Teaching Out of the Box

My class has been reading the story "A Week in the Woods". In this story a fifth grade student moves to a new school. He learns that the end of the trip is spending a week at a state campsite where the teachers teach about nature, and the students learn. Since it is my last week full time teaching I wanted to go out with a bang! I started thinking of things we could do in the classroom to connect to the story and then it hit me... flash light day! I told my mentor teacher and she loved the idea. She began looking up ideas and we decided to have flashlight and camping day! We then came up with many ideas. The special education teacher said that he could get a parachute from the gym and hang it from the ceiling. We then asked the principals if we could pass out a snack. They showed us the approved list and we decided on popcorn for the kids' treat. Yesterday was our camp out and I have never seen students so excited to read! I figured we would have a little silliness from the students, but they all came in, sat down, and listened to directions. We ended up reading and discussing over two chapters of our story. I never understood why teachers don't do anything exciting in the upper grades, I had 97 students hooked on reading just by turning off the lights and having them read! This was definitively the highlight of my student teaching career. I can't wait to plan and carry out things like this in my own classroom!