Using Jokes in the Classroom
Second graders LOVE jokes. Am I right? Whether they're reading them on the backs of their milk cartons at lunch or retelling them to their friends, they love to crack themselves up!
Teachers should love jokes, too! Why?
1. Jokes get kids reading! I mean, do we really care what they're reading as long as they're CHOOSING to read?!
2. Jokes show kids that reading can be for enjoyment. YES! Even those reluctant readers who seem to hate every book they come across enjoy jokes. They're short. They're funny. They make their friends laugh. Hook.Line.Sinker.
3. Jokes actually help kids understand words. Many jokes use homophones or multiple meaning words as the punchline. These are skills we're trying to teach our students, but jokes do this in a real-life setting.
4. Jokes engage students with higher-level thinking. Many times they won't get the joke at first, but keep watching because that "AHA" moment is usually coming soon!
5. Jokes lead to more jokes. They're contagious! Once you get students reading jokes, they'll often start writing them down. Either new ones that they've made up, or ones they don't want to forget. This is great reinforcement for punctuation and sentence/question structure.
My students' love for jokes led me to create this newest set in my "Fun Facts" series. My students love to grab a set of these to take to their seats for early finishers. Talk about the perfect task for those who finish one or two minutes before their classmates. I just fold the answers back before laminating and they're the perfect self-checking center or early finisher activity. Students are engaged and learning every single second of the day in my classroom! <3
You can grab the 72 card set from my shop by clicking the image below!
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