Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: Chapter 4 {Games}

Hey All!  My book finally arrived last week and I'm all caught up so I'm here to link up with Queen of the First Grade Jungle for chapter 4 of this awesome book study.

First, I have to tell you I am LOVING this book!  I continuously find myself shaking my head yes and thinking "this is good teaching."  I couldn't agree more with the strategies I've read about so far and totally agree that teachers are "dendrite growers." I also have to note that I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to be trained in both GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design Project) as well as Whole Brain Teaching and really feel that many of the strategies I learned from these trainings fall directly in line with Marcia L Tate's thoughts.

Chapter 4 is all about games and is a great reminder that games DO have a place in the classroom.  I know we all have a number of academic demands to meet but finding ways to let our little ones "play" while learning is HUGE.

 I really like the quote,"When students are engrossed in game playing, the stress is lessened and memory for content is increased. "  I truly believe this!  If I play a game with a group of students I notice right away that they begin to quickly pick up on concepts and later retrieval of these concepts is quicker too.  I mean think about it, games give them motivation or a reason to "learn."  I quote "learn"  because many times students don't even realize they are learning while playing a game!  Now come on isn't that just the best type of learning?!

Here are my takeaway points from this chapter:

What were your thoughts on this chapter?  Head on over to Queen of the First Grade Jungle to link up and read more!