Sparkle-a spelling game

There are moments in the classroom of unexpected down time; an assembly is late, a guest speaker doesn’t show or recess is canceled. Other times, a teacher wants to give the students a reward for good behavior in the form of a game. One of my favorite activities for these moments is SPARKLE. When I first heard about it from my students, I thought they had made it up, but apparently it’s something that many classrooms play.

This is the way we play:

– Have all students sit on their desks.

-Using your spelling list, pick a word and ask a student to start spelling it

-Each student (in order) gives a letter of the word. If he or she picks a wrong letter, they have to sit back down in their chair.

-The word CANNOT be repeated by the teacher nor can any of the letters that the kids say-this guarantees that the students will pay attention even when it is not their turn!!

-after the last letter of the word is given, the next person says SPARKLE-again they can’t be prompted, they have to know that it is the end!!

-They can either Sparkle Up (which means they can pick anyone in the room who is in their chair to sit back on their desk) or Sparkle Down (both people on either side of them have to sit down in their chairs)

-Who ever is left sitting on their desk at the end is the winner!!

My kids would beg and beg to play it!! A great review game right before the Spelling Test as well!

Here’s another version of the same game.

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Teach the Teacher Printable Worksheets: A Fun…

Human brains are pretty amazing, allowing us to think, feel, create, communicate, move and more. But humans aren’t the only animals with cool brains, as Crab Museum explains in the book The No-Brainer Brain Explainer (illustrated by Bruno Valasse).

This book, aimed at kids in grades 1-4, is colorful and silly but also educational about how brains actually work, with billions of neurons sending electrical and chemical signals around the body.

“Everything we think, feel and experience comes from an electrical relay race, with neurons passing chemical batons to each other,” the book says. “The constant chatter of billions of brain cells creates your entire world.”

The book compares the brains of mammals to those of crabs (the book is “written” by a crab after all) and notes that crabs have fewer neurons and of course are much smaller, but they have separate parts of their brains that control their eyes and their legs. Crabs are also capable of remembering things, using tools and solving puzzles.

Some animals’ brains allow them to know more about their world in different ways from humans, such as spiders being sensitive to vibrations in their webs and catfish having an amazing sense of taste, with taste sensors all over their bodies.

It notes that 95 percent of brain activity goes toward things we do unconsciously, like breathing, walking and catching a ball flying toward us. It also talks about dreams, memory, how our emotions try to predict the future, where brains came from and fun facts about brains. For example, did you know a sperm whale is believed to have the biggest brain of any creature that’s even lived? Their brains weigh 18 pounds, compared to just 2.5 pounds for humans.

Information on what creatures have the smallest brains, the toughest brains, the most brains and those who actually eat their own brains will delight kids (and maybe gross them out a little bit). They’ll also enjoy learning about the mycelium network of fungi, which is like a brain without a body, and slime molds, which are like a brain without a brain.

It ends talking about why human brains are so special because we’ve found ways to work together, communicate and build communities on a scale bigger than any other animal.

Kids and adults alike will enjoy this colorful, silly and informational book about brains!

About the book: 64 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $19.99.

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