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EMC² Blog

12 Ways for Teachers to Use Wrapping Paper in Any Classroom

We’ve made the list and checked it twice to make sure teachers everywhere can close out the home stretch before break with something BIG. And this week EMC² Learning is rolling out some GIANT SIZED ideas to help you end (or start) the year with all sorts of energy and excitement in any classroom.

With the annual close of the calendar year, retailers around the world inevitably put all sorts of seasonal decor and wrapping paper on deep discount! And for teachers, this can be the gift that keeps on giving — as a little bit of sale-price wrapping paper can provide a HUGE opportunity to infuse creativity into your classrooms all year long. Imagine the endless possibilities that lie within those vibrant rolls of paper waiting to be repurposed for engaging, student-centered instruction.

Are you already an Engagement Engineer? Think BIG and enjoy the fun of any of the larger than life classroom activities you see below with just a single click!

Not yet a paid member of EMC² Learning? No sweat. We’ve got BIG savings for new subscribers and all sorts of resources that you’ll love!

 

12. Big Sheet Tell-Tale Tablecloths

Once upon a midnight dreary / students pondered bright and cheery. But can they work together to unriddle the mysteries that their fascinating young minds have left behind? Welcome to a world of curiosity where creativity comes to life. In this oversized showdown of student imagination, every doodle holds a secret and every stroke tells a tale! Are you prepared to fill your oversized canvas with color as you unleash your artistic genius? Tell-Tale Tablecloths awaits… enter if you dare!

11. Big Sheet Super Sized Sleeves

This oversized competition puts the “ink” in “critical thinking” — as your students will be divided into rival teams of expert tattoo artists with the goal of dreaming up some seriously massive displays of creativity thanks to some oversized canvases. Even better: EMC² Learning has a fully editable collection of resource activity templates that are all inked up and ready to help teachers transform any ordinary classroom into the hottest tattoo shop in town. Get ready to rock!

10. Big Sheet Massive Empathy Maps

Working through course content that challenges students to learn how to listen without racing to judgment while going inside the hearts and minds of individuals with different points of view? Here at  EMC² Learning, we are big fans of lesson plans that help 21st century learners develop the nuanced and essential skills of empathy. And that’s why we’re equally big fans of oversized charting activities to help them bring these same emotions to life. Empathy Maps are a powerful tool that is popular in everything from business to politics to customer satisfaction. With a splash of student understanding (and a bit of chart paper or wrapping paper), Empathy Maps can be used in almost any content area, and can help provide incredible insight into the eyes of others.

9. Big Sheet Fakebook Talking Walls

Catch up with old friends. Turn nightly reading logs into trending topics, and transform a longer form of study into a social media sensation! Fakebook Talking Walls is a pedagogy designed to help teachers maintain student engagement while classes use oversized anchor charts to keep running tabs on noteworthy discoveries in any unit of study. Grab some sticky notes and chart paper (or wrapping paper!) and let this Facebook inspired activity turn your classroom into a veritable hub of social media fun… with no devices required!

8. Big Sheet Giant Letter Rumble

The Big Sheet Giant Letter Rumble helps your students spell energy and excitement with a capital E! In this spirited team against team showdown, rival bands of students have one GIANT challenge ahead of them as they compete to master your content to the letter. The only problem? The giant-sized guardians of the kingdom have a hard time spotting the smallest of details — and so it will be up to your daring young heroes to help bring these concepts into focus in a showdown that’s larger than life.

7. Big Sheet Keepaway

The Mission: bust out the oversized anchor chart paper and set competing squads of students to work making giant lists of all kinds of ideas. The catch: each team’s findings are top secret! So how will they keep this classified information from their eagle-eyed rivals? The stakes are huge and the competition is even more massive in Big Sheet Keepaway — a hilarious charting activity where wannabe spies will go to incredible lengths to protect their intel at all costs. Laughter and learning collide to make this mission one that your students will eagerly want to play again and again.

6. Big Sheet Word Clouds

Interactive word walls are outstanding and immersive tools to introduce students to key terms and vocabulary at any point during a new unit of study. And since they are every bit as easy to make as they are fun to display, Big Sheet Word Clouds can also help teachers capture students imaginations and see how these charts can become more than just a gorgeous piece of classroom wall décor. Because while a room full of pretty pictures can be fun, we all know that fluff ain’t enough.

 

5. Big Sheet Oversized Operation

Our favorite patient has got a MASSIVE problem on his hands. And in the Oversized Operation, your students will have the chance to scrub into the silliest surgical procedure that the world has ever seen. Can you handle the pun-demonium as your scholars split shifts between the operating table and some of the most painful dad jokes your classroom has ever seen? With just a little bit of wrapping paper and this handy activity download, groans and giggles will abound in any lesson plan.

4. Big Sheet Territory Takedown

Are you ready for the ultimate showdown of tactics, strategy, and speed? In Territory Takedown rival armies compete to place troops and try to control as much of the map as possible before time runs out. But to earn their tokens in pursuit of total territory control, your students will need to execute all sorts of critical thinking maneuvers inspired by your current unit of study. Build those knowledge supply chains, stake your claim and prepare for battle — because this means war!

3. Big Sheet Castaway Carousel

Hurry, hurry, hurry! And step right up to the greatest show of student-centered learning under the Big Sheet Big Top. In the Castaway Carousel, your classes will experience all sorts of unexpected twists and turns while they work to create larger-than-life-sized anchor charts for all to see. Oh sure, it’s all fun and games at the outset — but when the music stops, students will shuffle between charting stations to witness the amazing academic displays of their peers. Take a ticket and don’t get left behind!

2. Big Sheet Pass & Dash

Make a splash in your classroom by turning any ho-hum charting activity into a high energy Big Sheet Pass & Dash! Feel the excitement from the moment that your students set foot on the starting blocks, and give a click to the custom activity timer to send engagement off to the races in no time. Fully customizable for any course or content area, this activity offers supersized excitement for any age group.

1. Big Sheet Taco Burger Toss-Up

Give your students something to “taco” bout with a hilarious charting activity that’s all about connecting the dots. If you’re looking to upgrade your Venn Diagram game to something with supersized metacognition, the Big Sheet Taco Burger Toss Up is the biggest balancing act in town! Fast, fun, and full of all sorts of student-centered surprises — this activity is a huge hit.

The activities featured in this blog post are just a handful of the 600+ resources available in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to Engagement Engineers and members of the Creative Corps, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.

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1-8 Teacher

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