It Really Is...Imagination

Over the summer, I attended a week-long Responsive Classroom workshop. The Responsive Classroom is an approach to elementary school teaching and learning that fosters social and emotional growth while optimizing student academic learning. The Morning Meeting is a component of the Responsive Classroom approach, a component we know and love in 2B. Along with the greeting, share, and morning message, the "activity" is a brief component of our Morning Meeting each day. Each component serves a unique purpose, and the purpose of the activity is to foster group cohesion.

This week, I introduced a new activity called "It Really Is..." and it really was...a HIT!

I started by holding up a pen. I demonstrated the way the activity goes: "this looks like an (object), but it really is....(creative/imaginative use for the object" + pantomime it's new use. My model was: "This looks like a pen, but it really is...a magic wand!" and then I proceeded to pantomime casting a spell on the class, followed by a fit of giggles.

We practiced with the pen first; I built this guided practice in because I had been nervous to introduce this activity; I anticipated that it would be hard to think of imaginative uses for objects on the spot...but what I had not really thought through was the fact that this activity was a challenge for me and maybe other adults, but for a group of 7 and 8 year olds with the beautiful imaginations of kids? Not such a challenge!



I pulled a bottle of Elmer's glue out from behind my back and we began. In a matter of seconds, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Here are some highlights (mind you, each was coupled with the student acting out the object's use):
This looks like glue, but it really is...
-hair gel
-a mountain
-a shoe
-a guitar
-a snake
-a frog
-a rocket

The genuine laughter that came from our Morning Meeting that morning was the perfect start to our day--livening, rejuvenating, revving us up for all of the academics to come. I sat for a moment and appreciated the creativity and imagination we had just tapped into and made a note to myself to harness this in writing, in reading, in math, in social studies, in science.