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Rodrigo, G. (2018a, August 13). 4 reasons why we need fun learning. Fun Academy. https://funacademy.fi/4-reasons-we-need-fun-learning-approach/
We need to play in our classrooms, because play helps us discover and explore life and drives us to become better members of society that are more productive.

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Rodrigo, G. (2018a, August 13). 4 reasons why we need fun learning. Fun Academy. https://funacademy.fi/4-reasons-we-need-fun-learning-approach/
We need fun learning because as we play, we develop life skills and it drives us to be more productive members of society.

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Borst, H. (2021, December 10). The importance of learning through play . U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/articles/the-importance-of-learning-through-play

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My intention as we move into these last few weeks of school is to find ways to deeply engage my students through interactive, hands-on activities as much as possible. For example, this week we are experimenting in math with marbles and ramps.  We are testing out how different materials, ramp heights, and ramp lengths affect how a marble rolls.  At the end of this unit, I would love to give students the opportunity to build their very own marble roller coaster.  I could challenge students to design a ramp in such a way that the marble makes it around a loop and all the way to the end of the roller coaster without falling off the track.  I think the students would have so much fun with this challenge, and it would give them a chance to apply everything they've learned in the unit!

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I would love to integrate outdoor learning time during our reading block since it falls at the end of the day.  Student attention and participation begins to wane, and we could all use some sunshine and fresh air!

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1. Play is developmentally important for children, both in structured and unstructured environments. It is how children learn and grow.

2. Experts say what often works best for children is connected learning using multisensory strategies and different materials, with opportunities to explore and use their imaginations. That means students should be actively engaged rather than sitting still for extended periods as they practice math and literacy skills in a more structured setting.

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1. There are two kinds of fun to enjoy at school: simple light-hearted pleasure and deep engagement.  The first comes from the natural enjoyment of our students and being around other people. The second comes when we become so engrossed in a task that we lose track of time.

2. Fun is a basic human emotional need. When we have fun, we are happier and healthier.

3. We can make curriculum more fun for students and ourselves by focusing on the "good stuff" that is already there, integrating our interests and the students' interests, giving students choice in their learning, and by finding ways to be more creative with the content.

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As the year comes to a close. I find many of my lessons in the younger grades are already setup for fun and interesting things. I have been thinking about what can I do for the last couple of weeks after we finish final assessments. If possible, I would like to take each class outside on the nature trail behind the school. I will need some assistance with my K class. 4 and 5th graders would enjoy this because I only get to teach them social studies lessons.

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Jarrett,O.S,Bulunuz,M. Jarrett, R.B. & Bulunuz, N. (Spring 2020). Teaching with Toys:Scientific Inquiry through Play. E-journal The American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPAUSA). http://www.ipausa.org/

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Blahey, L. (2021). The power of play: 6 benefits for child development . Edmonton Public Library. https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/importance-of-play-for-kids/

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My intention for implementing play is not focusing so much on administration push back and finding opportunities to play/enjoy learning within the curriculum.

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Integrating my interest during free choice time. Playing with them.

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1. Play is a basic human need and is apart of health development.

2. Play is helpful for mental health. Kids/people are more happy when they have fun/play and it can reduce anxiety, stress and irritability.

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1. When we have fun, our spirits are high, we enjoy life, and we
are more pleasant to be around.

2.When we allow our students to have more control over their learning and
use their own strengths and talents, they are more invested and engaged learners.

3. Don't be afraid or assume you can't have fun.

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White, R. The Power of Play: A Research Summary of Play and Learning. Minnesota Children’s Museum.

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Similar to what I read Eric post below, I feel emboldened to create more student-directed play in the youngest grades. Given how valuable pretend play is for young students, I want to create more opportunities for dramatic play. Perhaps we act out the folk song I teach them or use instruments for sound effects. Perhaps they use my puppets to explore their singing, speaking, and whispering voices.

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This week I was already planning on using games to review musical concepts from the year in gr. 3-5. I hope it feels fun and engaging to students; I hope it helps me stay energized in a positive way. Based on the article I read, I want to incorporate more play in kindergarten this week. I will set up the opportunity for them to play with the sound created by shaking different objects in a plastic egg. The other station will be the opportunity to explore various shaken percussion instruments (maracas, seed shakers, etc.)

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1. Play and fun support social-emotional needs. Children learn to interact and cooperate through social play. “When we are having fun, we can also let small annoyances roll off our back more easily, and we have more positive energy for our students.” (Anderson 2010)

2. Play and fun are intrinsically motivating. In the Well Balanced Teacher, Anderson talks about teachers creating a fun and engaging classroom by bringing their interests into the classroom. This engages teachers in a positive way. Bringing play and fun into the lesson can harness students’ intrinsic motivation.

Mike Anderson. (2010). The Well-Balanced Teacher : How to Work Smarter and Stay Sane Inside the Classroom and Out. ASCD.

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1. Play is spontaneous and child-directed, but adult scaffolding can extend and enrich play.
2. Pretending and language are modes of symbolic thought. Pretend play allows children to practicing creating symbols. Understanding symbols and their meaning is essential for empathy, counterfactual thinking, and formal learning.
3. A study showed that even a small dose (up to 10 min) of pretend play improves a child’s performance on a subsequent executive functioning task. The thought is that pretend play may encourage the flexible thinking required for kids to overcome impulses.

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My intention for the end of the year is to try and specifically have more fun conversations, create more memories with my students for the end of the year. I feel like in one of my classes specifically, it's been really not a fun environment. I feel like I'm constantly putting out fires with them and am just not enjoying being with them. I want to do more science experiments with them.

