ChoppED PD-Easter Egg Edition

A couple of years ago, I attended a Future Ready Conference in New Orleans. It was one of the best conferences that I have ever attended, and I left with so many great ideas! One of the sessions that I attended included an experience called "Chopped Baskets". It was an idea inspired by the Food Network show, "Chopped". Each team was tasked to select a "basket" and to work together to create a lesson.  

Credit: Brianna Hodges and Sarah Thomas

This is where the idea for ChoppEd PD-Easter Egg Edition came from! I reached out to the wonderful Brianna Hodges, and she didn't hesitate to help me along the way! I also found some great resources online! You have to check them out!

The Four O'Clock Faculty

Mandy Ellis

When I first decided to do this around Easter, I stocked up on Easter baskets, eggs, grass, decorations, and treats at Walmart. I decided to have grade level baskets with 4 eggs in them (I used the same four eggs each time.). Each egg was labeled with a 1, 2, 3 or 4. The grade levels chose an egg, and then they were given a folder labeled with that same number. Inside that folder was a sheet like the one below:

Clipart Credit: Jen Hart Design
Font Credit: KG Fonts

They also had to choose at least 2 items from the "pantry" to include in their lesson design. I included library books, a camera, Seesaw, Flocabulary, Buncee, and a "Wild Card". If they chose the "Wild Card", they got to use another tool/resource of their choice.

To help with facilitating the PD, I created a Buncee. It is my go-to tool as an instructional coach! I use it for everything! I recently used it to even create my desktop background!

I love what the teachers came up with! I especially loved the teamwork and the creativity! Check out some of the lessons that were created below!

I also had some very special helpers that day that helped to lead the PD experience for the teachers. They both won "Instructional Coach for a Day" at our campus fundraiser! Loved having them there to join in and share their insight with the teachers.

Noble, Mrs. Storer, and Preston

You can transform this experience to fit all kinds of themes and holidays. Here are some ideas that I had:

Beginning of the School Year: You could use apples instead of eggs in a picnic basket.
Valentines: You could use a box of chocolates as the "basket" where each piece of chocolate is labeled.
Christmas: You could use stockings as the "basket" with different items that are labeled with the numbers.

What are some of your ideas? The possibilities are truly endless! I encourage you to take this idea (just like I did) and make it your own! We advocate, often, for transformational/"sticky" learning for our students. Our teachers deserve this too! As my buddy, Rich Czyz says, "Let's make PD what it was meant to be." I could not agree more!