"Preheating the Grill" as Dave Burgess would do

As Elizabeth stated in her previous post, Melissa has been busy with directing Guys and Dolls, but that hasn't stopped us from planning with her and continuing to come up with new ideas.  When we planned together last week, we came up with the idea to have a fake campfire in our classroom to set the stage for storytelling.  It fit perfectly with our district's professional development as well.   Our staff had Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate, speak to us during a day of professional development. His messages were inspiring!  Just adding a simple prop to "heat the grill" (get the kids wondering what is coming up....what will we be learning about next) motivates students to want to keep coming back to our classrooms!   The students loved it!!