Begin the year with Bubble lessons

Every September, one of the first things I do with my class is to take my class outside to blow bubbles. I try to do it on the very first day because it makes it memorable. It’s a great photo opportunity that is a hit with parents on Parent Information Night.

Yes, ten-year olds typically think they are much too sophisticated for bubbles, but alas, they love it. It sets the stage for a whole bunch of writing lessons! This bubble business is one of those things that can cross many instructional areas.

Before we talk about the writing connection, here a few other areas bubble blowing can connect to:

• It can be scientific. As you talk about bubble methodology (use a wand or a paper tube – see what happens!), make a hypothesis, observe the bubbles, and record observations.

• For a math connection, remember, first of all, a bubble is a sphere. You can time the floating time of a bubble, calculate elapsed time, etc. Count and graph how many bubbles blown in 30 seconds or 1 minute. Be creative!

• Here is why I do bubbles the first day – I make a connection to the thought process of students. Bubbles have a lot in common with thinking. Thoughts are like bubbles. Some we watch and float away. Others we chase down, catch and make bigger. Some bubbles lead to greater things – double bubbles, triple, etc.

Day 1: we head outside, armed with paper tubes, standard bubble wands and anything else we think will make a good bubble device. We make our own bubble solution just to prove we can. We work in pairs or triads (make new friends, learn to work together) and spend quite a long time enjoying bubbles.

When we come in, we spend a good bit of time discussing what we did, what we observed. We write everything on big chart paper. Then we do a carousel activity. I put headings on the pages, such as “Words that Describe Bubbles,” “What Bubbles Do,” “How Bubbles Move,” “Bubbles are like”  “Bubbles Are…” etc. (Later these are the foundation for lessons on synonyms, adjectives, similes/metaphors) I mix the groups up again into threes or fours. Each starts at a different chart, then rotate on my signal after a few minutes.

Down the Road: This initial work is so important to the foundational work for writing. We can keep going back the lists we generated that first day and use it again and again. With a little thought to what mini lessons you plan to teach, you can make your charts accordingly. I try to get the basics – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, plus a few other things such as similes and metaphors. You can squeeze a lot of goodness out of this beginning activity.

The bubble lesson can be a springboard for writing a procedural text, poetry, a piece of fiction, or a reflective narrative piece that would make a great scrapbook page.

With bubbles, the sky is the limit!