Beating the Winter Blues!
Beating the Winter Blues!
We are hitting the time of the year where the long, dark winter is starting to have its effects on teachers and students. The days have been short, but with no breaks, the 28 days of February can seem very long. Now is a perfect time to put some energy back into your classroom through fun, engaging and even educational energizers. Let’s get the students up and moving, interacting with one another, and having a little fun to fight off the winter blues.
When is a good time for an energizer?
- The last hour of the day
- Friday afternoon
- Monday morning
- After lunch
- When students have been sitting for a while
- When the teacher has been talking for a while
- There hasn’t been much student interaction
- The room is too hot… or too cold
- Anytime really!
What can I do?
- BUZZ
- Have students form a circle. Everyone takes a turn saying a number starting with 1,2,3 and so on. The catch is that whenever a number with a 4 in it comes up, or a multiple of 4 the student has to say the word “buzz”. You can do this with any number to fit what you are working on in class, or as a review for older students.
- SPORTS GALLERY
- The students find a place to stand where they have plenty of room to perform the actions. The teacher calls out different sports skills and students mimic them for 10 seconds. After a while the teacher speeds up the cadence to really get the students moving. Some examples of sports skills might be:
- Shooting a basketball
- Hitting a baseball
- Swinging a golf club
- Throwing a football
- Downhill skiing
- Shooting an arrow
- Dancing like a ballerina
- Etc.
- The students find a place to stand where they have plenty of room to perform the actions. The teacher calls out different sports skills and students mimic them for 10 seconds. After a while the teacher speeds up the cadence to really get the students moving. Some examples of sports skills might be:
- ZIP, ZAP, ZOP
- Inform them that the way they pass in the game is to lean in with one leg and point to a person across the circle. Eye contact is most important. Ask student to try this all together.
- Lean in with one leg and point to the person across the circle, connect with eye contact and say “zip.” That person does the same to another person across the circle and says “zap.” The next person passes with the same physical cue and says “zop.” The game continues by passing the word “zip”, “zap”, or “zop” across the circle.
- Inform student they are not allowed to pass to the person to the right or left of them. It must be passed across the circle.
Resource Links:
- https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2016/10/15-fun-classroom-energizers-for-students
- https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/activity/classroom-physical-activity-breaks/
- https://www.appleschools.ca/energizers
- https://www.greeleyschools.org/Page/11394
- https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/keep-your-class-moving/
- https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/a-teacher-shares/