Classroom transformations have been the highlight of my school year this year. My students always look forward to them. I love planning for them and setting them up. Even though they can be a lot of work sometimes, it is always worth it. This time around, I transformed the classroom into a campground, and we “camped out” all day.
To set up the classroom, I brought in a tent that we had at home. This was a gift to my girls a couple of years ago, so it was something we already had. You could definitely bring in a regular camping tent, but I was just using what we already had at home. I also brought in my decorative trees that I set out at Christmas time. These were the perfect addition to the “campsite.” I purchased small camping chairs from Walmart for less than $10. I also hung some white Christmas lights from the ceiling to add to the glow of the room and to look like stars in the night sky. I made a fire using construction paper and rocks that I bought at Dollar Tree.
I brought in some mason jars that I had at home and put battery-powered tealight candles inside of them. I bought the candles at Dollar Tree. Then, I threw some red and white checkered table clothes, that I already had, on the tables. I also bought a spray bottle at Dollar Tree and filled it with water. I used the Bug Spray label from my friend, Stacy, at Simpson’s Superstars. The kids loved being sprayed with “bug spray.” Set up was super easy, and I really used mostly things I already had at home or in the classroom.
Before the students came in, I placed a campsite coloring page onto clipboards for each student.
Then, I turned off the lights and projected a crackling campfire onto the screen. I used this one below.
It really felt like we were camping. It was so relaxing. The students were able to sit anywhere around the room to do their work. Throughout the day, we completed camping themed activities. We read camping books including Arthur Goes to Camp, Berenstain Bears Go to Camp, and Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping. I purchased little flashlights from Amazon for each of my students, so they could use them throughout the day. They were really cheap, but also cheaply made. I think I’ll just have them bring in their own next year.
The students had so much fun in the campground for the day.
You can find all of these activities and printables in my Camping Day packet HERE.
Want to save these ideas for later? Feel free to pin the image below, or any other image from the post, to your Pinterest boards. Be sure to check out my other Classroom Transformations below.
You can read more about our other classroom transformations in these blog posts.
I have way too many Candy Land games in my classroom, maybe more than I care to admit. However, I love using this game for reviewing many different skills. To create a sight word version of Candy Land, just write a sight word on each colored square. Before the player can move to that color, he/she has to read the sight word. I have also created math fact Candy Land where the player has to tell the answer to the problem before moving to their color. Other ideas for transforming Candy Land include: letter sounds, blends and digraphs, synonyms and antonyms, rhyming words, etc.
Connect Four is another game that lends itself to academics. I just write on the chips, and the students are ready to play. In the first picture, I wrote addition math facts on each piece. The player had to say the answer before putting in their chip. The second picture has beginning blends and digraphs on each chip. The players had to say a word that began with that blend or digraph before putting their piece into the game.
Another idea is to use Jenga. For the game above, I wrote ending punctuation on each block. Before pulling out the block, the player had to say a sentence that ended with that punctuation mark.
We also use Chutes and Ladders to review words with particular vowel sounds. In the picture above, I wrote a vowel on each section of the spinner. Before moving their piece, the student had to say a word that contained that vowel sound. You could use this with short or long vowel sounds. Another idea is to have the student say a math fact that equals the number they landed on before moving their game piece. For the Sorry games above, I wrote letters on each square. As the students move around the board, they have to say the letter sound. For the one on the bottom, I just wrote tasks on each card. For example, “Say a word with 2 syllables.”
These 
My students also love to find a spot in the classroom to work on their Morning Tubs in the morning.
The most important thing to remember, is to be very aware of when your students are starting to lose focus. As the year progresses, students will be able to stay in one spot for longer periods of time, but definitely switch it up often.
One of my students favorite games is 4 corners. There are a couple different ways you can play this game. One that we played recently was Vowel Sound 4 Corners. (You could definitely do 5 areas instead of 4.) I hung signs up in each corner of my room labeled short a, short e, short i, and short o. Each student stood under a sign of their choice. Then, I drew a short vowel word from a jar. For example, “cat.” All of the students under the Short a sign, went and sat down. Then, the students picked a new sign to stand under. This continued until there was one winner. This can easily be adapted to many reading and math skills.
Another great way to add a little bit of movement to your day is to use this 
This can be used as a whole group when you notice that students are starting to get off task. It also works great for students that may need to keep it at their desk to use when they need an extra break. You can download it for free 
We will be performing our 
To gear the lesson towards 1st graders, I have them actually measure their strips and cut them appropriately. I cut out 8×1 inch strips from a packet of scrapbook paper. Then, the students each picked 5 strips. They glued the first 8 inch strip on the bottom, cut the second strip into a 7 inch and a 1 inch piece, the third strip into a 6 inch and a 2 inch piece, and so on until they created their tree. Then, we used white paint and Q-tips to make snow. They make a really easy bulletin board display.
The students absolutely LOVED this activity. The first set of students delivered the candy canes to the office staff. When they came back, two of the boys immediately told me how good it made them feel to give something to someone else. Too cute! You can download this editable note 
The Five Step Fluency Process includes:
