Online Tool with Quick Brain Breaks

GoNoOdle is a must-check-out-because-your-students-will-love-it website.  It is ideal for the primary grades where students' stamina is limited to small burst of time.  You can create an account for free and then access any number of brain break videos/exercises.  Olympians will take your students through short training sessions before leading them in a virtual athletic competition.  It is a great way to give your students a short break to get out the wiggles in the classroom before transitioning into a lesson.

For other virtual tools, check out my pinterest board of "websites useful to teachers."

Fabulous Freebies: Free Ice Breaker Activities

I always enjoy doing ice breaker activities at the beginning of the school year, as do most teachers that I know. here are five free ice breaker activity sites to give you ideas before school starts!

If you missed last year's article about this, check it out here for more suggestions.


Family Reunion Helper has a big list of ice breakers that I think older students in particular would enjoy. They have a variety of ideas and they sounded like fun!


Love to Know has a list of party ice breaker but since most are focused on working together and talking with one another I think they would be perfect for our students.


 Molly K has a back to school quilt square you could have each student complete before assembling it into a larger work of art. I've found that students always take pride in their work more when it's put into a big collaborative work.


Teampedia, a site I've never heard of until today, has a huge list of more than 90 team building activities organized in alphabetical order. You can't see descriptions of the activity until you click on it so it makes it a little hard to find what you are looking for but since there are so many options it's still a great resource.


Laura Candler has a fun team building spinner printable. The link takes you directly to a PDF. This is an easy activity to do to get students talking with one another.



If you have a free ice breaker activity, share it below and we can use it in a freebie edition in the future.

Teaching Kinesthetic Learners

Newton's laws of motion state that "an object in motion tends to stay in motion..."  This is especially true of kids.  We've all had students--some of us entire classes--that seemed to always be wiggling and jiggling around.  The young ones need to be able to move.  Why not give them some guidance and direction to make it a productive part of your class?  The older ones need to be shaken up a bit before their bodily inertia travels to their brains.  Why not get their blood flowing every now and again?

Movement seems to really help students, especially the kinesthetic learners.  Below are a few ideas to use in your classroom...

1) In Spanish, I always make my students play human bingo.  This gets them moving around and dialoguing in Spanish (something for which the extra blood flow is very helpful).  Obviously games shouldn't be restricted to certain classes.  Playing games that allow for movement is a great way to engage kinesthetic learners.

2) Gallery walks are great ways to get students moving around.  One way I've used them recently is to post giant chart sheets around the room with a different character's name from the novel we are reading on each one.  Students pair up and go to a chart sheet.  They have a few minutes to write down a detail and or quote about the character along with the page reference.  Then everyone rotates to the right or left.  They look at what is written and add one or two new quotes/details about the character.  Students proceed like this until they are all the way back to where they started.

3) Word sorts are a quick, easy review.  I write vocabulary on post it notes and divy them up among the students. Then I write headings on the board and have them get up and put their post its under the heading they think it belongs to.  Finally, the class goes over what is on the board to check for understanding and correct any misunderstandings.

4) Have students work on projects so that the lessons are hands on.  Having students construct, type, bake, glue, paint, manipulate, build, present, act, photograph or do anything that goes beyond just listening and seeing are stimulating.

5) Use role plays.  One of my favorite units to teach is one on how to land a job.  I have students participate in mock interviews with community members.  This is a great way to get students fully engaged in learning with a real world application.

There are so many ways to get moving.  If you have any great ideas, add a comment with a tip.

Do it Yourself - Play memory with your students!

As you might know if you read our blog, I love playing games in class. Today I wanted to share a game that my students love and I played with them at the beginning of the school year with you. It is memory! I teach art to students in my K-12 school and I played it with every level - elementary, middle and high school and it was a hit with each class. I highly recommend you play this in your classroom!

I set up my homemade memory game on my whiteboard but really all you need is some wall space. I prefer things even so I marked little dots five across and five down to set up my board. You can use as many pieces as you want but I decided to use 25. Then, on each dot I wrote down terms, definitions and class procedures. If you are using a wall and not a board you can use Post-It notes to accomplish this. Since I had an uneven number of spaces I had one square that was blank that did not match to anything. I drew a sad face on that one - it was sad it didn't have a partner!

You can use anything for memory so it is perfect for every subject area. Instead of putting down things that match exactly, however, use two things that go together. You can do this with vocabulary and definitions, completing a sentence, or even math problems. On my game I used some vocabulary to gauge their knowledge of art and some class procedures. For example, when they lifted one area it showed "2-D" which matched with "Flat artwork such as drawing or painting." Procedures helped them learn the routing for my classroom. "Pick up folder and sit quietly," matched with, "Do when you enter the classroom." Math problems would be great to pair problems with answers. History or geography have great possibilities as well for the game.

After I wrote my definitions, I covered them up. You can use any type of paper to create the memory cards to cover your words and terms. I cut pieces of copy paper in half and taped them over each word & definition. I could still see through after doing this, however, so I put a Post-It note to cover the center so the words could stay hidden.

When students go up to the board they lift up two sheets of paper during their turn and if they match they remove them from the board. I divided them into teams and had students take turns. I allowed them to have help from their team if their team knew where a match was.

This game didn't take long to set up and it was fun to see them so excited to play. Let me know if you end up trying or have tried this in your classroom!

