Jurassic World Classroom Transformation & Fossil Activities

Saturday, June 29, 2019 1 comment
Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

Who wouldn't love a Jurassic World classroom transformation? Well, I guess if you haven't seen the movie you don't know what you're missing.  I'm not sure my second graders have seen the movie, but they definitely know what it's all about. Our Jurassic World classroom theme was a little different. We were finishing up our unit on fossils, carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, so I figured it would work perfectly with a little Jurassic World decor. 


Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)


Jurassic World Content:  


There were a few items on my agenda I knew I wanted to teach over these few days.
  1. Types of fossils (impression, amber, body and trace) 
  2. Fossil classification 
  3. Carnivore, herbivore, omnivores traits/characteristics.
  4. Then I threw in review items I wanted to be sure they grasped with math and social studies. 

Types of Fossils: 


During our Jurassic World classroom transformation we discussed what fossils were, how they formed, and the various types. We watched several videos and made a few samples of fossils. 

The first type of fossil we made was an impression fossil. We mixed up three batches of salt dough. 

Students making their own fossils

Recipe for one batch: 
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup water
Mix until a dough forms.

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

 I gave my students a variety of items to use for pressing into the salt dough. Flowers, leaves, animals, shells, shark teeth, bugs and sticks to name a few. 


Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

My students loved the way they came out. I also gave the children the option to paint their fossils when they dried completely.

Another fossil we studied was the amber fossil. After watching how an amber fossils formed, I showed the children some different examples of amber. Then we began to make our own. 

Examples of amber fossils


To make "amber" You only need a few items.
  • clear shot glasses (I got mine from The Dollar Tree.)
  • plastic bugs
  • clear glue (white doesn't work) 
  • red food coloring  (1 small drop)
  • yellow food coloring ( 2 to 3 drops) 
  • tooth picks for stirring
students making amber fossilsstudents making amber fossilsstudents making amber fossils 

 We let the "amber" dry for a few days so the kids got the idea of how they hardened. This was their favorite fossil to make. 

To make a trace and body fossils, I let my students form them out of modeling clay on their own. 



Fossil Classification: 


These activities took place on the last day of our Jurassic World classroom transformation. After the children were able to recall the different types of fossils, they felt a bit more confident. 

The first activity was a paleontologist fossil dig. Before we did any digging, the children learned what a paleontologist does and what tools he or she uses. We talked about the importance of being very carful and working slowly as to not break the fossils. 

For this activity I laminated a sheet of numbered, colored fossils. (shown below) I placed those into an aluminum pan under some sand and rocks. I threw in a small paint brush and gave my students a recording sheet. 


Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)
Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)
I had five pans and only hid three fossils in each pan. The children rotated to each pan switching the paleontologist for each. This way, every child got a turn digging up fossils. 

After each fossil was dug up the children needed to classify them as either trace, body, impression or amber. They matched the number of the fossil with the number on their recording sheet. Total engagement! They had a blast digging and I had a blast watching them recall what they learned about fossils. 

If the kids finished early and were waiting on another group, they filled out a sheet about paleontologists and what they learned about their jobs and tools. 


fossil dig sand pans

The second fossil classification activity was also a bit of a social studies review as well. Since we studied the seven continents earlier in the year, I wanted to tie that into our fossil unit. I divided the students in to groups and told them there were pieces of fossils hidden all around the world on different continents, and they needed to go retrieve them. 


I placed buckets with continent signs on them around the school and I started each group with a puzzle piece to a fossil they needed to find. I gave one student per group a clue about a continent. If they named the correct continent described, they raced through the school to get their puzzle piece from that continent's bucket. When they brought it back to the classroom, the next member of their group got a clue and did the same thing. After a group finished collecting all of their puzzle pieces, they assembled it and recorded what the fossil looked like on their paper. They colored, classified and measured their fossil. 

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

The next step was to flip the puzzle pieces over and read about how the fossil formed. This was a test to see if my students remembered how to put facts into their own words without plagiarizing. That was a skill we worked on a lot this year. 

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)


My students worked together really well for this activity. They were up, moving and most importantly, THINKING!


Carnivore, Herbivore and Omnivore Traits and Characteristics


To begin these lessons, I had my class sit in a circle and I told them I found some dinosaurs who are very ill and we need to help. I told them I collected the stomach contents to see if they ate something that make them sick. I passed around two zipper bags filled with carnivore insides and one with herbivore insides. We talked about what these dinosaurs possibly ate. Then I showed the pictures of several herbivores and carnivores. The kids "pair shared" what they noticed about the body, teeth and leg difference in the two types of animals. It was a great discussion that helped my students gain a background. 

