How to Combat Spring Fever in the Elementary Classroom

Now that school is coming to a close, relax and change things up a bit. Start with your schedule. If you usually have reading and math in the morning, start the day with something besides the core subjects. Pull out those art projects you never got around to. Plan a social studies unit on friendships. Discuss and write about the traits of a good friend. Write letters to those who have been special friends throughout the school year (students, faculty or support persons). Go for an exploratory walk around the school grounds during science time. Anything that will take the students away from the normal routine will help keep those minds alert.

Keep it moving.

Incorporate movement in every subject. Instead of reading the story, act it out. Have students write math problems on the sidewalks with chalk. Play hopscotch using vocabulary definitions instead of numbers. Create a large graph on the wall to display science data: weights of different animals in the same classification group, distances of planets from the sun, or caloric values of foods. (Use sheets on construction paper to create the bar graph-you can "recycle" it when the project is done.) Getting out of those chairs will help shake off the spring fever doldrums.

Motivate and reward.

Spring is the time to pull out all the stops when it comes to motivation and reward systems. Be generous with stickers. Have kindness contests. When a student shows kindness to a fellow classmate, he gets a sticker on his chart. When a student reports another student showing kindness, the reporter gets a sticker on his chart as well. This results in "positive" tattling! Make a compliment jar for the class. When the entire class follows a specific rule (randomly chosen by the teacher), a compliment is placed into the jar. You can use marbles, slip of paper, game markers-anything that can be counted. When twenty compliments are received, the class gets to celebrate with ice cream. Have each student set a reading goal for the last nine weeks of school, and keep a personal record of achievement. A special bookmark can be given when the goal is reached.

Count it down.

Teachers have been doing it for years. Somewhere in the classroom, post the number of school days left, and assign a student to change the number each day. Spring fever is much easier to endure when you can see the deadline just ahead!