Teacher truth: Sometimes we watch movies on #FunFridays (whether it is in class or in the community) and I know most people’s thought when they think about movies being played in class – the teachr is lazy and it’s not educational. I beg to differ though. There are some important skills that can be taught for those few times you do decide to show a movie in class (or if you go on a CBI to the movie theater). Here are a few things I do to make it functional & educational.
REWARD
Obviously watching a movie is a highly preferred activity for most, so for students that are having a great week and not breaking any rules, I allow them to give me a movie of their choice (from what is in theaters or Disney+ if in class) that the class can vote on. Now if you have students that were able to choose a movie to vote on and their choice doesn’t get picked, it’s also another skill to work on accepting loss (and hopefully a motivator for the student to continue to have good behavior so they can continue to put in their choice to vote for). If that doesn’t like it would work for your class, you can always do a point system where the student with the highest points get to choose the movie to watch.
VOTING
As I just mentioned, students express their opinions and vote for a movie they’d like to watch. This is a great way to work on expressing preferences, advocating for your opinion, giving an opinion, and so on. I usually use the Kami extension app to draw tallies on the movie choice board digitally, but this can easily be done on the whiteboard if you aren’t tech-fancy. We count the tallies, then determine which movie had the most votes (sneak a little math in there).
The slide you see above – I created in a few minutes but quickly Google Image searching the students’ movie choices and pasting them onto a Google Slide.
Heres a fun community schedule functional reading activity you can practie beforehand!
TICKETS
To attend the movie (whether in class or community), students practice purchasing the correct ticket, counting money, next dollar up strategy, and waiting for change. This is a great opportunity to have students split up in groups where one group can practice vocational skills by being ticket booth employees, and the other group can purchase tickets. Once again, I use a Google Slide to quickly create a ticket with the movie that was chosen (and I can change the price so that students practice different amounts each time we watch a movie).
In class we use play money that looks pretty realistic (affiliate link)
Here’s a fun ticket booth digital activity students can practice functional reading and vocational skills!
COOKING
If we are in class, students can practice microwave skills to make popcorn and work on their social skills to request different toppings. In the past, we have also had a popcorn machine students could practice filling and making popcorn with. Check out this variety pack of popcorn seasoning shakers (affiliate link). Add in more fun and serve diffrent drinks with the popcorn!
Check out this Movie Theater Concession Stand digital activity to practice vocational skills!
? ETIQUETTE
Before the movie/trip, we will review a social story on what to expect at the movie theather and what not to do while in the theater (putting feet up on the seat, talking loudly, texting on your phone…etc). During the movie, students practice sitting quietly and not disturbing others around them.
Check out this Movie Theater Virtual Field Trip Social Narrative that comes with comprehension questions.
⭐️ REVIEW
After the movie is finished, we review and reflect on the movie. The worksheet pictured has students answer the genre, setting/location, setting/time period, main characters, what they thought of the movie, what their rating was (out of 5 stars) and if they would recommend the movie to a friend.
Check out this visual Movie Review worksheet & coordinating Google Slides interactive activity.
Thanks for reading!
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