Winter weather in Iowa...cold temps (anywhere between 32 above to lately -20), blustery winds, stinging snow in your face, icy sidewalks and playground equipment all add up to the dreaded INDOOR RECESS! Needless to say we have been experiencing A LOT of indoor recess time since Christmas break. I think in the 9 days we've been back to school we've only gotten to play outdoors 2 of the days. (We don't go outside unless the temperature is 10 counting windchill.) Needless to say being cooped up all day in the classroom with the same old boring recess games day after day was leading to some misbehavior and malcontent. Where I am I going with this seemly endless rant you ask? Why to my Tried it Tuesday... this one was a success!
So after a week's worth of indoor recess my fourth graders were definitely feeling the cramped conditions and lack of bracingly fresh air one finds in Iowa this time of year. They'd played all the games, gone through a ream of white paper for "art projects" and were generally acting restless. What's a teacher to do? I couldn't take them outside, the gym was busy with classes during our recess times, so we couldn't go there to run off some steam. Enter Just Dance.
Thursday night while reading through my Bloglovin feed (yes, I know I was supposed to be checking math papers but I just couldn't...don't tell, but they are still in my bag :/) when I came across another teacher's use of some musical Sesame Street videos (I am at a loss right now about who's blog I read it on...I sincerely apologize...it was an awesome idea). So anyway I'm listening to a few of those when my lovely daughter Jenavieve asks me just what it was I was doing. I told her I was looking for musical videos to use in class to which she gives me a look and says "Not those ones I hope." You have to love preteens don't you? She decided I needed help. Together we searched through Youtube and found several Just Dance videos that we thought my fourth graders would enjoy. I created an Indoor Recess playlist and the rest they say is history.
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| (Sorry for the blurriness...they were dancing. hehehe) |
During the first recess I projected the first song on the whiteboard. There were a few twitters and giggles and one lone student braved the crowd and started to dance. That's all it took. By the end of the recess about 7 of my lovelies were dancing along-even some of my hard core boys! They all wanted to know if they could do it again during the lunch recess. During the second recess there were only 6 students NOT dancing! We even had a few of the paras dance along as they wondered through to check on us :) It was great!
Well, that's my Tried it Tuesday. What new things have you tried? Head over to Fourth Grade Flipper and link up your own. Be sure to check out some of the other great ideas as well. Have a great week and if you are in the Midwest...hope you stay warm.