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I am going to think about what I know about specifically my 3/4 students and their interests and work to plan 2 end of the year themes that they will really enjoy.

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1. Fun/ Play is essential for student and teacher's mental health as well as physical health and in early childhood helps to build upon their Executive Functioning skills.
2. From my article play is defined as engaging in activity for enjoyment and recreation, rather than a serious or practical purpose. I think this connects to the idea of using student's interest in the classroom having them engage in things that they enjoy and are interested in.

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1. It's a cliche, but Life is too short to spend time doing something we don't enjoy. This is something I think of really often in my teaching. I've heard teachers say they get frustrated when kids say that they're bored and say things well, school isn't supposed to be a fun cruise ship. Whenever I hear that, I always think to myself, we only get one life and the students only get one chance to be with us, shouldn't we make it the best we can? Yes, we can grow and learn and be challenged, but can't we try to make it the most fun we can.
2. Integrate in a balanced way your own interests. I never really realized that I do this in some ways and I do think when I get excited about things, a lot of the time students are really excited about it as well. For instance I love traveling, incorporating those virtual field trips during snack is such  a fun thing for me and I think that's what makes it fun for our students.
3. Enjoy Your Colleagues, This is something that I really wish there was space created in my district for us to community build with each other.

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Adding my personal interest... maybe show my students my artwork

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1. Fun = resilience

2. When students care about their learning, they learn more

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1. One key factor to being resilient and enjoying life is having fun, so we HAVE to implement this into our teaching

2. We set up students for success and engagement when we offer them choice- when they care about the work that they do, they want to do it

3. Take time to make connections to interests outside of the prescribed curriculum. Those random moments deepen connections and senses of belonging

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Mader, J. (2022, November 17). The benefits of play are immense across all ages, research shows. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/

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I want to take the advice from chapter 6 and my article and try and find/create a fun, engage math activity/game to help us round out our 4th grade year. We are currently reviewing/prepping for 5th grade and I would like to try and find a way to make this review more fun! Maybe students could create math review board games?

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I want to take the advice from chapter 6 to "Be playful" (page 95). I want to get a little silly with our read aloud ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") - tap into my theatre background.

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1. No matter the age of the child play has an important role in their development. Students of different ages and developmental stages need and respond to play in different ways. Depending on the child's age/developmental stage they need their play structured differently.
2. Teachers should make an effort to incorporate more play into their lessons. Chapter 6 suggests focusing on games that relate to math topics instead of strictly following the scripted math curriculum. The Hechinger Report suggests hands-on engineering challenges to practice math concepts. Students are more engaged and excited so there is deeper learning that happens.
https://hechingerreport.org/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/

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The benefits of play are immense across all ages, research shows

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Experts say such play time should not just happen outside of school or at recess, but should be a necessary part of teaching and learning.

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1. If students and teachers are positively engaged - greater learning can happen.
2. Learning can be light-hearted pleasure or deep engagement.
3. While playing students' brains release the chemicals oxytocin and dopamine.

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Add some loose parts into the classroom to observe how kids interact differently with the materials.

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Finding connections with kids and their play. Finding common interests with what they are doing.

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1. Kids learn best through play
2. You can learn a lot about how kids are learning by watching them play.

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Loose parts: What does this mean? (better kid care). Better Kid Care (Penn State Extension). (n.d.). (2019) https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/early-care/tip-pages/all/loose-parts-what-does-this-mean

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1. Enjoy yourself, your students and you colleagues. Having fun with your colleagues creates an enjoyable environment.
2. Use your own passions to bring excitement into the classroom.
3. Being loud can be a sign of engagement.

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Palmer, K. (2022, August 3). 15 Fun Literacy Activities for 2nd grade. Lucky Little Learners. https://luckylittlelearners.com/15-fun-literacy-activities-for-2nd-grade/

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My intent would be to incorporate silly writing into one of our What I Need independent work times. Showing a picture of something silly and having kids write about it. I'd also like to share a joke or riddle during circle meetings.

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Frost, J., & Sutterby, J. A. (2017, July). Our proud heritage: Outdoor play is essential to whole child development. NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2017/outdoor-play-child-development

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Good play environments have magical qualities that transcend the here and now, the humdrum, and the typical. They have flow qualities-qualities that take the child to other places and other times. They are permeated with awe and wonder, both in rarity and in imaginative qualities. Bad play environments are stark and immutable, controlled by adults, lacking resiliency and enchantment. Few dreams can be spun there, and few instincts can be played out. The wonders of nature, the delights of creating are all but lost for children restricted to such places.
- Joe Frost, Evolution of American Playgrounds

Throughout our careers, one of our primary goals has been to ensure that all children experience the magic of good play environments. Although some people may believe that frequent opportunities for playful learning outdoors, including explorations of nature, are merely niceties, we see them as critical for healthy whole child development. As history scholars, we know that our current efforts are grounded in a movement that began almost two centuries ago. In this column, we provide highlights from the history of playful outdoor learning and playgrounds, then turn to today's tension between child safety and natural free play.

The kindergarten concept

Recognition of the importance of outdoor play and immersion in nature for whole child development goes back to the very beginning of early childhood education. Friedrich Froebel- influential 19th century German scholar who recognized the uniqueness of childhood, created materials for playful learning, and coined the term kindergarten -emphasized the role of the garden and the importance of nature in development. He believed that humans and nature are connected at a spiritual level, and so outdoor games were an important part of his concept of kindergarten.

