Classroom Tutorials

 One fun and effective way to review reading skills is through a basketball classroom transformation to help students practice their reading skills while having fun and staying engaged. 

As the school year comes to a close, teachers and students alike are gearing up for the state tests. While this can be stressful, it's also an opportunity to get creative with test preparation.

In this blog post, we'll explore all the details of transforming your classroom into a basketball court, from setup to implementation.

Decorations for a Basketball Classroom Transformation 

A basketball-themed classroom transformation can be a great way to engage students in reading skills review. 

Students can feel motivated and excited about reviewing reading skills taught by incorporating basketball-related elements into the classroom, such as basketballs, hoops, and jerseys.

Decorating Reading Stations

To start, consider creating basketball-themed reading stations around the room. 

To decorate each station, use orange butcher paper to cover the tables. 

Then with a black marker, add the lines to make it look like a basketball court.

An alternative is to use a basketball-themed or orange party tablecloth.

Next, add a basketball hoop using a laundry basket or use paper cups to make basketball hoops.

In the picture, I used basketball baskets from Dollar Tree. These baskets are popular during the month leading to Easter. 

For money saving tips to decorate for a classroom transformation read Classroom Transformation on a Budget.

Decorating the Classroom

Besides decorating each reading station, here are ideas for setting up the classroom.

Find an image of a basketball court and add it to a PowerPoint slide as a background to project in the classroom. 

In the picture above, I used the website www.classroomscreen.com to display the teams and timer with the basketball court image in the background. 

Another easy way to bring the theme alive in the classroom is to encourage students to dress up in basketball jerseys or bring in their favorite basketball-related books.

Basketball Classroom Transformation Activities 

The primary purpose of the basketball classroom transformation is to review reading skills and make the review process fun and engaging for students, which can help them retain information more effectively.

To accomplish this, each station focuses on a different reading skill, such as vocabulary, comprehension, and context clues. 

For example, the vocabulary station included task cards focused on context clues found on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

The task cards at each station reflected reading standards students struggled with or needed extra practice based on student data.

The task cards were added to our school learning managing system, or LMS, to save paper. 

In other words, the kids read the passages from the computer and wrote the answer on the recording sheet. Students received a paper to write their answers as they traveled to each station. 

After they answered the questions, I would check them and give them immediate feedback to correct their answers. 

Once the group answered the questions, they would crumble the paper and “shoot hoops” with them. 

While waiting for students to finish answering the questions, they had the choice of reading a book or helping out a classmate. 

Teacher Tip: It's important never to have downtime to reduce students from getting off task.

Another component to consider is adding time. Students took 20 minutes to complete a set of task cards, and all rotated simultaneously. 

To tie it all together, students were “drafted” into teams. You can use an online free wheel spinner to place them into groups the day before. 

Another alternative is for you to create the groups manually. 

Remember there are many ways to complete a classroom transformation, make sure to set up activities and procedures that works for you and your students.

Check out How to Plan a Classroom Transformation for more ideas and information about classroom transformation.

Basketball Classroom Transformation Transition

An essential component of classroom transformation is managing the classroom while they are waiting or moving to different stations. 

For this classroom transformation, students completed different brain breaks after finishing two stations. You can use brain-break videos or activities found on YouTube to show.

Here are our favorites: 

1. Space Jam Chase | Basketball Brain Break | Just Dance – YouTube
2. 🏀 Mario Basketball 🏀 Brain Break | Just Dance – YouTube
3. Basketball – Would You Rather? Workout | Brain Break | March Madness Kids Workout | GoNoodle – YouTube
4. MAKE or MISS BASKETBALL – Virtual PE BRAIN BREAK – THIS or THAT Physical Education Fitness Game – YouTube

Wrapping It Up

In conclusion, a basketball classroom transformation can be an effective and fun way to review reading skills in an ELA classroom.

Incorporating basketball-related elements into the classroom can help students feel more motivated and engaged in the review process.

And who knows – you may even inspire a few future basketball stars along the way!