Dance Parties

One of my favorite things to do in my class is to have dance parties.  These can be for brain breaks, rewards, transitions, inside recess, or even just a little much needed fun on a stressful or long day. I love to play one of these as we are cleaning up centers or transitioning because students only get to dance once they have cleaned up their area and are ready to move on.  It is a motivator for them to get done.  Plus it gets out some of the wiggles and giggles.

My kids only have a couple rules for my dance parties.  The most important rule they have to follow is that they must stay behind their chair.  We have long tables for desks, so if they don't stay behind their chairs then they end up smacking someone else in the face (or they magically end up across the room with their best buddy). The other rule is that if it gets too loud the dance party is over.  Simple rules for some simple fun.  Usually it only takes me stopping a song once or for someone to sit down for my students to remember the rules.

Of course, YouTube is the place to go for all things dance party.  I like to use songs with specific dances so my kids don't end up on the floor break dancing and possibly breaking their necks.  It also means some of my more reserved kids don't feel as out of place and they will do the dances once they know the moves.  The popular ones we do are the ChaCha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.  There are also a ton of videos on YouTube with Just Dance Kids.  I also love teacher made videos.  Here is a playlist of some of my favorites to use in my room.

 

Yoga Breaks

I have a new love and it is called yoga.  Most people would say I'm more than a little obsessed with yoga.  Yoga is incredible for stress relief, increasing healthy habits, and is a wonderful exercise. Personally, I have started working out regularly, drinking more water, eating healthier, lost weight, and been less stressed, all because of yoga.  Now, when most people think about yoga they think of crazy flexibility and people saying "OM."  While you will see that in different aspects of yoga, you can also make it suitable for your needs and even your students' needs.

One of my co-workers was doing research on things that would help with things like testing anxiety and getting students to focus.  She is also a yoga lover and came across a ton of information on yoga in the classroom.  She also found these amazing cards.

(picture from yogakids.com)

These cards are great because each card has a single pose with large pictures of a student doing the pose.  The poses also have kid friendly names and a detailed list of instructions you can read right off the back to help your students get into proper position.  Even if you have never done yoga, you can still use these cards in your classroom.  Another aspect I love is that they put the poses in groups depending on how they are intended to affect your children.  Do your children need to calm down? There is a whole section for that.  If you need them to focus it's another section.  Each section is color coded and marked so you can easily find the ones you want.

(picture from yogakids.com)

When do I use this?

Many teachers are already doing brain breaks and these fit right in with what you might already do.  Indoor recess?  Kids can do yoga instead of playing games, watching a movie, dancing, or any number of other things.  My favorite time I used them was during the testing season.  When we had breaks between testing sessions we would get up and move around and we did lots and lots of yoga.  This was relatively quiet which was important since we were indoors and trying not to disturb others.  It's also one of my favorite things to do when my kids have been doing a highly active task like centers, just coming back from PE or recess, or just have an extra dose of energy.  This gets kids moving, but several also require students to calm down and focus if they want to succeed in the pose.  

Why use yoga?

If you already use brain breaks, the best part about yoga, at least in my class, was that many of the poses were ones my students didn't do in our regular brain breaks or other places like PE.  If it is something different you know it is more likely to attract their attention.  

Personally, I also saw an improvement in my students after we had done our yoga breaks.  I have previously danced, done jumping jacks, run in place, and so many more active things for a brain break.  What I found was that usually my kids were more energized, but they were energized to the point they had trouble settling down and getting back to work.  I love the yoga poses because most of the time my kids got to move, but they had to focus in order to control their body.  Their brain got the break, but their behavior didn't disintegrate into craziness.  

I wish I could list all the benefits of yoga.  If you want to read a little more about it, here is an article from Parents.com.  This site gives you a list of ways kids benefit in the school setting.  Even PBS agrees!  If you want to order the cards here is the website.  I am not recommending this product because I received anything for this post.  I honestly have used the cards and they work!

Music for the Soul (and to Prevent Pulling Out Clumps of Hair)

This post won't be amazing news to anyone, but maybe it will be helpful. Have you heard of the Electric Company? I hadn't when I started teaching first grade, but I stumbled over a video and fell madly in love. Electric Company is a PBS show that focuses on reading skills.  They have a ton of songs that are related to phonics and reading strategies.  Love! Love! Love! Many of my kids love to rap, so they love Electric Company.

I started using these songs when we started talking about the silent E.  There are two fabulous songs, one by James Englehart and one called "Silent E is a Ninja." If you don't check out any other Electric Company videos, you have to check out "Silent E is a Ninja." (Disclaimer: I am not liable for damage done by these songs getting stuck in your head.) My kids BEGGED to hear these songs. When I didn't have access to YouTube for a few weeks I thought they were going to start a riot.

I started using these as brain breaks, a chance for the kids to get up and dance. By the end of the year, I was using the songs to transition.  It's educational, so the time isn't wasted.  Plus, the students know when the song is coming to an end, and by the time the song was over they had to be cleaned up or at their seat or whatever the transition was.  I also loved it as an incentive.  Several of my kids liked to dance to the songs and if they were through with the transition they were allowed to stand in line or behind their chair and dance.  That meant they worked faster to get the transition over and get dance longer.  It meant a lot less wasted time.

Since I was doing this several times a day, I made up a Symbaloo board for my phonics songs with all our favorite songs right there with out navigating multiple searches or windows. (If you haven't checked out Symbaloo you should. It's all your bookmarks in one account on the Internet, so you can use them no matter what computer you are at.) You can find that board here.