Month: March 2015

Time-Filler Educational and Movement Games

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Have you ever been at the end of your lesson and realized that you still had 10 minutes left in your period?

Have you ever been teaching and realized that your kids are basically sleeping, and you really can’t blame them….

Then it’s time for a game!

I call them “time-fillers” but in reality *most* are educational and can relate to what you are currently teaching. Here are a few that I have used this year. Some of them I made up, some a took from Drama class and some were modified from random items found online!

ABC Yoga Stretch
Use whenever your kids are nodding off- have them all stand with space between them. Have a child chose a letter and then have all of the kids attempt to create the letter with their bodies.  Another option is to create a team of 2 students and then have them race to create each letter using both of them before the other teams!

Animal Imagery
A basic game we did this week while practicing imagery for our Poetry Unit. We sat in a circle and one student thought of an animal. They had to describe the animal using only description and the 5 senses (what does it say, smell like, look like etc). Can be made more difficult using different animals or different types of descriptors, but we just did a basic one.

I Spy Imagery
Basically the same as the above game but using the game “I Spy” and the five senses. So instead of saying “I spy something green”, you can say “I spy something that feels rough” Or I spy something that would taste like wood”. Practice Imagery and observational skills.

Vocab Pic-tionary
We did this game to help us practice our vocabulary words with visuals. I gathered the kids into teams of 2 and gave them each a mini-whiteboard and a pen. They each were assigned 1 vocabulary word and had to come up with a drawing to represent it. Other teams would try to guess the word based on the picture. Points and Prizes optional!

Math Relay Race
I am fortunate enough to have a little ‘backyard break area’ behind my classroom. I set up a few obstacles like ‘stand on one foot for 10 seconds’ then balance a cone on your head for 10 seconds, etc. Once they got to the end, they had to solve a review math problem then run back to their line and then their teammate would go. The first team to solve all of their math problems wins!

Zip Zap Zop
This is a game I learned in my ‘teaching drama to elementary students’ class at CSUS. You can use a ball or just pointing (its easier to use a tangible thing for lower functioning students). You can begin by just saying Zip-Zap-Zop in order as you go around so students get the hang of it. Once they get used to the words you can create new rules such as ‘if you say Zip, you go to the right, if you say Zop go back to the left’. Be creative, the more rules the more difficult to follow, and the more fun to mess up! Practice processing and attention skills.

Fact/Opinion
Used to practice the difference between Facts and Opinions- Give each child a card that says fact or opinion on it. Have a list of mixed factual and opinion statements. Read them off to the students and when the students think they know whether or not it is fact or opinion, the put their card up on their forehead (facing forward so no other students can use their answers). You can use points, prizes, etc. The speedier it gets, the more fun!

Question Ball
A social skills game to practice asking interesting questions of others, as well as being interested in their responses and remaining in eye contact. The person who starts says a name, makes eye contact, asks a question, then throws the ball. The other student catches the ball, answers the question, and then asks a new question of another student. Going around until time is up!

1 Sentence Story
We did this during our fictional story writing/descriptive word unit and the kids loooved it.  We sat in a circle and I began a simple story (eg: Once upon a time, there was a princess named Rebecca). The next person in the circle had to say the next sentence in the story. We added rules as we practiced the game such as you must follow the story line, set up a plot action/solution, and conclusion, etc. I would give a time limit and they were ‘responsible’ for finishing their story by then. I could take notes on a white board to keep track of characters/plot and then read it back to them at the end to see if they had made any sense. Working together/group skills as well as story elements/plot building and description skills!

Debate/Rotate
We had this game out of the blue one day and they actually really liked it. It fit perfectly into our persuasive writing unit.  We began with a spin off of a ‘unity building activity’ our school gave us about setting boundaries. Rules were stated to the children such as “You have to turn off your phone by 10pm each night” and the students would align themselves next to signs that read “Fair” “Extreme” or “unsure”.  We took this one step further and I would pick one student from the “fair” and “extreme” group and have them explain in one sentence why their position was right. They like this so much that we came up with new ‘rules’ and even had the students come up with their own scenarios to debate.

