Batters Up! Let Students Take Sports-Related “Slugs” at Sluggishness
Batters up! Let students take a sports-related “slug” at sluggishness.
Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!
If you live in a part of the world where the advent of a new season brings a time change, like “springing forward” into Daylight Savings Time, you may be feeling a bit sluggish this week.
How about your students? Are they dragging into class of late?
Tackle tiredness and time changes with tricky school day activities that engage kids in taking sports-related “slugs” at sluggishness.
Batters Up for Imaginary Baseball – Surprise kids as you start class one morning by picking up a plastic baseball bat (or other stick used in a sport that is popular in your part of the world).
Hold the bat up as if you’re at home plate and swing it to hit an imaginary ball.
Ask the class to guess what in the world you’re doing!
Go on to tell that you’re “taking a slug” at the sluggishness you’ve noticed in yourself and others this week.
Call your class a team and ask kids to “high-five” you on your commitment to “get back into the game” of staying focused and on task in class.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! – Time an activity, like writing, and offer writing prompts that relate to sports.
Create handouts ahead of time that present the writing prompts with graphic icons of different sports, like a basketball, baseball, etc.
Announce that writing time for the day will take the class to a sports venue of their choosing.
Show the prompts that you’ve created and explain that students get to choose sports-related story-starters.
Be sure that students have adequate notebook paper and pencils at hand before you announce that the timed writing exercise is about to begin.
Set a kitchen timer on the number of minutes you plan to allow for writing. Then cue the class with a dramatic voice, “On your mark, get set, GO!”
Pencils poised with purpose, students will begin to write furiously to finish a good start before the timer buzzes.
Many teachers report that students appreciate and benefit from the countdown clock.
Use other sports equipment to catch kids’ attention and help them take sports-related “slugs” at sluggishness. (more…)
Barbara Cleary has been serving as a resource to hundreds of educators for more than 25 years.
An award-winning writer, producer, teacher, and trainer, Barbara’s focus is on offering easy, fun tools and tricks that support K-5 curricula and assist teachers with classroom management.