What does a dinosaur eat? Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

Next, I had the children choose a dinosaur silhouette. Based on what they learned about carnivore's and herbivore's body types, they needed to feed their dinosaur the right food. Each child got a grocery store circular and they cut and pasted the foods onto their dinosaur's silhouette. 


carnivore, herbivore, omnivore cut and pasteJurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

On the last day of our Jurassic World classroom transformation we continued to talk about other ways people can find out what animals and dinosaurs ate. Sure enough the kids knew...THE POOP!  My students had the feeling of what they would be digging in as soon as I pulled out those plastic gloves. You guessed it! Dino dung! I got this idea from Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans. I had the kids looking for items within the dung (chocolate cake mix and water) to see if they could figure out what their animal ate. After rinsing off several items (plastic fish, sticks, leaves, bugs, animal bones etc.) they recorded if their animal was a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore, giving valid justification of course!



Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)



what did it eat dino dung dig



Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

This was by far their favorite activity of the unit. They will talk about this in years to come!


Review Activity


Finally, I needed to throw in a few review questions for practice. My colleague had a fantastic group idea. She printed T-Rex bones on different colored paper. It was a different color per team. Then a variety of review questions were printed and cut out on the same colors, folded and paced into a bucket. 

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)

One at a time, each team took a question. If they answered it correctly they earned a bone to their dinosaur. Once their team collected all the bones they assembled their dinosaur, drew it on poster paper and colored it. The activity was simple, quick and engaging. 

Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)



Jurassic World Classroom Decor: 



The decor for Jurassic World was ultra simple. Most of the decor was butcher paper from my school's stockroom. Other items I bought from The Dollar Tree such as flower table cloths, hula skirts and dinosaur masks. The only other item I bought was caution tape that I used for other classroom transformations during the school year, so I had it on hand already. 


I hope these ideas can help you plan your Jurassic World classroom transformation. Please tag me on Facebook or Instagram when you decide to do this transformation. 


If you would like to grab my Fossil Activities to help you get started CLICK HERE or visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop Kaylynn's Place by clicking "Shop" at the top of my blog. 



Jurassic World isn't just a movie. It can be a classroom transformation for a day or week while you teach your students engaging lessons about fossils. Expand your Jurassic World theme with rigorous content that your students will love while they are highly engaged every minute.  Find out how to get high quality and realistic Jurassic World decor on the cheap to make your students really feel like they are living in the Jurassic time period. (grades 2,3,4,5, second, third, fourth, fifth graders)
Click Here to grab this resource in my TPT Store. 

A Coffee Shop Classroom Transformation

Sunday, May 19, 2019 No comments
One of the best ways to keep students engaged is to have a classroom transformation. Why not have a Coffee Shop Classroom Transformation? It can be as extravagant or as simple as you want. Either way, your students will want to be a part of all the activities you have in store.

Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.
My students know I love Starbucks and coffee, so it was only natural that I would transform the classroom into a cafe at some point during the year. 

Coffee Shop Decor


The decor was super simple. I purchased green tablecloths, green tissue pompoms for the ceiling and yellow flowers at The Dollar Tree. I used white butcher paper to create the Starbucks logo on the wall and green butcher paper to create "Today's Menu" for the wall. I just wrote that in chalk.

I used donated Starbucks cups to hang from the ceiling. I also put flowers in some of those cups on the tables for a coffee shop feel. 

Other items that added to the ambiance were aprons and hats that I purchased from Oriental Trading Co. these were for my students to wear so they felt like real coffee shop baristas. I got my Starbucks coffee shop apron from eBay. 
Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.

Now for the Content!


I knew I wanted this transformation to be a few days long based on the material I wanted to cover. For this particular classroom transformation I went cross curricular with the content. The subjects I covered were reading, math, writing and science.

  • Reading: 

I planned two reading activities. The first one was a non fiction reading passage about tea and coffee. The students read, answered the comprehension questions and filled out the Venn Diagram based on the passage's information. Comparing and contrasting were text structures we worked on for two weeks. 

Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.


The other reading activity was "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover." This was an idea inspired by Hope King. I usually get many free books from Scholastic Book Clubs for my classroom library each month when my students place orders. I save these books for this activity. I try to get at least one for each student in my class, but usually I get a few extra.

Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.  I teach many lessons through out the school year about not judging a book by its cover and choosing a "just right book" based on interest. I wrap each book cover in brown paper from The Dollar Tree and I print numbered tags on sticker sheets I found on Amazon.

  Each book is labeled with a numbered sticker and placed around the classroom for the children to “taste” by reading a page or two. If the student likes the book and wants to try and “win” the book to borrow, they can fill out the double sided tag.
Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.