During the 1850s, the kindergarten movement came to the United States, bringing with it Froebel's emphasis on the importance of nature. Margarethe Meyer Schurz, who studied with Froebel, opened the first kindergarten in America in the mid-1800s (Shapiro 1983). The idea of kindergarten spread over the next several decades, thanks largely to the efforts of Susan Blow (who is credited with opening the first public school kindergarten in 1873), John Dewey, and well- known psychologists such as Herbert Spencer and G. Stanley Hall. During the early 20th century, universities formed centers for child study, and play and outdoor play environments in kindergartens were considered to have significant educational value.

The democratic imperative of parks

In the mid to late 1800s, as the concept of kindergarten was spreading, so too was a desire for preserving natural spaces. During the 1840s, early social reformers began to realize that the unplanned growth of cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia had negative consequences for children. Large cities at this time were very crowded and dangerous due to heavy traffic. This led to the first major public park project in the United States: Central Park in New York City.

It became a model for urban centers across the United States for bringing play and recreational opportunities to people of all backgrounds. One of the driving forces behind the park project was the belief that for the United States to fulfill the promise of being a truly democratic country, beautiful parks and natural spaces had to be preserved for all citizens, not just the wealthy.

By the 1880s, many social reformers were concerned about the needs of children living in congested urban environments. They saw outdoor play as an important way to meet children's needs. As a first step, German-style sandgartens were developed for young children in large urban cities. Sandgartens were simply large sand play areas placed in urban parks. These were supervised by matrons who kept children safe, as streetcars and heavy carts took over the streets (Olsen, Hudson, & Thompson 2016).

The playground movement

The playground movement quickly followed, emphasizing the importance of play, exercise, and vitality for the development of young people. Soon, playgrounds filled with heavy manufactured equipment dotted cities. These supervised playgrounds were intended to protect immigrant children from the hazards of playing in the streets and to help them become healthy American citizens. "The diversion and active incentive offered by playgrounds appeared to reduce the tendency for juvenile criminality among those who used them" (The Charities Review 1898, 352). Playground supervisors served as role models for the children. They were expected to be clean-shaven, have "well cared for hair," and be "neatly dressed" (Chicago Parks Department 1906, 166). By the 1920s, including parks and playgrounds in city planning had become the norm, with widespread political support.

While growing up in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas during the Great Depression, I enjoyed long periods of unsupervised outdoor play, both as breaks from helping with my family's farm and during recess at my elementary school. At school, there was no manufactured playground equipment. Play activities included building dams in the creek that ran by the school, climbing trees, and playing war in the hills.
- Joe Frost

While this democratic imperative was laudable as far as it went, it was severely limited. American playgrounds and parks were typically segregated, with many cities having no spaces for African Americans at all. Mexican Americans and Native Americans also tended to be segregated, and little provision was made for their playgrounds. These disparities continued through the civil rights movement and largely persist today, due to ongoing unequal distribution of resources (although many community groups have been working hard to increase park, playground, and garden spaces in low-income neighborhoods) (Sutterby 2017).

In addition, the ideals of the playground movement rarely reached outside large cities. There were only limited provisions for playgrounds for low-income families in rural areas. Fortunately, most children in rural areas had open spaces, farm animals, and natural materials to allow for abundant outdoor play.

The playground safety movement

Prior to the 1950s there was little concern about the safety of playground equipment. The equipment was often excessively tall-30 feet or more-and placed over hard earth, asphalt, concrete, or cinders. Equipment such as merry-go-rounds and giant strides allowed for high rates of speed but had little provision for keeping hands, feet, and even heads out of mechanical moving parts. (To see a giant stride, go to www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2005014004/.)

Regulation of play equipment safety became more common starting in the 1950s. After Ralph Nader's attention-grabbing report on automobiles, Unsafe at Any Speed (1965), the report Toys That Don't Care cast a light on how products given to children were not designed with safety in mind (Swartz 1971). Under pressure from concerned citizens, the United States Congress created the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1973. The commission published A Handbook for Public Playground Safety (USCPSC 1981) in two volumes and has continued to make periodic revisions.

Playground safety advocates worked to remove unsafe playground equipment from playgrounds and improve guidelines for surfacing materials. In recent years, playground injury litigation spurred playground equipment designers, manufacturers, installers, and sponsors to take playground safety seriously.

Unfortunately, as the regulations were updated and became more extensive, concern for playground safety clashed with community initiatives and children's needs. Stringent national and state safety guidelines, standards, and regulations deemed many playgrounds that had been designed and built by community members- including children-out of compliance. Unique designs based on inexpensive materials did not fit neatly within safety standards.

Now, coinciding with the international play-in-nature movement, playground professionals are searching for the best solutions to safety and legal issues in playground development and use.

Today's question: How safe is safe enough?

For myriad reasons, from the allure of technology to the reduction of recess time due to pressure for higher test scores, today's children tend to be less active and less connected to nature than is optimal for healthy development. Since the early 2000s, many parents and educators have embraced the importance of dramatically changing the experience of outdoor play for children.

As a third grade student growing up in suburban Houston, I rode my bicycle to school alone. In fact, I was a "latchkey kid" throughout elementary and middle school. My sisters and I spent long summers unsupervised while both of our parents worked. Our only oversight was the handful of teenage lifeguards at the local swimming pool. These types of activities are almost unheard of today.
- John Sutterby

Professional organizations like the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the Association for Childhood Education International, the International Play Association, and the more recently formed US Play Coalition, Children in Nature Network, and the Association for the Study of Play, encourage whole-child development approaches that include free play and outdoor exploration. No Child Left Inside and Project Wild are reintroducing children to nature and outdoor activities, and the publication Free Range Kids, by Lenore Skenazy (2010), sparked major discussion about how much supervision is overkill.

