Engaging minds through physical activity
As the weather continues to get warmer, it is the perfect time to take advantage and bring your class outdoors! Breathe in the fresh air, plan an activity, and see the positive results in your students. Did you know: Nature restores students’ attention, relieves stress, and can make students more engaged! Use this free calendar packed with outdoor activities and movement breaks as an easy and [...]
Nature restores students' attention, relieves stress, and can make students more engaged! Use these 3 steps to create your own outdoor learning space for your class. 1. Plan Your Space The first step to creating your outdoor learning space is to plan where your space is going to be. The great thing about bringing your classroom outdoors [...]
Use this calendar as an easy and fun way to incorporate movement and brain breaks into your class! Below are the instructions to each brain break idea. Download Calendar Animal Movements It’s time to get silly! Call out an animal and have your students mimic its movement. For example, if you call out “frog,” your [...]
Social emotional learning. SEL. What is it? Seems like a buzzword these days. The concept of SEL is not new, as it has been around for decades. The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL, n.d.) defines it as: “The process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills [...]
Movement in our schools has never come under the spotlight quite like it did in 2020/2021. With the concern of contract tracing, student-student contact, student-teacher contact, and the overall spreading of COVID-19, we have seen more and more schools reduce the movement patterns of their students. In reading blogs, social posts, and speaking with educators, [...]
Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Reflecting on what you’re thankful for is a big part of the holiday, but why not use it as (another) way to introduce activity throughout the school day, whether at home or in school. Read through these fun Thanksgiving-themed activities and put some gobble in your wobble this holiday! Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt Things [...]
With kids at home until the fall, we can’t think of a better activity than movement mazes to keep them active and occupied. You may have seen these popular movement mazes taking classroom hallways by storm. Now, the reality is distance learning and working remotely from home. But that hasn’t stopped teachers, parents, and students [...]
Monday Yoga Start with learning and teaching some beginner yoga poses. Here are a few to start with: Cat and Cow Pose • Begin on hands and knees --Hands beneath shoulders and knees beneath hips --Back flat, eyes looking at floor • Inhale and arch spine upward, tuck tailbone, bend neck, and look underneath body [...]
You may have tried the whole “activity break” thing and didn’t feel like it was successful, or that students acted crazier after their break than they did before. In many instances, especially if the idea of activity breaks is fairly new to the students, the novelty may excite them, and they will need strategies for [...]
Most classroom teachers don’t know the research surrounding how activity, such as Brain Energizers, can increase student achievement, improve behavior, and improve focus. I feel it’s our job to teach our peers the importance as well as how to implement these practices. There are so many ways to do this for our peers: Ask your [...]
