The Floor Is Lava Classroom Transformation

Monday, June 1, 2020
This classroom transformation was inspired by my two sons. One morning they were playing this strange game around our house where they climbed on the furniture and told me they couldn't touch the floor. When I asked them why, their response was, "Mom, the FLOOR IS LAVA!" I have heard of this game before from my students, but this was the first time my boys were playing it. That's when my wheels began turning and I brainstormed my next classroom transformation. 


The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.


The Story


Before this classroom transformation began I needed to set the stage for my 4th and 5th grade students. I dressed in my best Hawaiian garb and explained that we needed to save the island from a volcano that kept erupting and wiping out small villages. I explained that the Head Tiki was very angry and he would only agree to stop the volcano if he was presented with jewels and gems. 

I advised them that their brains were the only thing that would help these poor people in danger. They needed to complete tasks, answer questions and earn gems, all while avoiding the LAVA!!! But the volcano will only erupt if the red light and alarm goes off. I begged them to please tread lightly and save the village!

We entered the room, I handed them a lei for their team color and began to explain the challenges for the day. They were pumped and ready to go! 

The Content


I knew right off the bat that I wanted to use The Floor is Lava Transformation as a review. We were finishing up the steps of the writing process and identifying different types of figurative language, so I wanted to revisit these concepts. 

During the classroom transformation there were two activities going on. One was a scavenger hunt around the school and one was earning gems by answering questions. 

Writing Process: 

This activity was the school scavenger hunt. I split the students into partnerships and assigned them a color for the whole day. That's the color lei they got to wear. To begin this scavenger hunt, they needed to read a passage about the different parts of the writing process. It helped them review all the steps of writing before they began the clues. 

The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.

Once their team finished reading the passage, they were given a clue about a location in the school. When they figured out the location, they needed to show me the clue and tell me where they were headed. When they arrived at the location, there was a large envelope with a question in their team's color about the writing process. The students took their color only, answered the question, checked it with me, then grabbed the next clue for another school location. This would carry on until the whole scavenger hunt was completed. 

On each question card was an additional puzzle. They needed to write that word down on their recording sheet because later they would need to unscramble the words they collected to answer a riddle. 

The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.
The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.            The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.
    








Figurative Language:

While the teams were figuring out their clues for the scavenger hunt an alarm would randomly sound and a red strobe light would blink. This alerted the students that the volcano erupted and THE FLOOR IS LAVA! The students needed to get to a safe place because they needed to present the Tiki with gems so he would stop the lava flow. This is when the children hopped along the rocks on the floor to get to one of the colored balloons. 


The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.


Attached to a balloon was a question about figurative language. If the team answered it correctly, they earned the gem to present to the Tiki...without touching the floor of course!


The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.


Once all the teams presented a gem successfully, the lights came back on and the scavenger hunt commenced. The kids truly loved this engaging review activity. 


The Decor


The Floor is Lava wasn't that difficult to assemble. I used a lot of butcher paper from my school for this transformation so that made it cheap. I will list the items in the classroom and where I got them. 

  1. Volcano: Butcher paper from school and hot lava table cloth from Amazon. This was the first item I assembled and taped to the wall before I did anything else.
  2. Flames: I ordered one roll of these flames on Amazon and covered the other walls around my room. 
  3. Leis: I ordered this box of leis from Amazon and gave one to each student. I matched the color with their team for the day. I will be able to use these in the future as well. 
  4. Full Body Skeleton: I actually used this skeleton as a Halloween decoration so I repurposed him for this transformation. I got him from Target during Halloween. 
  5. Hula Skirts: I used these hula skirts as decor across my windows. I got them from The Dollar Tree a few years ago and used them for my Jurassic Park transformation but I reused them again for this one. They also have a good option on Amazon if it is out of season at The Dollar Tree. 
  6. Paper Lanterns: I used colored paper lanterns to hang from the ceiling for the task cards but you can use regular balloons. I was gifted these lanterns but I linked a good option on Amazon. I reuse them each year for different classroom transformations. 
  7. Multicolored Gems: I've had these multicolored gems for years but you can get them on Amazon or Party City. Honestly, you don't even need to use these. You can use little stones, plastic coins or whatever you have on hand. 
  8. Wooden Tiki Masks: I borrowed these tiki masks from a local Polynesian restaurant. I just returned them when I was finished. 
  9. Mini Strobe Lights: I use these mini strobes for so many things through out the year. I literally use them all the time so they were a great purchase for me. These are the same lights I posted in my Glow Day transformation. 
  10. Tiki Poster: I bought a trifold board from the dollar tree, taped it to the board and traced a tiki on it using my Smart Board. As simple as that! You can even project or draw a tiki mask on your board and use that! 
The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.


Keep in mind, you DO NOT need to use all of these decorations for you Floor is Lava transformation. That is always the beauty about classroom transformations. You use what works for you, in your classroom, with your students. I hope you decide to do a Floor is Lava transformation for your kiddos this year. 

If you like my ideas, follow my blog and check out some of my other classroom transformations. Below is my Floor is Lava Transformation pack that you can find in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. It is editable for any grade level. 

The Floor is Lava is a childhood game turned classroom transformation with rigorous content, high engagement activities and fun Hawaiian themed decor for students in first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade. Motivate and challenge your students with this invigorating high intensity game that will press students to solve clues, riddles and questions at a face pace.


Happy Teaching!

Kelly


No comments