Face Off: How It's Going

Back in August, I introduced a new idea I had for this year: Face Off.  It is basically a way for students to vote on which book they liked the best.  It integrates reading, graphing, questioning, and stating an opinion.  It is an activity that can take a few seconds or you can dig deeper.

I had decided to put this activity in the hallway because our kiddos move classes.  I thought it might be something they could vote on while they wait for their next class.

But I have to be honest...I did not really think this was going to work well.  Once the year gets started, I often have trouble keeping up with little things like this.  For example, I used to have a timeline in this same spot.  I wanted to post all the books and activities that we did in a timeline format.

Nope! 
That did not work out.  I could not keep up with it.

I really thought the same was going to happen with the Face Off idea.  It didn't matter what I thought, I was still going to try it.

And surprisingly, it has been so easy.  After two books are read, I just throw them up on the curtain rod.  That is literally all I do!  The voting tape is hanging there at all times.

The year started off with our votes looking like this:

Then we taught them how to make a bar graph:

We have also used dye cuts to form a pictograph:

If you want to try it out at your school, it is as easy I stated above.  If you want to dig even deeper with your class into the reading, math, and even writing components of this activity, I have created some graphic organizers and graphs that can accompany the voting.

I do have to tell you.  My favorite weeks are when the kids say "Ahhh, why are you making this so hard?  How am I suppose to pick between those books?"  That is the best feeling!

Blasting Off A Great Year

Do you ever have those moments when an idea just appears?  You are not even sure where it comes from, but it is there.  This summer...it happened.  And I just could not get that idea out of my head.  It just kept pushing its way forward until I finally did something about it!
After much creating, printing, cutting, laminating, and mounting, my idea is ready to "blast off" and help our firsties have a great year!

So what was this fantastic, ground breaking idea?  Face-Off--Book Style.

I wanted more interaction between my students and the bulletin boards we spend so much time on (or in my case, a hallway wall).  So I decided that I would post two books.  Both books would be read-aloud books that all students had heard the previous week.  For example: maybe during the first week of school I read "The Crayon Box That Talked" and "Falling for Rapunzel."

   Then students vote on the book that they would recommend to others.  Voting materials could include die cuts or stickers (for a pictograph) or rectangles (for a bar graph).  They would place their vote right there on the board (or my wall). Once the data is collected, oral questions about the graph could be asked.  I have some of our questions posted right on the wall for students to ponder.

As the year progresses, our questions will change.  One week the questions may be more math related and another week they may be more reading related.
Once I started coming up with more oral questions, I decided that I may need some response sheets.  So now I have sheets for graphing, comparing/contrasting author's purpose, comparing/contrasting plot, and opinion writing.

And I am so excited.  REALLY excited.

It is something new that will be easy for me to change out each week (just the books).  I can make it a quick voting activity during transitions with oral questions.  Or I can decide to go more in-depth with responding through written work.  It can take a couple of minutes a week or a couple of hours.  It is up to me.

I like the flexibility of it.

Here is a free download for you.  It is the "Face-Off" banner.  If you want all the question cards and response sheets, just click any of the images above.

I am so happy that I got to share this idea with you!  I hope it helps you to "blast off" to a good year with your students! 

Head on over to Literacy Spark for your next literacy stop!