Hats Off to Thinking Caps!
By Lynne E. Peters

If you need a new twist to get those young minds motivated for another school year, you might want to consider purchasing or making some quality "thinking caps." That's what I did with my third grade classroom. Even though our school's handbook states that no hats are to be worn in the school building, the administrators didn't balk at the idea of students wearing caps with a purpose in the classroom.

Wacky hats. On the second day of school, I displayed the array of sun hats I had purchased from a clearance rack at the end of summer. There was something for everyone, flamboyant and reserved children alike. I found straw hats and baseball caps, as well as wildly colorful and obnoxious hats with ear flaps and oversized bills. Of course, other options would have been to make caps, or have students bring in a hat to leave at school.

After the students chose their hats, we talked about when they could and couldn't be worn, and their purpose: to help students focus on various academic tasks. The children were thrilled to be breaking the hat rule and to have a new tool to help them concentrate. I then informed my students that their caps would only be effective after being officially activated.

Silly song. I handed out copies of the "Thinking Cap Chant" and we practiced it to the familiar tune of a call-and-response military cadence. After a few practice readings, and lots of giggling, we donned our caps and headed outside. Wearing my own original hat, I marched my enthusiastic troops around the track yelling the "Thinking Cap Chant."

From then on, the students could wear their hats any time that we were doing core-curricular activities in our classroom. The caps were an enjoyable way to bring class pride to my students while helping them think about the importance of focusing on various academic tasks.

Lynne E. Peters has been a third grade, sixth grade and elementary Title One Reading teacher for the past eight years.

August/September 2005, Vol.36, No.1