FR IDAY, APR IL 25 , 2014

Class Activities

I am ALWAYS on the lookout for new games and activities to use as brain-breaks or team building activities in my morning meeting --especially now that the kids have spring fever! To organize my expanding collection, I write the name of the

activity on a large Popsicle stick and store them in a cute mini-pail from Target. These hang in our meeting area.

Here are some of our favorite activities:

2-4-6-8: This is like the classic team cheer. The class stands in a big circle and everyone puts one hand in toward the center. All

together, cheer this chant: "2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate? __(name)___, yeah! yeah!, ____(name)___, hey!" During the

chant, one child goes around inside the circle and gives a "low five" to each person. They should return to their spot by the

time everyone chants, "hey" then the next person goes in the center. Repeat until everyone has a turn. At the end we like to

have everyone put their hand in the center and we do a big cheer to our school or class.

North, South, East, West: This game is SO simple but the kids LOVE it! In your classroom, post labels on the walls of the 4

directions (North, South, East, and West). One child hides their eyes and counts down from 10. During the countdown,

everyone scrambles around the room and chooses one of the 4 directions. When the leader gets to zero (eyes still closed),

he/she calls out a direction. Everyone who is standing in that direction is out! The game repeats until one person remains as

the winner (or everyone is just out!).

1-2-3-4: Get ready to dance the wiggles out! Everyone stands in a circle and chants, "1-2-3-4 come on __(name)___, hit the floor!

We're so glad you're hear today! Makes us shout hip-hip-hooray!" (We also do a pat-clap beat to keep the rhythm going).

During that time, a student goes in the middle and gets dancing! Repeat until everyone has had a turn. At the end we

like to do, "1-2-3-4 come on EVERYONE hit the floor!"

I 8 the   : A silly counting game. To start someone says "I 1 the ___(insert something silly)__." The next person says, "I 2 the

___." Keep going until you get to "I 8 the ___." It sounds something like this, "I 1 the toad. I 2 the toad. I 3 the toad. I 4 the toad. I 5 the toad. I 6 the toad. I 7 the toad. I 8 the toad." I ate the toad!!! (HAHAHA!) You can see how kids would get into

this!

Hot Dog: Another counting game. To play, you need a ball, beanbag, or something to pass around the circle. The first

person starts with 1, next person 2, next person 3, next person 4, then instead of 5 the child says hot dog and sits down. Start again from 1 and continue counting until "hot dog!" The game ends when the last child sits down. The goal is to go as fast as you can so kids love timing the game and keeping a "hot dog

record." As they get good at it, you can make it more challenging by counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.

Silent Ball: SO easy but the kids beg for it and it's one of the quietest times in our day (bonus for the teacher!). It's also

great for practicing eye contact and communication without speaking. Stand in a circle. Start a timer. At that point, NO ONE can speak or make any noise. Continue to toss the ball across the circle to each other for as long as possible. The game ends

if someone makes noise or the ball drops. It's fun to keep a record posted for this game, too, trying for a longer and longer

time. 

Hope this has given you some ideas for getting your class moving and working together!           Comment below if you

have more.

Posted by Jenny Bennett at 7:02 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook 

Labels: morning meeting, classroom Classroom Managem

Play Mood Charades!

Collect This Activity

     3.7 based on 10 ratingsBy Kate Smith

Updated on Jun 4, 2014

Does your kid love to play charades? Mix things up and put a new moody twist on the classic game. Not only is this moods game a fun family activity, but it also helps with identifying emotion—a very important skill when it comes to both social development and reading comprehension!

Download Activity

What You Need:

Nothing—just a kid or two who wants to play!

What You Do:

1. Tone, mood and emotion are very subjective and hard to explain. Spend some time first just talking with your child about it. Mood is probably the easiest one to figure out. Ask him to describe what a bad mood would look and sound like, and then a good mood. He should be able to give you a pretty good explanation of each. Then move on to more complex moods. Come up with 20 different moods, and write each on a slip of paper. Examples to get you started:

o Nervouso Confusedo Frustratedo Hopefulo Excitedo Sterno Uncertaino Confident2. Get family and friends together for a game of mood charades! It's easy to play, but hard to win.