  On one side they write their name and the book number. On the flip side they write if they think it is fiction or nonfiction, how they know, and why they want to be the first in the class to read it. After all the students have filled out the raffle tickets, we have the book raffle. Whoever wins the book gets to borrow it from our class library first. Then all the books eventually become part of our classroom library. Win, win!

  • Math:

For math, I had centers set up with a coffee shop theme. The following are the activities I did with my students. I set up each station with various materials for the students, and each station had an activity sheet and manipulatives. 

Donut Shop Math: I ordered mini donut erasers from Oriental Trading but you can print and laminate the mini donut pictures from this coffee shop resource


Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.

What’s the Cost?: For this activity I laminated a menu and had my students use fake money to work out each problem.




Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.



Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.


Order up: I used Starbucks coffee cups and holders (donated by a local Starbucks), coffee beans, marshmallows and tea bags for the kids to have a real “barista” experience. You can certainly use pictures of these items laminated if you do not want to get the actual items.


Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.


Drinks Drinks Drinks: I used mini coffee cup erasers from Oriental Trading but you can print and laminate pictures of cups. Another option is to have your students draw pictures.


Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.

  • Writing:

For creative writing, my students had the chance to create a new drink for the coffee shop or a coffee shop store front. First, they got a planning sheet to fill out about what they wanted to create. For their final copy, students created a flip book with all of their drink or store front information. Adding final touches of color to their design made their creation become realistic and personalized.



Do you want to try a coffee shop classroom transformation with a Starbucks theme? Engage your students with coffee shop decor, hands-on centers, differentiated rotations and fun stations with rigorous content. Align reading, writing, math, art and science into a week of educational caffeinated excitement. This resource is perfect for second and third grade students reviewing these concepts and even as an informal assessment.




  • Science:

My students love science! They love investigating new things and using what they know to make accurate hypotheses. That is why this was a great experiment for them. They know a bit about mixing colors from art class so it was perfect. We used coffee filters, black markers and water droppers. 

We spoke briefly about colors, what they knew about colors and what they thought was going to happen when we added water to the black dot in the center of their coffee filter. The children were pleasantly surprised at their results. My students were so engaged with this activity they even asked to do it again! 


I found that this coffee shop classroom transformation was my students' favorite this year. I honestly think it was because they were able to become the baristas for the week. Thank you for checking out this classroom transformation. I'd love to help you plan one for your classroom. Feel free to email me any questions you might have about this, or any other classroom transformations. Thanks for stopping by!

A Step by Step Guide for a Classroom Transformation

Sunday, May 12, 2019 No comments
A classroom transformation is a unique way to engage your students in learning. Over the past few years, many teachers across the world have adopted the idea of transforming their spaces into unique places where they can teach and engage their students to learn creatively.

When I first started transforming my classroom, I had no idea what I was doing. That's usually how it begins with me, total confusion! I soon figured out what worked for me and I'd love to share my strategy with anyone who is considering it in the near future but aren't sure where to begin. Why not start to transform your classroom today?


You might be asking yourself, "Why would I want to spend money on transforming my classroom when I know I'm not going to get reimbursed?"



Here are some tips and tricks for keeping costs low.



1. Start Simple. 



You don't need to go wild. Begin with simple signs on butcher paper for the walls and some table cloths from The Dollar Tree for tables and desks. If the room looks even a little different, your kids will buy into it.

This was a tablecloth I got from Walmart that I reuse every year for skip counting!


The tablecloth on the table and the ones hanging in the background I got from The Dollar Tree. The football banner I picked up at Walmart. These are all cheap and reusable. 
This aisle runner was made from red butcher paper my school had in the stock room. I also created the train out of black butcher paper. The lights are from my attic! Totally FREE room transformation! Can't beat it.


I created this Ticket Booth from my school's butcher paper stock. Again, FREE!

2. Use Items You Already Have.


Look around your house or in your attic. Do you have decorations or costumes from an old party you had before? Use those!


My family goes camping a lot so we have tons of camping gear. That was my first transformation because I didn't need to buy ANYTHING! I used what I had.



All these items I had at my house. The only item I bought was the backdrop which I also use for my Polar Express transformation during the holidays.  

3. Shop Sales.


My favorite places to buy classroom transformation supplies are The Dollar Tree, Oriental Trading, Walmart and yard/garage sales. Why? Because I find them to be the cheapest around. I also tend to shop at Amazon.com if the items I need are not in any of these other stores at a cheaper price.