Rock/Paper/Scissors Full Body
Basically the same as rock paper scissors. You do this as a full body game ‘versus’ the teacher. Have everyone turn their back to you (Or you turn your back). On the count of three have the turned away group jump back around and into a position of rock (holding knees on ground), paper (standing stick straight like a board), or scissors (arms and legs out like an X). You will be in a position too. Whoever you ‘beat’ has to sit down. The rest of the class continues to play until you have one winner or everyone is out. A fun movement time-filler.

Don’t Match Me- Animals
Similar to the rock/paper/scissors- pick three animals that are easy to act out. We chose tiger, elephant, and shark. Similar to the above game, face opposite directions, turn on count of 3 and make an animal! The goal is NOT to match the teacher. If they match the teacher, there is ‘turf war’ and the teacher always wins, so they are out. Good for imagination and as a movement game.

There are so many more out there, even books on this subject! But these are just a few that have been ‘tried and tested and loved’ by my fabulous students.

Using Social Stories to Modify Behaviors

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If you are anywhere near the special education world, you have probably heard of “Social Stories”.  While championed by Carol Grey of the Grey Center, Social story is a generic term for any type of story or passage that “accurately describes a situation, skill, or concept according to defining criteria, with a content, format, and voice that is descriptive, meaningful, and physically, socially, and emotionally safe for the person for whom the Story is developed” (Grey Center, 2014). They can be simple, or complex. They can be written at any grade level and are always written in a positive and helpful light. And they WORK!

I was skeptical at first, but especially for children with Autism and other memory processing disorders, the repetition and personalization of the story really ‘hits home’.  And social stories are really simple to write!  A simple story can be as easy as:

“My name is John Smith, I am a fun and happy 1st grader at American Elementary School.
When I am at school, I use safe hands and feet.
My friends like it when I am safe at school.”

For these simple social stories, follow a similar process- Begin with a self statement, this makes it easier for the child to know the story is about them and helps them to relate better to the story.  Use positive and factual statements.
Next, state the problem behavior you would like to address. Try to always use ‘positive language’. It is better to say to DO something than NOT to do it. If you think about it, a lot of the time these children repeat what they hear, wouldn’t it be better to hear “I use safe hands and feet” (Safe hands/feet) than “No hitting or kicking” (Hitting/kicking).  End with a positive statement that re-affirms the target behavior by implying the positive consequences for using it, for example: “If I have safe hands and feet, I can earn a token!” or ” I can earn a sticker if I use good language in class”.  You can basically write one for any target behavior that you wish to change as long as you are positive!

Another way to do a social story is a little more complex, but better for older children or children without significant disabilities. It is similar to the “Everybody Poops” type of books and are common in children’s sections of bookstores. The types of books are designed with the target behavior embedded into a storybook/fairy-tale setting. When written by SLP’s or teachers will use a main character similar to the target student or client. They can be long or short, written in whatever grade level is appropriate, and include as many target behaviors as needed. It is always better to focus on one target behavior per story (or per chapter).

I am currently writing a social story for one of my students titled “Izzy the Great and the Missing Planner” about a middle school student ‘detective’. She loses her planner and must find it before the big test tomorrow. It focuses on organization and social skills within the classroom. I am planning on writing another one titled “Izzy the Great’s Big Weekend Adventure” that focuses on hygiene and eating healthy.  The target student is similar to the main character, and it was written in this storybook format because the target student has been known to perseverate on her bad behaviors. This way she is able to see examples of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors without specifying that it is her behavior that we are attempting to modify.

Social stories are a simple and effective way to modify student behaviors with the student doing most of the work. They can be read by a teacher to the student but are often more effective when the student reads them themselves on a multiple time-daily basis. They are effective for all children, with or without disabilities. However the older the child gets, the more likely they are to ‘catch-on’ to what you are trying to do 😉