Alphaboxes are a great way to quickly assess how much attention your kids have been paying- during a lesson, unit, school year, etc. Students think on a particular topic and come up with a word for each letter of the alphabet that relates to that topic. They then write a paragraph using a minimum number of words they wrote down to explain what they have learned about the topic. I also have students Think, Pair, Share in two different ways with this activity. If my kiddos are having a hard time