the chance to practice collaboration and critical thinking. Since I’ve been creating escape rooms for five years now, I wanted to make a “home base” where you could find out about them. This post is a round-up of the work I’ve done. Burnbridge and Terminus If you’ve been following me for a while, you’re probably familiar with my two original escape room series, Burnbridge Breakouts and Terminus. Burnbridge came first. My time spent teaching in

Danielle Hall January 11, 2022

An open laptop, on the screen there is an illustrated image of a skatepark on the left side and an abandoned lab on the right side. The text at the top reads Burnbridge | Terminus and at the bottom it says Where do I start?

Choosing Digital Escape Rooms for Secondary ELA

Looking to try digital escape rooms for Secondary ELA students? This post will help find a game that meets your needs. Choosing Digital Escape Rooms for ELA You may have played a digital escape room with your students at this point, but have you tried a series yet? Digital Escape Room series are a great way to increase your students’ endurance for reading, strengthen their reading skills, and keep them coming back for more! (In this post, I’ll be focusing on my two ELA game series, Terminus & Burnbridge Breakouts. If you’re looking for a “one-off” game that focuses on a specific text or topic, I also have digital escape rooms for The Odyssey, Romeo & Juliet, Lord of the Flies, The Harlem Renaissance, The Roaring 20s, and a Poetry Escape Room.) Terminus

Leila Hobbs May 18, 2021

Digital Escape Rooms for ELA

Have you tried any digital escape rooms for ELA? Whether you’re doing virtual, in-person, or hybrid learning, I have a game for you. Digital Escape Rooms for ELA: Do you LOVE Escape Rooms, but feel like they’re out of reach now? Whether we’re in distance learning, a hybrid classroom, or trying to maintain social distancing in a physical classroom, we can still bring the critical thinking and excitement of an escape room to our lessons. The answer? Digital Escape Rooms for ELA. Since March, I’ve been working on creating digital versions of my most popular games. Each digital escape room has the same tasks and content as the original paper games, and now has much more flexibility for you, the teacher. Game List: Introduction to Shakespeare Digital Breakout Introduction to The Odyssey

Danielle Hall January 5, 2021

Terminus – Digital Breakouts for ELA

Are you looking for new digital breakouts for ELA? Look no further! I’d like to introduce you to my newest game series, Terminus. Terminus is a four-part digital adventure series geared towards 8th and 9th grade students who read below level. This story is a post-pandemic, found-text adventure. Playing as Rania, students work to solve the mystery of the MILSA outbreak by reading letters, memos, manuals, and emails left behind. Behind the game This game was a labor of love by myself and my wife Amanda Thrasher. Amanda wrote the storyline, and I designed the puzzles. Then, we combined it all with incredible original art by Lily Chan. Amanda began writing Terminus in the summer of 2019 (while I was at the TPT conference!) and finished it later that year. Little did we know that

Danielle Hall December 8, 2020

Teaching The Odyssey with an Interactive Escape Room

Take a look inside my completely updated and redesigned Odyssey interactive escape room. New art, new hints, and a brand new digital platform for teaching the Odyssey. Have you played my Odyssey Escape Room? In this interactive adventure, students play as Telemachus, trying to solve Eumaeus’ puzzle and get access to Odysseus’ famed bow. It’s an introduction to the Greek gods and goddesses, the characters in The Odyssey, and life and customs on Ithaca. Since I first shared this resource in 2017, it has been in constant evolution, improving for the better based on amazing feedback from students and teachers. One teacher told me that her class needed hints, so she set herself up as the Oracle at Delphi. I worked this into an update in late 2018, adding four hints in verse for the

Danielle Hall January 9, 2020

Engaging Reluctant Readers with a Digital Adventure Game

We know that our reluctant readers have a skills deficit that grows over time. Whereas a student may be just one grade level behind in elementary school, that gap can grow if we don’t address the problem. By high school, a student who can’t read at grade level faces significant difficulties across content areas. Moreover, it becomes challenging to find age-appropriate texts to support that student’s progress. But, fear not! We’re going to work together to improve student reading! Let’s give the issue a human face. Malcolm is a smart and charismatic 8th grader. He’s the class diplomat; whenever the class wants something from you, they delegate Malcolm to come forward and persuade you. It’s Malcolm who sees through all of your gimmicks – you thought you could bribe them with candy? Hah! It’ll take

Danielle Hall August 1, 2019

Teaching Executive Functioning with Escape Rooms

Have you been told you should be teaching executive functioning? Is this a totally overwhelming proposition? Where do you even start? Let’s break it down. Teaching Executive Functioning Executive Functioning is the complex way the brain ‘works’. We use these skills to make decisions, choices, and plans. When we use strong executive functioning, we work smarter. We can delay gratification when working towards a goal, plan for the future, and avoid feeling stuck when our plan hits a snag. A lack of executive function skills leads to impulsive/reckless behavior, poor planning/time management, and an inability to stick with a task from start to finish. Sound familiar? Of course, it’s normal human behavior to be occasionally careless with our time, or to make a rash decision. But if students are struggling

Danielle Hall July 18, 2019

Adding Physical Locks to Escape Rooms

Classroom Escape Rooms are collaborative games that make engaging review activities for students! Students work together to solve puzzles in order to be the first to “escape”. I’ve written a lot about using Escape Rooms in ELA before, and today I want to focus on just one aspect: adding physical locks to Escape Rooms. Many teachers love the idea of adding physical locks to Escape Rooms, but don’t know where to start. There are kits out there, but they can be expensive. Moreover, if you purchase an Escape Room on TpT that wasn’t made to use physical locks, what do you do? So, let’s break this down. Escape Rooms don’t require physical locks. I have designed all of my classroom escape rooms for use without physical locks. This is because locks

Danielle Hall April 30, 2019

Poetry Escape Room for 4th-6th grades

I’ve talked before about using teaching with puzzles and games and using Escape Rooms in ELA, but I thought I’d address using escape rooms in upper elementary. Our 4th, 5th, and 6th graders can definitely benefit from collaboration and critical thinking, which is why I made a Poetry Escape Room for that level. Check it out: Some things you’ll notice: *There’s a variety of skills tested. This means some “easy wins” for reluctant readers or struggling learners. *Each task is valued in the final Secret Message. This means that students can “divide and conquer” the different tasks and everyone will still have their contributions valued. *A variety of poems are used. This means that you can always spiral learning by revisiting the entire poem later on in the school year. Students can also keep their

Danielle Hall November 20, 2018

Using Escape Rooms in ELA

The clock is ticking down and you can’t find the blacklight clue that will lead you to the last key… your friends and family are tossing the drawers and papers again, desperately trying to find the six-digit code for a lock, and the seconds are disappearing fast. Finally, it all comes together, and you open the door with thirty seconds to spare! I’ve been obsessed with Escape Rooms ever since my family first tried one at Christmas, and I’ve been looking for ways to bring this experience to the ELA classroom ever since. Read on to find out how I make and use Escape Rooms in ELA, and how you can design your own. Game Speak An Escape Room or Breakout Box are two versions of a collaborative puzzle game. Players work through a series

Danielle Hall July 10, 2017

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