The decor for my Coffee Shop (Starbucks) classroom transformation was from my school (butcher paper), Dollar Tree and Starbucks. The Starbucks cups hanging from the ceiling and on the tables were donated by my local Starbucks. The flowers, puffs on the ceiling, and tablecloths were from The Dollar Tree. 


4. Invest in Items You Can Reuse Each Year.

I tend to buy items I can reuse each year and items I can use in various transformations such as backdrops and tablecloths. 
The backdrop in this Harry Potter transformation I reuse in my King's Dungeon transformation as well. 
If you find that you need to keep throwing things out over and over again, you will be spending more and more money. Invest in items you think you can keep neat, clean and looking in top shape for the following year. 


5. Buy a Few Items Each Year.



This is so important. To transform your classroom make a wish list for each transformation you want to do. I only buy the items I deem necessary to make the transformation successful for high engagement. Then each year I buy one more item I think would be beneficial. This way, the cost stays low, I reuse the items from the year before and the transformation gets more elaborate as the years go on. Remember that the class you had the year before will never know you added to the decor. They only know and enjoyed what they had at the time. 

I like to add costumes as I repeat transformations. Again, keeping it super simple and using what I already have keeps it cheap. 

6. Share with Your Colleagues!


This is the best! If you and your colleagues share items, you will have to buy a lot less. I have even heard of schools that have a "Classroom Transformation Closet" in their building where they have everything labeled in tubs. Any teacher can borrow any transformation at any time. They also add to the tubs as they go and the whole school can borrow and share everything. What an idea!



How do I decide what classroom transformation I want to do? 

There are a few things I like to take into consideration when trying to transform my classroom. Here are some things I think about.


  • What are my students interested in? What motivates them? 
Each year my students have very different interests and motivators. Some years I skip transformations with one class that I might have done in previous years with other classes. It is totally fine! Each group of youngsters change and have different interests. 

  • What is going on in the world? 
I have a Winter Olympics classroom transformation I simply cannot do each year. It just doesn't fit my current events schedule. Can I adapt it? Sure! Some years I use it as "Winter Sports." 

  • Academics. How are we doing with our curriculum pace? 

You can choose a transformation based on your curriculum. If you are learning about fossils and dinosaurs in science, why not do a Jurassic Park themed transformation? What about a writing celebration as a "Writing Cafe?" After my students and I finished our continents unit, I did an Amazing Race transformation. (Reusing my flags from the Olympic Games....of course!) 


Amazing Race Continent Review

  • What do I already have? 

Is there anything I have already that I can use to make the transformation that I've been yearning to create? I am a huge Harry Potter fan so I utilized many things I had in the attic from Halloween to create my Harry Potter classroom transformation. I know second grade is a bit young for Harry but by the end of the week, my students made their parents get all the books for them. Talk about motivating!







Keeping the Rigor High


The most important part of a classroom transformation is the rigorous academics. That is the portion that is usually lost. Be mindful that a classroom transformation is to help keep your students engaged in your lessons.

You can transform your classroom to teach new material or you can use your transformations to review what was already learned. Personally, I have done both. I have created materials for my students so I could customize what I wanted to teach, and I have also bought products from others to use within my classroom transformations that reviewed concepts I already taught. 

Here are some examples of how to keep the rigor high within your transformation. 

  For this station in my Coffee Shop Transformation  I was teaching my students how to multiply. We were investigating different ways to use multiplication and/or repeated addition to solve the problems while using little coffee erasers as manipulatives. This was a great way to give them hands on practice with a new math concept. These coffee erasers are from Oriental Trading Co. 
In my Harry Potter transformation I gave my students the chance to investigate with tangrams. My students had never seen these before but when I explained how they were used, they were able to manipulate them for practice. I tied it into the Harry Potter theme and off they went! 
This product was not an original creation of mine. I adapted a Halloween Tangram product from Z is for Zebra on Teachers Pay Teachers to fit the Harry Potter theme in my transformation. I added a photo from Harry Potter to the back of each tangram card to make the connection. The back of this card is a photo of a dementor. 
During our reading block for my Coffee Shop Transformation I had a book raffle where the children weren't allowed to see the covers of the books they were viewing. I like to call it, "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover." There was a catch to winning a book. The children needed to earn it. For each of the ballots my students received, they needed to tell me on the back if the book was fiction or nonfiction and how they knew. I needed some text evidence to make their ballot valid in the raffle. It was a great way to assess if they could identify story elements and nonfiction text features. 

Get creative with the academic rigor when you transform your classroom. Chances are, if your students are enjoying what they are doing and atmosphere they are doing it in, they will totally forget it's school! 

As always, if you have any questions as all please feel free to reach out to me at Kellycahill03@gmail.com Thanks again for stopping by Kaylynn's Place!