A is for Accountablity

I always joke to my students that the best part of teaching is keeping them on their toes. I love keeping them on the edge of their seat every day in my class, and I especially love calling on kids at random! When I was in college, I learned that many Elementary teachers use Popsicle sticks or index cards with their students' names on them to call on them randomly, but with five hours of classes and a total of 110 kids-popsicle sticks and index cards were certainly not going to work for me! I'd be dropping index cards all over the place. Furthermore, I honestly didn't want to keep track of 100s of Popsicle sticks.

I came up with a great way to both call on students at random while incorporating my science vocabulary words...check it out!

At each table I place two green vocabulary words, one for each seat. I use vocabulary words from every unit that we cover in the year, and have two words at every single table.

I also have a cup full of Popsicle sticks that match each of the vocabulary words.

When I want to call on a student at random, I simply pull out a Popsicle stick and shout out the vocabulary word. The kids frantically look at their desk to see if I have called on them, and they LOVE it! The other day one of my kiddos mentioned, "Hey! I finally learned what my word means Miss Evans! My word is epicenter. It's the point right above the focus in an Earthquake!" Not only am I holding them accountable (and keeping them on their toes), I am building vocabulary skills. What a winning combination.

I also used this to assign my seats on the first day of school. As the kids came in, I had them draw out a Popsicle stick to find their seat. Even though it was random, it was a fun way to have them enter my room on that scary first day!

How do you hold your kids accountable? What systems have you used to call on your students at random?