Split into two teams of two or more people. Each team should take turns. In a turn, a team member draws one of the mood slips from a hat or bowl. She must act out the mood, without saying a word! Set a time limit on the turn (thirty seconds should be about right), and see if her team members can shout out the correct mood! If so, they earn themselves a point, and it's the other team's turn. Play until all mood slips have been drawn. The team with the most points wins!

Kate Smith has been a teacher since 1997. She has taught in New York and California, with experience in all subjects and grades from 1 to 12, but the heart of her expertise lies in middle school, primarily English and Journalism. She has a B.A. in English and a Master of Science in Teaching from Fordham University.

Tips & Tricks :: Inexpensive & Creative Therapy ToysPOSTED ON JULY 11, 2014 BY ONE-STOP COUNSELING SHOP

With the school year starting up in just a few weeks (I know, I know), many of

you are probably starting to stock up on new materials for your classrooms and

offices. If you’re looking to save a little money, here are some creative ideas to

help you get the biggest bang for your buck!

Dollhouse

If you don’t have the money to spring for an awesome actual dollhouse like this

one, Kim’s Counseling Corner has a few great ideas for saving money  – just use

a bookshelf or dresser from a garage or rummage sale, add a little paint,

and you’re done! Amazon also has some really cheap bookshelves that would

work perfectly here.

If you’re REALLY on a budget, just tape cereal boxes together to make walls and

voila!

Play-Doh or Clay

While Play-Doh isn’t really that expensive, you could include your students in a

project to make your own! Here’s an easy recipe you could do for kids of all

ages (they make great kneaders after it cools – obviously don’t let them handle

the boiling water!):

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup salt

2 tablespoons cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups boiling water

food coloring (optional)

few drops glycerine (optional, but adds nice shine)

Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl. Add food

coloring to the boiling water then into the dry ingredients (color optional). Stir

continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough. If you’re using it, add

the glycerine. Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it

vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. If it comes

out a little sticky, add a bit more flour until you reach the right consistency.

Store in plastic bags and it’ll last for several months!

Jenga

There are tons of great icebreaker get-to-know-you type games out there, but

my personal favorite is a variation on Jenga. One game you could buy is

called Totika, which combines Jenga with many different types of questions to

get kids talking. If you don’t want to spend the money and have a bit of free

time on your hands, you could use regular Jenga or wooden blocks and

tape your own questions to the bottom of each block. It makes them a little

harder to balance when stacking, but definitely gets the job done!

Stress Balls

One of my favorite crafts for the beginning of the school year are stress balls.

We’ve all seen the flour-filled balloons that inevitable get holes in them and spill

all over the place. Well, here’s a no mess, no fuss, dirt cheap solution…pool

noodles! Just grab a bread knife, slice 2″ segments and you’re set. At the

beginning of the year, I leave a bunch in the teacher’s lounge (or teachers or

kids!) and have received an awesome response!

Sand/Sensory Tray

There are a lot of really great sand trays out there. However, you don’t

necessary have to spend a lot of money unless you want to! When I was

younger, my mom bought a huge bag of rice and dumped it into a storage bin. I

loved playing with little toys, measuring cups, etc. in it and it was significantly

less messy than sand.

Fidgets

There are a million different types of things you can use as fidgets. I’ve shared a

great resource that details many of them here, but examples include keychains,

pieces of exercise band, paper clamps, pipe cleaners with pony beads on

them, therapy tangles, beanbags…the list goes on and on!

Have any other ways to create therapy toys? Share below in the comments!

New Products :: Anger Tab BookPOSTED ON MAY 18, 2015 BY ONE-STOP COUNSELING SHOP

I’m really excited to share this new product with you because teaching social-

emotional skills doesn’t have to be difficult! With Tab Books, students’ drawings,

writing, and graphic organizers come together to create a customized book they

can be proud of and use a reference whenever they need reminders! Great on

their own or as part of an Interactive Notebook, Tab Books are a tried and true

way to get your students excited about learning! I have my students for 30

minutes sessions and they usually take 2-3 sessions to complete.

This book helps students learn anger regulation and coping skills. A couple of

the pages are presented in 2 versions – one for older students (grades 3-5) and

one for younger students (grades K-2).

The best part? Print and go. No fancy supplies or prep needed!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Anger-Tab-Book-1821625

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Anger-Tab-Book-1821625

I’m planning to add more in the future, so check back often for new ones! Any

topics you’d like to see? Leave them in the comments!

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