Despite the ebbs and flows of movements over the last several decades, there have been consistent efforts by many educators and advocates to make lives better for children through engagement in outdoor play and nature, and with the many forms of playgrounds-all ostensibly acting within the broad scope of whole child development.

Many people around the world are collaborating to improve education and development for children in the midst of rapidly expanding cultural and technological changes. Excellent schools balance sedentary, structured, academic instruction with open-ended experiences in the world of nature, art, the humanities, and creative, productive play. The need for playful learning in nature is receiving unprecedented interest in schools and parks in response to the dramatic changes seen in children's play opportunities, resulting in the creation of integrated natural and built playgrounds throughout the world-including, importantly, the developing world (Frost 2010).

While the lack of supervision that we and many others enjoyed as children was not without risks, playing video games for several hours a day is also a risk to children's physical and emotional health. Integrated whole child approaches, indoor and outdoor playful learning, built and natural playgrounds, and hands-on projects must keep pointing the way to healthy and happy child development.

References

Chicago Parks Department. 1906. "Municipal Gymnasiums of Chicago: Their Equipment and First Year's Administration. American Gymnasia 2 (8): 165-67.

The Charities Review. 1898. "The Playground Movement." The Charities Review 8 (8): 351-53.

Frost, J.L. 2010. A History of Children's Play and Play Environments: Toward a Contemporary Child Saving Movement. New York: Routledge.

Nader, R. 1965. Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed- In Dangers of the American Automobile. New York: Grossman.

Olsen, H.M., S.D. Hudson, & D. Thompson. 2016. Safe and Fun Playgrounds: A Handbook. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf.

Shapiro, M.S. 1983. Child's Garden: The Kindergarten Movement from Froebel to Dewey. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Swartz, E.M. 1971. Toys That Don't Care. Boston: Gambit.

Skenazy, L. 2010. Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self- Reliant Children (without Going Nuts with Worry). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Sutterby, J. 2017. "The Democratic Playground." In Play in American Life, eds. M. Moore & C. Sabo-Risley, 22-27. New York: Archway.

USCPSC (US Consumer Product Safety Commission). 1981. A Handbook for Public Playground Safety. Washington, DC: USCPSC.

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Our Proud Heritage: Outdoor Play Is Essential to Whole Child Development

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Although some people may believe that frequent opportunities for playful learning outdoors, including explorations of nature, are merely niceties, we believe they are critical for healthy whole child development.

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One thing I'd like to try is using charades for students to be able to retell a story using who, what, where, when, and why? Another idea I had would be to use fraction stories related to the school carnival that many students recently attended.

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My intention for implementing fun is to make sure I give us enough time outside to do a fun nature scavenger hunt. I want to ask questions and see their excitement with finding new things to explore.

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Outdoor play and connections to nature!

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1. Create an environment where play and learning go hand in hand.
2. Remember that we are teaching the WHOLE CHILD.

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They both gave ideas that would yield high student engagement .  I think this is imperative for kids to connect with what they are learning.  It also goes back to what we learned with UBD and how applying it is important.

The other thing they had in common was that they both included ideas on activities that would produce laughter. Acting out stories and telling silly math problems connected to the standards would both accomplish meeting learning targets in a fun way.

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1. Keep things light hearted (tell jokes, make up silly math problems, etc) but also provide time for deep engagement.

2. Consider artifacts in the room that represent you or the students.

3. Offer fun choices to show learning of a unit or a smaller lesson within the unit (Interview, game, charades, etc).

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1. I am glad that I chose early childhood...it is all about play and learning through play.
2. Make the curriculum work for you and your students.
3. Enjoy your students and your colleagues!

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To add to our DOL on Monday and Thursday I am going to add in Mad Libs with our focus on practicing nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences. I may even incorporate them creating their own Mad Libs and having a table partner give them the nouns, verbs, and adjectives for the Mad Libs.

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I have had a few Blookets and the kids are laughing and engaged when they are playing them. They have been asking if we are going to play again. I will create more Blookets that review the novel that we are reading. This is something that I can do throughout the entire year that adds to the curriculum.

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1. Fun is not just playing games but also includes class content.

2. Use the curriculum you have but add to it and it could be simple things of letting students represent their learning in other options.

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1. There is such a thing called "hard fun" that motivates students by being something of interest (fun) and challenging to them.

2. Laughing and having fun help burn the stress hormone and makes you happier and healthier.

3. Let students have creative freedom with showing their learning that will create something fun for them and engage them.

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I want to really sit down and think about ways I can incorporate more play in my classroom next year. But as far as something I can do RIGHT NOW I want to slow down and just enjoy my kids and their company. As the year comes to an end there is always an urgency to get things done and rush. I want to really try to slow down and observe what my kids truly need.

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This is a tough one. For the last 2 years I have been telling students that we must work first then play. (Habit 3 Leader in Me program) I have tried play first then work and it didn't work. However if I make the play/fun connected to my lessons I can have students learn while having fun. It will require me to think more about how to incorporate the fun into all lessons. I would like to give my students more choices. Especially as I think about assessments. They can what they have learned in their own way or giving them some options to choose from. Some examples may need to be given to get them started.

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One thing that I am going to incorporate in the next week or 2 are some engaging fun lessons for my kids to really get excited about. One that comes to mind is having a lemonade themed day and learning about lemonade and how it is make and then actually making it (A little SCIENCE experiment 😉) Others that I have done are bubble, zoo, camping, ocean, beach etc. With the fun days incorporating a fun book or reading & math skills.

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In Kindergarten we have isopods that we are looking at. We could 2 different kinds. I notice a difference in their speed when trying to catch them to hold. I am thinking of trying a race between the pill bug and the sow bug. Students can help set up the race and also make predictions of which one will win.

