This post originally appeared on SSSTeaching
Before masks were cool and all, this Grammar Surgery was a such a fun classroom transformation.
Here’s all the details and how you can get TONs of FREE resources to transform your own classroom!
Fourth Grade Grammar Surgery Day – an unforgettable day in our classroom. Covering MANY grammar standards and acting as a review from our year students worked through lots of “surgeries” in groups to practice using their fourth grade grammar skills.
Classroom transformations are such a highlight even if you only do one a year! It truly bring student engagement to an entirely new level. Bringing up the excitement and looking forward to school for weeks – students come in ready and excited to learn or show what they know!
Take one piece or all the surgeries and make a grammar surgery happen in your classroom! Dedicate a few hours (it took us about 3 hours) to cover and review 10+ grammar standards for fourth grade, but it could be easily adapted.
You might be afraid to pull off a transformation because of the activities and the cost – I’m here to help with both!
How to do a Doctor Surgery Transformation on the Cheap!
Transformations might scare you. I get that. They seem intimidating and LOTS of work, but really they don’t have to be. Here’s my top tips for a medical classroom transformation (or doctor or surgery classroom transformation!)
Many of the “surgeries” we did are linked to FREE places to download. So really just putting all the prep together, split up over a couple days is not much work.
- reuse materials – I made these surgery envelopes once and kept a copy of each for the next year. Copy and go!
- get donations – our local doctor office donated gowns, masks, gloves…but those could be sourced from school nurse. Even just gloves and masks make it exciting
- $1 blue Tablecloths – Even reusing from other classroom transformations (like Nonfiction Game Day!)
- use on hand materials – we used cookie sheets that we had and doctor supplies from my husband who was an EMT. What else does nurse or from a first aid kit could you use?
The first step is setting the day. I would pick a day weeks in advance and slowly bit by bit prepare. We only did these 3-4 times a year and it PAID OFF but the students were excited for so long because of how much I built it up.
Easy Supplies to Grab:
Grammar Activities with ALL standards
The best part about planning a medical transformation is the content! How can I tie in either one subject in depth or lots of subjects? We focused on TONS of grammar standards (surgeries) and worked all day on them.
Make it real for students:
- make doctor badges (FREE template included in download!) – or have parent volunteer do it. This is great if you get student stickers from your school picture “people.”
- Take an oath – I made one up and they had to “do no harm” and work together…they loved it!
- Take precautions seriously – dressing up and staying clean were SO important on this day!
- Commend the work – download a FREE diploma template and certify your surgeons upon completion of great work!
All grammar surgery activities were ones that could be easily accomplished and checked visually (so I wasn’t scrambling finding answer keys!)
Here are some examples:
- Suturing vocabulary words with definitions
- using noodles to punctuate dialogue (I love using noodles for punctuation!)
- stapling figurative language examples & definitions
- color coding parts of speech
- ordering adjectives for blood types
You can download the Editable Badges, Surgery Signs, Surgery templates (and links to ones I used if I didn’t make them!)
Make your classroom come alive. Tag @SSSTeaching if you use these materials! ~ Amber
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