Summertime and Quick-Draw McGraw

It's been my first week of summer vacation and I've loved it! I've actually stayed up past 9:00 pm and slept in past 6:00 am! Like so many teachers, I'm already preparing for next year. (There's something not right about that!) My school "to do" list is growing (I blame Pinterest) and I have all those home and garden projects that I kept putting off until summer - and now it's summer! I also want to make time for the Guided Math and Daily 5 book studies. So much to do . . . so little time (sigh).

One of the projects I worked on today was organizing/making high-frequency vocabulary cards and activities for my 2nd graders. One of their favorite activities is a very simple one I call "Quick Draw McGraw". (I know most of you have no idea who this is, but I am old, people, and Quick Draw, Mighty Mouse, Sherman and Mr. Peabody have a sentimental place in my heart!)

To play, students have 5-6 vocab. word cards face up on their desks. I have the same words on the white board (I use magnetic cards but using a pocket chart works, too). Now it's me against the class: who will be Quick Draw? I call out one of the words and students try to find and pick up that word card and raise it up high before I pick mine. After several turns, I let students call out the words. It's a lot of fun and the class especially likes it when I can't peel the magnetic card off the board quickly enough! It's also great for a quick informal assessment - seeing who is slow in finding the words, who has to look at the cards of others before choosing their card, who is holding up the wrong word, who quickly finds the words.