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One connection I made with both the my article and chapter 6 is how play is good for a child's development and it promotes creativity. In the article she shared an example of how dramatic play engages her students in their learning and their imagination.

The other connection I made was just a reminder to review what is appropriate for the grade you teach and to brush up on your child development. KIDS NEED PLAY!!! They need the opportunity to be creative, to problem solve, and to be engaged in their learning.

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1. It is important to find the students interests. Toys can be something that they enjoy. You could take it a part to get a better idea of how it works.

2. "Play time" has decreased due to standardized tests need more focus on the core areas. It is important to also look at where the student is in their development and what would be helpful for that learner.

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Griffith, A. (2021, July 10). Play in the primary classroom. The Daily Alphabet. https://thedailyalphabet.com/play-in-the-primary-classroom/

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Play has always seemed synonymous with children because it's what they do. When students come to school now, it seems as if the decision-makers want to limit the amount of playing that goes on in primary classrooms. It is also relegated to the outskirts of the day, where children are allowed to play after they complete their "work". Today I want to advocate for play-based classrooms, and explain why I believe that they are so important.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I'll get a few cents thrown my way at no cost to you. That'll help me keep this old blog running!

What is the Definition of Play?

The traditional definition is what one does as a form of enjoyment or recreation, rather than a serious activity. This may be somewhat true for adults, but it is not the definition that I would use when it comes to children. Play can be complex, but the simplest way to define it is what children do on their own. They come up with their own ideas, and they are free to create their own rules. Oh, and play from the perspective of children is a serious activity.

Types of Play

Children engage in many different types of play! The one that quickly comes to mind is fantasy play. We see them play "make believe" when they pretend they are at a restaurant, and they take the orders of others, etc. During this time, they begin to role-play, using what they know from their schema (what they already know). They automatically assume the role of the waiter/waitress, cook, cashier, etc. They do what those roles are assigned to do without anyone having to tell them.

Another type of play is what I like to call "on the playground" play. Others may like to call it "horseplay" or "roughhousing". This type of play involves gross motor skills, as well as body contact between a few children. They love to run after each other, playing tag, swords and the like. Lately the pendulum has swung to where we do not want children to engage in this type of behavior because we think that it will go too far. The truth of the matter is that sometimes it will escalate to a point where it has gotten out of control. It is during this time that children learn self-restraint. They learn what it means to go too far. The only way that they will learn how to control impulses and recognize social cues is during play.

Playing games with different types of rules is something else that children love to do. When children engage in this type of play, there is a some sort of logic involved, as well as order. They learn to cooperate with each other, resolve conflict and learn what it means to lose and/or win at something. They learn how to handle disappointment during this type of play as well.

Constructive play is what my students like to do during blocks, play dough, etc. This kind of play is considered to be open-ended, and has implications for STEM work as well. As they begin to form questions, then their imaginations begin to work as they try to solve the problems that are before them. Children who do not have opportunities to play often struggle with STEM work, project-based learning and/or design challenges. They attempt to solve an issue, but they are unable to adapt their thinking to new situations.

What does the research say?

It seems as if more and more children are enrolling in school without what used to be pre-requisite skills. Play helps children to engage in conflict resolution. Inevitably something will happen where children will disagree on what they need to do, and there will need to be some type of compromise. This is the perfect time for them to learn how to handle these types of situations. They learn when it is ok to adjust their expectations or position, and when they need to stand firm. Through this type of play they also develop emotional regulation. This helps them to learn to avoid overreacting, and they regulate their own desires by developing strategies through play such as heroism, fearlessness,

friendliness and the like.

Creativity grows through play as well. Pencil and paper work will never foster creativity. When children are unable to participate in balanced play, then we stunt their development. All we have to do is look around our classrooms and schools to see what the ramifications of this is. When you skip developmental skills, it leaves deficits that can remain with the child as they grow up.

What about academic rigor?

It seems as if every few years there are standards that are pushed back to the previous grade. Children are required to learn academic content at a faster pace and earlier than ever. At the same time we are skipping over educational milestones. Rigor. That can be a scary word in an academic setting, but what does it really mean? I don't have the perfect definition, but luckily someone else does. "Rigor is creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels." This definition comes from Barbara Blackburn, the author of Rigor Is Not a Four-Letter Word.

Psychologist Lev Vygotsky introduced the concept of the zone of proximal development. Simply put, this zone is the difference between what a learner can do with and without help. He believed that when little ones play, they are operating at the very edge of their zone. Most children feel comfortable with play because it is something that they have been doing since birth. During this time they do not struggle with drawing, writing, speaking, listening, social skills, reading, math,etc. If it is a concept that they haven't mastered, they don't let their lack stop them from participating. In operating at the edge of their zone, isn't that considered learning at high levels, or what we call rigor? I believe that it is.

Work first, then play?

Some people might say that play is something that children can do after they finish their work. I remember hearing over and over in college that play was the work of children. It wasn't until years later that I actually understood what it meant. Play is the one area where children do not have to be told to learn. Play comes naturally to them! During play, they are actively moving towards a goal.

Well, isn't that what work is? Vygotsky believed that the entire purpose of education is to provide experiences that are within their zones of proximal development. He thought that this would build on their strengths. Since his time, the definition has been updated and expanded. This zone now includes the area of learning that develops when a student is supported by a teacher or a peer with a higher skill set.

What does it look like in a public kindergarten classroom?

I know that we have constraints as to what we can do. I'm sharing with you a peek into my classroom so that you can see how I try to incorporate play into our day. Now, a lot of what I do is play-based. This means that it has an element of play, but our centers do have teacher directions.

