Purpose: Memory box encourages students to tap into their prior knowledge and let the contents of their memories flow freely onto paper where they are collected to become a set of meaningful, visual, and written notes. As students create "memory boxes," they are reflecting on what has been taught by accessing new and prior knowledge. This is a CLOSED NOTES activity--you are looking for what they know and not what they can look up! Students can use words, numbers, symbols, and pictures to fill their memory boxes.
Steps:
1. Present or review a topic with students.
2. Allow students time (3-5 minutes) to take new notes or to review previously taken notes.
3. Have students put away textbooks and notebooks.
4. Distribute copies of (or have students draw) a blank Memory Box.
5. Prompt students to explore their memories and retrieve any relevant information about the topic.
6. Encourage students to be creative as they fill their Memory Boxes with words and pictures.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE THIS YOUR OWN OR EXTEND IT???
Make it a game! After the kids complete their Memory Box, have all students participate in a "whip around." For this game, all students stand up and the teacher asks kids to read aloud one statement from the Memory Box. If others in the class have the same content in their box, they check it off and remain standing until ALL of their items have been checked off. The teacher "whips around" the room asking for student responses until there is only one student left. He or she is the "winner" and gets a small prize!
DID YOU TRY THIS? If you try this in your classroom, please respond below to let others know what you did and how it went!