Georgia O’Keefe, A Sunflower from Maggie, 1937, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Alfred Stieglitz Collection-Bequest of Georgia O’Keefe, © 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Photograph © 2012 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Alfred Steiglitz Collection – Bequest of Georgia O’Keefe, C 2007, Photograph C, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K -5 Teachers!
Games are a time-honored way to catch and keep the attention of children around the world.
Game on for some challenging fun!
Choose a new and creative game of Opposites. Try…
‘Tis the Season to be Opposite – At the start of a camp or school class, ask a “no-brainer” question, “What season are we in?
Hold up a picture that depicts a summer flower, like the sunflower painted by American artist, Georgia O’Keefe.
Ask what may be seen on the ground in the opposite season – wintertime, when flowers do not abound.
One answer: ice and snow.
Share a poem (see below) from the season that you are enjoying now, or the opposite season coming ahead.
Ask the class to listen for hot stuff or cool stuff as you instruct them to get quiet for the reading of a poem to start the day.
Summer by Rachel Field
In the morning, very early,
That’s the time I love to go
Barefoot where the fern grows curly
And grass is cool between each toe,
On a summer morning, O!
On a summer morning!
That is when the birds go by
Up the sunny slopes of air,
And each rose has a butterfly
Or a golden bee to wear;
And I am glad in every toe –
Such a summer morning – O!
Such a summer morning!
Ask what words convey hot stuff in this poem?
Answers: The word summer throughout the poem and Line # 8 – Up the sunny slopes of air
New game on…
Opposites Attract – Which Attracts More…Being Free or Being Bundled up Tight? – Start a day by explaining that words can paint
Words paint pictures, and party bags do too. This snowman is bundled up in a scarf and hat.
pictures that we can almost reach out and feel.
Whether winter is the season you are in or the opposite season of the weather outside, share the first and third stanzas of a poem by Jack Prelutsky that express the bundled up feeling of winter.
My Mother’s Got Me Bundled Up
My mother’s got me bundled up
in tons of winter clothes,
you could not recognize me
if I did not have a nose.
I’d wear much less, but she’d get mad
if I dared disobey her,
so I stay wrapped from head to toe
in layer after layer.
My mittens are enormous
and my coat weighs more than me,
my woolen hat and ski mask
make it difficult to see.
It’s hard to move, and when I try
I waddle, then I flop,
I’m the living, breathing model
of a walking clothing shop.
B is for Baseball, and every player loves to bat a homerun!
What’s Your Opposite Sports Report? – Play a quick name-that-sport game with kids.
Challenge your group to name a winter sport and a sport played in the opposite season – summer – that both begin with the letter S.
Answers: Skiing and Swimming
Some kids may think of more; let the game continue with other letters of your alphabet.
What’s Hot, What’s Not? Opposite Behaviors – Any time a group of children gather in one place there’s the potential for bullying.
Sometimes, even the smallest bully-like gesture can hurt another child.
It never hurts to remind kids that bullying is the opposite of what you’re looking for…kindness, treating others with care and respect.
Play What’s Hot, What’s Not?
Call out an example of a negative behavior that represents bullying. Example: slapping someone. Ask kids to call back a positive behavior that counters bullying. Example: offering a hand to someone when you have witnessed them being slapped.
Continue the game with volunteers taking turns to play.
Please send comments about games you play with instructional ties.
Remember, you don’t need to be a magician to work magic in any instructional setting.
Talk with you again soon,
Barbara ♥ The Lovable Poet
