Turn Off the TV Week!

Are you interested in having your students take the NO TV challenge??? It officially starts on Monday, the week of April 18-25! Since we have a shortened week at school and will be doing Earth Day activities with our students this week, we are pushing this back to the last week in April. However, we are posting this idea today if you are interested! :)


First of all, why should you bother doing this challenge with your students? Read the startling statistics:

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TV

• Number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000
• Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5
• Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680
• Percentage of children ages 6-17 who have TV's in their bedrooms: 50
• Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70
• Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
• Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
• Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

Source: turnoffyourtv.com
For more info, go to the official Turn Off the TV website: Turn Off the TV


Check out some of our ideas for how to incorporate the challenge into your classroom!

Have your students put this caution sign over all of the TV's in their house. And since you will be doing this challenge with your students (RIGHT?!) then you would do the same!  :)

Nicole added the caution tape for some extra motivation for her own children.

Part of the fun of this unit is that the students recieve a one minute (literally one minute!) phone call FROM THEIR TEACHER!! When we call (the kids have no idea when they'll get it), we ask the students one question, "What are you doing right now?" And of course, we are hoping they say, "Playing with my friend" or "My homework" or ANYTHING else besides "Watching TV!"

At the end of the week, we create this bulletin board which is transformed into a TV with a remote control.

Title of the bulletin board: Look what we were doing when our teacher called!

(Best part? You don't even need a cutesy border!! The silver border of the bulletin board becomes part of the TV!)

Students place what "channel" they were on when the teacher called them. For example, if they were playing with their dog, they were on Channel 7 which is Animal Planet. Were they eating a snack when the teacher called? Then they were on channel 3, the Food Network. Students place the icon of their channel on the bulletin board.

Now you have an instant pictograph where the students can analyze their results!

Another picture of the "remote control" part of the bulletin board!

Up for the challenge? Click on the preview below to purchase the file from our TpT store:

By the way, if you REALLY want a challenge....GO SCREEN FREE for the week!