For more on how I begin learning centers and integrate sensory tables into our routine, click the links.

There are two centers that I have incorporated into my classroom in the past few years as I have tried to make a shift to developmentally appropriate practice. First up is dramatic play. It is something that had been on my heart, and after visiting another school during our time as a Leader in Me school, I noticed that other schools had dramatic play areas in kindergarten classrooms!

This definitely piqued my interest and I desperately wanted to have one in my room as well.

Our dramatic play area is nothing special, just a corner/area that I created in my classroom. It is awkwardly placed, but it serves its purpose! The farmers market stand I got from Target. I have also linked it in my Amazon store if you can't find it at Target.

My students rotate to this center just like they do the writing center, pocket chart center or any other center that is on their rotation for the day. When I initially incorporated this into my class, I thought that I would change it out every month, and have thematic tasks, such as post office one month, dentist office another, etc. Life got in the way, and I realized that the dramatic play area was just as I'd started it. There's a cash register, table, shopping cart, farmer's market stand, kitchen, and a washing machine complete with an ironing board. There's also a bin filled with grocery items and plates, spoons, forks and cups. Oh, and a tent is in that corner as well.

Guess what? My students do not care that everything stays the same. Because their imagination provides all of the different scenarios that they need. It is amazing to me what I hear coming from this area. My timid students are no longer shy, the students who hate to speak up in class are leading the activity. Speaking and listening standards? Covered. The hidden curriculum of social skills and interaction? Covered.

I also have a STEM center in our rotation. This center uses a mix of activities from Pocket of Preschool, and Design and Build centers from Lakeshore Learning. I begin with the Lakeshore Learning centers, so that they only have one set of materials to use. It gets them use to the idea, and I've found that an overabundance of materials starting out can overwhelm little ones. Especially if they haven't had the opportunity to be in this type of environment before. So we start small, and discuss expectations, then model and practice. Once I feel that they are ready, then I add more and more things. It has worked out great for my class.

I get asked all of the time how I'm able to "get away with all of this in my classroom". Let me tell you that question truly makes me sad. It is what is developmentally appropriate and best for our little ones. The first thing that I tell teachers is to be armed with research. We can always share our opinions, and we know what's best, but administrators respond to research. I always strive to have a research based classroom. The first place that I would start is the book Purposeful Play. I have also linked it here, just click on Professional Development Books.

Sometimes we don't get the chance to explain why certain activities and centers are in our rooms, especially if it's a walk-through or observation. When they are taking in a quick birds-eye view of my classroom, I want it to be understood immediately what my little friends are doing.

I now have these posted around my dramatic play and STEM centers, so that anyone can glance at them and know exactly what my students are doing. Click on either picture or here to grab this for your classroom.

Purposeful play is just as important as being purposeful in our literacy and math instruction. It is what primary children require and if anyone has spent a winter with indoor recess, you know exactly what I mean! We must provide the students that come through our classroom with what they need, giving them new opportunities to expand their creativity.

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Play in the Primary Classroom - The Daily Alphabet

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Play has always seemed synonymous with children because it's what they do. When students come to school now, it seems as if the decision-makers want to limit the amount of playing that goes on in primary classrooms. It is also relegated to the outskirts of the day, where children are allowed to play after they complete their "work".

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1.  Create a fun and engaging classroom environment. You can do this by including your interests. (My students hang on to every word when I tell them something from my personal/home life)

2. Enjoy the people in which you work with...both students and co-workers

3. Include studnets interests in the curriculum

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1. Add in your passion and interests but make sure to continue with your curriculum too.

2. Give students more control. Give them choices.

3. "Kids are trying to get their needs met.."(pg 95) When students are acting out we need to try to see what need is not being met for them.

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Two connections I can make between the chapter are:
1. Students of all ages benefit from the hands-on/fun approach to lessons because it can help cement the connections they need to learn. Teaching off a book alone does not help anyone.
2. There are so many ways to set up play in a room that can work for any student. For example, play in an elementary room might be actual toys but play in a middle school room might look like teaching models brought into the room that they can build and feel so they can see the actual representation of their topic.

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Lauricella, S. and Edmunds, T. Keith (2021, March 9) A Serious Look at Fun in College Classrooms https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/03/10/importance-injecting-fun-and-humor-classes-opinion

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Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs

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College and university students face a wide range of stressors, including the financial (how can I pay for this?), social (my new partner dumped me!) and developmental (doing my own laundry and paying the internet bill). In the current COVID-19 reality, the stressors upon students are no doubt significantly heightened. Beyond typical college-age challenges, many students are now dealing with the complicating issues of remote learning and social isolation, as well as painful misfortunes like losing jobs or work experience.

Such concurrent stressors make positive experiences in the classroom all the more important. It is as helpful a time as ever to consider how learning can be a respite and a joy rather than a chore, regardless of whether the learning environment is face-to-face, online or blended.

Much to the detriment of both faculty and students, discussions about fun and closely related concepts are notably absent from the scholarship of learning in higher education. But we suggest that play and fun have a rightful and important role in in the classroom and suggest the notion of a ludic pedagogy. From the Latin ludere, "to play," this model focuses on creating positive, fun experiences while still maintaining academic rigor. It is based on creating enjoyable educational situations so that students associate learning with positivity and engagement. Ludic pedagogy combines the related concepts of fun, play, playfulness and humor to establish a context for a positive, effective learning environment.

The adoption of a ludic pedagogy can result in a wide range of helpful outcomes. Whereas instructors have used grades for many years as extrinsic motivators for students, it is also well-known that grading can often actually diminish motivation and, indeed, learning itself. A fun class, on the other hand, supports intrinsic motivation, and students will most often want to learn in this environment. Implementation of a ludic pedagogy can help students find a source of joy in venues where often too little can be found. In developing such an environment, instructors can activate intrinsic motivation, demonstrating to students a world in which work is fun and fulfilling.