Fabulous Freebies! Team Building Freebies

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! I am busy with summer school and still coordinating being a working mother so am posting one of my favorite freebie articles from last summer on team building. Enjoy!

After seeing the school supplies start to fill the stores this week when shopping, it reminded me of one thing: back to school time. This was especially depressing to me since I haven't even finished teaching summer school yet and have several weeks left! However, back to school time got me thinking about team building activities and how to create a community atmosphere in your classroom.

Having students that support and encourage each other and work towards a common goal make a happier school year for both you and your students. Team building activities are on of the best ways to build that atmosphere and are perfect for doing at the start of a new school year. At my school we don't stop at the start of the school year, we do weekly team building activities to encourage our students to work together to succeed. Here are some links to fabulous free team building activities.

• Wilderdom has some links to fun team building activities that mostly involve movement to work together. There is a nice sized list of team building activities to choose from and links to other sites with more. The Amoeba Race sounded especially interesting to me, and educational at the same time!

• eThemes by the University of Missouri has a list with an enormous variety of team building activities. Team building activities on the site range from writing activities, discussions, kinesthetic learning, posters, and more. Most of their team building activities focus on elementary students grades 1-6.

• Oak Harbor Cheer also has a list of more than 25 different team building activities. While the activities are described for cheerleaders, they really can apply to a variety of students. There are many kinesthetic and discussion based activities that need little to no prep work.

• For creative students, check out the Insight's list of activities. There is a huge list to choose from including some artististic activities, discussions, and more! It is easily available in a PDF format. There are many unique ideas there that I have never considered. I am definitely keeping this one on the burner for fall.

Fabulous Friday Freebies: Free Team Building Activities for the Beginning of School

After seeing the school supplies start to fill the stores this week when shopping, it reminded me of one thing: back to school time. This was especially depressing to me since I haven't even finished teaching summer school yet and have several weeks left! However, back to school time got me thinking about team building activities and how to create a community atmosphere in your classroom.

Having students that support and encourage each other and work towards a common goal make a happier school year for both you and your students. Team building activities are on of the best ways to build that atmosphere and are perfect for doing at the start of a new school year. At my school we don't stop at the start of the school year, we do weekly team building activities to encourage our students to work together to succeed. Here are some links to fabulous free team building activities.

• Wilderdom has some links to fun team building activities that mostly involve movement to work together. There is a nice sized list of team building activities to choose from and links to other sites with more. The Amoeba Race sounded especially interesting to me, and educational at the same time!

• eThemes by the University of Missouri has a list with an enormous variety of team building activities. Team building activities on the site range from writing activities, discussions, kinesthetic learning, posters, and more. Most of their team building activities focus on elementary students grades 1-6.

• Oak Harbor Cheer also has a list of more than 25 different team building activities. While the activities are described for cheerleaders, they really can apply to a variety of students. There are many kinesthetic and discussion based activities that need little to no prep work.

• For creative students, check out the Insight's list of activities. There is a huge list to choose from including some artististic activities, discussions, and more! It is easily available in a PDF format. There are many unique ideas there that I have never considered. I am definitely keeping this one on the burner for fall.

Tip #7: Even the big kids like to move

Newton's laws of motion state that "an object in motion tends to stay in motion..."  This is especially true of kids.  And, based on my experience, the younger they are the more they wiggle and jiggle around.  Once, when I was teaching kindergarten/pre-K, I had a little girl actually get out of her seat and start to play patty cake with the garbage can as I was beginning my lesson.  She just could not bear to sit still, and-I guess-decided she'd befriend the only thing left standing, even if it was itself, inanimate.  My middle schoolers weren't much better when it came to their capacity to sit still.  Even when the whole class quieted down for an announcement or mini-lesson, I found myself talking over a chorus of pencil tapping.  Stillness was just against their nature, it seemed.  So, when I first began teaching high school, I would joyously sharpen pencils for students who were too lazy to get up and walk three steps to the sharpener to do it themselves because I was so relieved that I'd finally arrived.  I was finally teaching students whose energy level I could manage to stay a half step ahead of.  And, that is where I have stayed for the past nine years!

Even so, I am going to take this time to advocate movement in the classroom for students of all ages.  The young ones need to be able to move.  Why not give them some guidance and direction to make it a productive part of your class?  The older ones need to be shaken up a bit before their bodily inertia travels to their brains.  Why not get their blood flowing every now and again?

Movement seems to really help students, especially the kinesthetic learners.  Below are a few ideas to use in your classroom...

1) In Spanish, I always make my students play human bingo.  This gets them moving around and dialoguing in Spanish (something for which the extra blood flow is very helpful). 

2) Gallery walks are great ways to get students moving around.  One way I've used them recently is to post giant chart sheets around the room with a different character's name from the novel we are reading on each one.  Students pair up and go to a chart sheet.  They have a few minutes to write down a detail and or quote about the character along with the page reference.  Then everyone rotates to the right or left.  They look at what is written and add one or two new quotes/details about the character.  Students proceed like this until they are all the way back to where they started.

3) Word sorts are a quick, easy review.  I write vocabulary on post it notes and divy them up among the students. Then I write headings on the board and have them get up and put their post its under the heading they think it belongs to.  Finally, the class goes over what is on the board to check for understanding and correct any misunderstandings.

Check out more activities with movement using the link below!