Last week, our weekly story was The Trial of Cardigan Jones. If you are a third grade Texas teacher, you are very familiar with this story. I wanted my students to make a deeper connection to the story, so I decided that a classroom transformation was the way to go! I turned my classroom into a courtroom, and we had a mock trial. When my students entered class, this is what they saw:
...and they went crazy over it! I think teachers feel that classroom transformations have to be elaborate. This one was so simple. I remember leaving school the night before thinking that my classroom wasn't very "transformed," and I felt that I needed to do more. But the next morning, the students made several comments about how amazing the classroom looked and how it was the best day ever. I just love kids. Want to do this transformation? Here's how:
Materials
1. Black tablecloths (you can buy these from Dollar Tree, but I was near Party City so I bought them there for $2 each)
2. Gavel (my husband is an attorney, so one of his coworkers let me borrow his)
3. Dictionary (or some type of book that the students can put their hand on when taking the stand and swearing to tell the truth)
4. County crest (I found this online and printed it in poster size)
5. American flag (I borrowed this from our school gym)
6. Black robe (I used my husband's robe from his law school graduation, but you could use any graduation robe)
7. Nameplate (I made mine in PowerPoint)
Total Cost: $12! Most of the items were either borrowed or I already had them!
I set up the classroom as close to a courtroom as possible. I had the stenographer/bailiff to my right. I had the witness stand to my left. I put the two witnesses (milkman and the rabbit) to the left of the witness stand. In front of the judge's bench, I put the plaintiff (Mrs. Brown) and defendant (Cardigan Jones) on different sides with their lawyers. I know in the story there are no lawyers, but for the mock trial I gave each character two lawyers. I assembled the jury behind the parties in rows.
Day Before the Trial:
I asked students what characters they wanted to play, and took those choices into consideration when assigning roles. Once I made my decisions, I told the students and pulled different groups of students to explain to them how they should act during the trial, depending on their assigned roles. For example, I told Cardigan Jones and his lawyers to come up with questions to ask all the witnesses and that their goal was to prove their client's innocence. I gave each party 15 minutes to create questions that they could ask all the witnesses.
Day of Trial:
When the students entered in the morning, I told them to reread the story so that they could get into character and act just as the characters did in the story. For example, the jury did a lot of murmuring throughout the trial. The stenographer took notes, and he also acted as the bailiff. Every time a witness came to the stand, the bailiff told the witness to place one hand on the dictionary and say, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" We were very official 😆
Once both parties gave their closing statements, the jury deliberated. We actually had a hung jury with 10 for guilty, and 4 not guilty. So the trial was dismissed.
Our classroom transformation was a blast and so easy to set up! Do you have any classroom transformations that you've done in your classroom? I would love to hear about them in the comments below!
...and they went crazy over it! I think teachers feel that classroom transformations have to be elaborate. This one was so simple. I remember leaving school the night before thinking that my classroom wasn't very "transformed," and I felt that I needed to do more. But the next morning, the students made several comments about how amazing the classroom looked and how it was the best day ever. I just love kids. Want to do this transformation? Here's how:
Materials
1. Black tablecloths (you can buy these from Dollar Tree, but I was near Party City so I bought them there for $2 each)
2. Gavel (my husband is an attorney, so one of his coworkers let me borrow his)
3. Dictionary (or some type of book that the students can put their hand on when taking the stand and swearing to tell the truth)
4. County crest (I found this online and printed it in poster size)
5. American flag (I borrowed this from our school gym)
6. Black robe (I used my husband's robe from his law school graduation, but you could use any graduation robe)
7. Nameplate (I made mine in PowerPoint)
Total Cost: $12! Most of the items were either borrowed or I already had them!
I set up the classroom as close to a courtroom as possible. I had the stenographer/bailiff to my right. I had the witness stand to my left. I put the two witnesses (milkman and the rabbit) to the left of the witness stand. In front of the judge's bench, I put the plaintiff (Mrs. Brown) and defendant (Cardigan Jones) on different sides with their lawyers. I know in the story there are no lawyers, but for the mock trial I gave each character two lawyers. I assembled the jury behind the parties in rows.
Day Before the Trial:
I asked students what characters they wanted to play, and took those choices into consideration when assigning roles. Once I made my decisions, I told the students and pulled different groups of students to explain to them how they should act during the trial, depending on their assigned roles. For example, I told Cardigan Jones and his lawyers to come up with questions to ask all the witnesses and that their goal was to prove their client's innocence. I gave each party 15 minutes to create questions that they could ask all the witnesses.
Day of Trial:
When the students entered in the morning, I told them to reread the story so that they could get into character and act just as the characters did in the story. For example, the jury did a lot of murmuring throughout the trial. The stenographer took notes, and he also acted as the bailiff. Every time a witness came to the stand, the bailiff told the witness to place one hand on the dictionary and say, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" We were very official 😆
Once both parties gave their closing statements, the jury deliberated. We actually had a hung jury with 10 for guilty, and 4 not guilty. So the trial was dismissed.
Our classroom transformation was a blast and so easy to set up! Do you have any classroom transformations that you've done in your classroom? I would love to hear about them in the comments below!