Humor, a concept closely affiliated with fun, has been shown to moderate the effects of stress on individuals. There are myriad other psychological benefits of humor, including reduction of anxiety, stress and tension, along with an increase in self-esteem, hope and empowerment. Each of these benefits, then, may be seen as rooted in the underlying ludic pedagogy. While not every student will respond to humor in the same way, particularly in a culturally diverse classroom, incorporating it has been shown to create an environment of rapport between students and faculty members. The use of appropriate humor can facilitate a more relaxed atmosphere and provide a cognitive break that allows the student to assimilate information.

Having fun in the classroom or online learning environment also has implications for the learning process. Student engagement is higher when classes are enjoyable, and the learning process itself is improved. Fun experiences are less difficult for the mind to process -- they carry a lower cognitive load. Greater levels of cognitive load are equated with decreased learning due to processing demands; it appears the reduced cognitive load associated with fun activities in fact leads to increased levels of learning. Similarly, a meta-analysis of 32 studies examining the impact of computer games or interactive simulations found not only better learning but also better attitudes toward learning.
Five Recommendations
COVID-19 has resulted in a dearth of social experiences traditionally commonplace on campuses. The academic classroom is not a substitute for frat parties -- nor does a ludic pedagogy intend it to be -- but it can surely be a venue for meeting new friends, laughing and practicing the notion that learning can be a fun experience. We therefore suggest five ways to incorporate fun into the (at present, often online) undergraduate experience.

No. 1: Use humor. Laughter and humor form a cornerstone of ludic pedagogy. One caveat is that humor in the classroom must be appropriate and relevant. Keep the laughs adjacent to course content and/or your institution's environment. Find levity in humorous examples of course materials, problems, images or situations. Students more readily recall examples that are distinctive or funny. Images in online slides or screensharing can be incorporated into digital delivery.

No. 2: Gamify learning. Regardless of the specific form educational games may take (the current trend is overwhelmingly in the direction of computer games), polls, surveys or online quizzes are all excellent entry points to new subject matter, and they can be highly effective. Games or no- to low-stakes quizzes can engage students to check comprehension, ask for feedback or assess opinions. These activities can deliver a private result to students, but sometimes some friendly competition is fun, too, depending upon the size of the class and familiarity of course members.

No. 3: Engage social opportunities. The foundational elements of ludic pedagogy -- fun, in particular -- are embedded in most forms of social relations. Bringing such elements to the fore in the classroom has the potential to enhance interpersonal connections. By its nature, fun is often a social activity; therefore, embedding this element into the classroom builds cohesion and an increased likelihood of "pleasurable sociability." Breakout rooms are an option in synchronous online courses, and presentation groups or peer editing are available social options in asynchronous ones.

No. 4: Model playfulness. Many of the suggestions we've offered are enhanced when the instructor is oriented toward playfulness and humor. When you demonstrate attributes like empathy, enthusiasm and openness, class activities won't feel like a comedy club but rather a learning environment that is destressed and less anxious. While muted mikes can deter verbal participation in larger classes, the chat function is a helpful venue that can host backchannel banter.

No. 5: Don't take everything too seriously. Even the most serious academic deserves to enjoy their work. We encourage you to follow Amy Poehler's advice that "there's power in looking silly and not caring that you do." Students ought to see faculty modeling that learning is fun, can be social and can engage curiosity. While it is very likely that many games, jokes or activities will be successful in engaging students, it is also possible that other attempts will flop. If you demonstrate the courage and power to try, you will show students that learning is a dynamic experiment, failed attempts are acceptable, and that leaders should be willing to play, laugh (even at themselves) and practice. If you do this successfully, students will be more likely to immerse themselves into the fun of learning.

Students enrolled in a college or university expect to learn new things, socialize and have good job prospects after graduation. Learning during a pandemic shouldn't deny these expectations. Yet the reality for many students -- especially during this period of online, HyFlex or masked delivery -- is that when classes are fun, it's a bonus. A ludic pedagogy frames the undergraduate experience in a way that ushers in play, experimentation and vulnerability. If students have fun in higher education, it will benefit their education by means of motivation, well-being and improved learning. And they may also even take this ludic mind-set to the workplace and transform our professional culture into a more engaging, collaborative, enjoyable space, as well.

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The importance of injecting fun and humor into classes (opinion)

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College and university students face a wide range of stressors, including the financial (how can I pay for this?), social (my new partner dumped me!) and developmental (doing my own laundry and paying the internet bill). In the current COVID-19 reality, the stressors upon students are no doubt significantly heightened.

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My intention moving forward is to continue to be authentic, share some personal stories to make connections. I also want to gauge the environment of the classroom by making observations. I can honestly state that I remember how I felt to the students I now teach - the demands, expectations, balancing what I needed to do with the things I wanted to do. I want my students to visualize that part of me instead of viewing me as the program director. I love my role as director but I REALLY miss wearing the label I had as faculty. Students have a preconceived notion of me because of my role... I want them to recognize many things but here are a few - I'm still fun, I'm VERY understanding, I'm invested in their success, and I can be asked any question.

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I have a new cohort of 34 students arriving for orientation on May 30th. My team decides on ice breakers and interaction activities for the new students. In the past we have asked students to complete a scavenger hunt. We are now taking that to a new level and incorporating technology. Students will be divided into groups of 4-6 and asked to locate a number of important landmarks of Mayo Clinic. To document their findings, each group must take a selfie near the landmark - creativity is encouraged (and I hope to award some type of prize to the winning group...)

