The school supply list is out! Are tissue boxes on your list? If so, check out one way to add a little learning to that item.
I taught at a school that said tissue boxes and other supplies cannot be for extra credit because students should not be buying their grades. Ok, that’s fair. But I did not want to be stuck with purchasing 100+ tissue boxes for the classroom either. So I came up with this idea. Throughout the year when the supplies were running low, I would put “decorate a tissue box with pictures, quotes and information about [insert unit theme].” This was one option on their homework choice board. I always had a few boxes I had purchased if someone needed one. I had a few examples to show them that they could focus on a person, place, product, etc. to get them started. This is where old People en Español magazines and other target language materials could get a second life too. Once I had a bunch of tissue boxes donated by a parent. For a sub day, I left “Decorate a tissue box” as the plan. I gave a short list of ideas, but ultimately left it up to them. Another time I assigned a country to each student as the inspiration. Sometimes after I read a magazine, I would pull out the articles/photos that I wanted on a box and I would ask a student that finished early if he/she wanted to decorate a box. In the end, we had tissues, the room had more decorations, and they learned more about the culture and language when they created them and when they used them! #winwin
Suggested materials to decorate the boxes:
TL magazines, travel brochures, TL newspapers, photos, printed information from Internet, glue or decoupage, markers
Musicians / Music Genres
These two are all about Celia Cruz using images from the promotion of the miniseries and a few about her country Cuba.
The following are some ideas, but I didn’t cut them out yet.
Clothing / Fashion / Designers / Brands
Dates / Months / Birthdays or Movies / TV Programs
Sports / Hobbies / Athletes / Sporting Events
Traditional Foods / Restaurants / Chefs / Brands / Recipes
Overall, the best part was that there was a touch of learning, every time a nose was blown. 🙂
OMG! I love love love this idea! Thank you for sharing it.
These are super cute! And what an easy way make even the simplest parts of our classroom to be meaningful.
Exactly!
Was this extra credit? If so, how many points?
I got rid of extra credit, because I switched to only grading on what students’ could DO in the language with a proficiency-based rubric. So the tissue box became a “homework option” that they could do.
Such a fun idea!
Great idea. The first day of school for me is 8/22 which is also eid al asha (an Islamic holiday). I have to have a sub on the first day of school in order to attend the congregational prayer. This is a perfect idea for an all about me poster(me voici) activity in class that can become a tissue box homework project and an opportunity to share & speak in class the next day. Merci!
Hey Heather! Welcome! That’s cute to have them make it about themselves too. Thanks for sharing that.
Wonderful solution to a recurrent problem. I love it! Thank you.
Such a cool idea!! Thank you for sharing this! I’m going to share with my department!
That is awesome. So clever and super useful. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a fun idea. I am wondering if I should have them make their boxes on “See’s Candies” boxes- you know, just to get the good chocolate into my classroom. LOL. I could also see doing this on a container of those wipes for the classrooms – you know the yellow/green wet wipes for cleaning…. Brilliant.
Yes! The wipes too… I like your thinking Suzie. Maybe even an extra cultural touch for the chocolate?! While browsing at World Market, I saw all the candies from around the world.
Love this – thank you! Your posts are always inspiring when we need them most…sometimes when posted, and sometimes much later! I was grateful to have remembered something about tissue boxes…then “refound” this. It’s just what my classes and I need right now. (A creative cultural pick-me-up… and, of course, tissues!!)
Hi Kara,
I heard you have some good activities for teaching about proficiency/second language acquisition. Could you please share some of them if possible? TIA!!
Hi Melissa! Are you a member on AdiosTextbook.com by chance? We have all of our complete lessons about proficiency on there. Or you can search “Proficiency” on this site’s blog to find some activities and ideas.