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I often associate humor with joy. With college students, humor is a must and can be difficult to achieve at times.

Both the chapter and reading I found indicated the need to shift away from "grades and grading" in order to foster a more positive learning environment. I have found this difficult with my students. I also feel my students are too focused on "tell me what I need to know" versus the idea of understanding content and concepts in order to adapt to the many, many situations they will encounter with patients in the clinical setting. This quickly became a focus of mine when I became an educator and continues to be. I enjoy presenting open-ended questions to initiate classroom discussion to shift from facts to application considerations.

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1. When we experience joy, we deepen our understanding and reflection of the event. Bringing fun and joy to the classroom will lead to a deeper level of learning and desire to learn.
2. Be authentic - students feel a deeper connection to teachers they find relatable. Allow your students to see the real you - imperfections and all.  Our imperfections are what often brings connections.
3. Find ways to incorporate your interests and hobbies into the curriculum.

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My intention is to embrace rather than resist opportunities for collateral learning. In a conversation where students were asking me about my own college experience in my typically worst behaved class, a student quipped, "see, this is actually interesting! Look how quiet we are!" I felt guilty for the time we had taken away from the curriculum and hurried to get us back on task, I even shifted some of the work to the student's responsibility as homework. In another class we have many times when we get on tangents about anything from the purpose of ballasts in ships, the existence of the Okapi, and, most recently, the early modern English book trade. I get excited about these conversations when they are something I have learned about and enjoy sharing, but I try to steer us back into the direction of the content, even if this is just in a passing conversation with a small group. The section in the text about "collateral learning" gave me some permission to feel less guilt about these times and to find a way to balance what students are curious about with what exists in the curriculum; because, as the text says, these moments can "often spark great conversations or help students develop new interests that can be very important. And oh, yeah—they are also really fun!" (Anderson, 2010)

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The article I read about "Learning Through Play" had a section about "verbal play" and suggested that "a teacher might challenge each student to use a vocabulary word in a sentence and complicate the task by asking them to include a particular grammatical construction – a phrase, clause, or piece of punctuation – in their sentence as well. The sentence is written and shared with the class via a digital discussion thread that is projected for all of the students to see" (Egan Cunningham, 2019). They emphasized that an "audience of peers" was essential for verbal play to be effective. This is not something I have tried before and I think it would be something both quick and easy to try to implement once I choose the technology tool I would like to use.

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Egan Cunningham , C., & Egan Cunningham , K. (2019, December 17). Learning through play: Perfect for middle school. MiddleWeb. https://www.middleweb.com/41935/learning-through-play-perfect-for-middle-school/

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1. Play is a human need on par with a sense of belonging and engaging playfully with students and colleges can combat burnout as well as be the "antidote to boredom, confusion, and, in many ways, the loneliness that defines this particular moment of human history" (Egan Cunningham, 2019).
2. Both articles emphasized the relationship between gamification, practice, and deep learning: “when learning is play-oriented, students are more likely to engage in the practice necessary to get stronger in any discipline" (Egan Cunningham, 2019) and "we played game to practice place value. Not only did the students enjoy math more, but so did I" (Anderson, 2010).

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1. Play is an expression of freedom.
2.  When we allow our students to have more control over their learning, they are more invested and engaged.
3. The need for fun is just as important as the need for belonging, and we as educators have a responsibility to ourselves to infuse both fun and joy into our work.

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I am going to make the conscious effort to laugh with my students, as it is one way I can help create a lighthearted learning environment within my classroom! I'm hoping to laugh with each hour I teach, not just the class periods that are particularly lively!

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I love being able to chit-chat about the weekend, the evening before, or really anything that helps students understand I am a person outside of my role as their teacher. It also provides them space to talk about a club, sport, or activity they are interested in and spend their time doing!

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1. Students need to have an outlet for their creativity. Oftentimes, this can be accomplished through student choice.

2. Students can flourish in the classroom when they see their teachers interests and have space to explore their own. One quote from my article says, "Teenagers need to find their talents and their interests. They need to see what they like, what they're good at. They need to see where their talents and enjoyment go together, so they need to try different things."

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1. Get students up and out of their seats!
2. Make space for student choice
3. Add in space for students interests and creativity

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Stavely, Z. (2015, July 24). How to bring playfulness to high school students. KQED. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/40864/how-to-bring-playfulness-to-high-school-students

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Briggs,S (October 2015) Refuse to be a boring Teacher: 15 ways to have more fun.
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/refuse-to-be-a-boring-teacher/

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I want to try to be more carefree and go with the flow. I know my students do need to have more fun to learn. My feelings and thoughts being more positive can help with the fun aspect.

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I love when the students compete in review games. I am going to try “Family Feud” review style team game with the theme song and all!

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1. Create a fun exciting classroom environment.
2.  Fun learning = like this quote says. “The highest-level executive thinking, making of connections, and “aha” moments are more likely to occur in an atmosphere of “exuberant discovery,” where students of all ages retain that kindergarten enthusiasm of embracing each day with the joy of learning.”
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/refuse-to-be-a-boring-teacher/

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Refuse to Be a Boring Teacher: 15 Ways to Have More Fun

We've all had that teacher-the one who speaks in a monotone voice and reads aloud from the textbook. And we've all had the opportunity to not be that teacher. We've even had our moments, recognising that flash of interest in our students' eyes, smiling as the bell rings because the energy is so high and no one wants the period to end. How do we extend these moments? How do we create an environment that keeps students stimulated and craving more? How do we have more fun?

One study of student boredom suggested that almost 60% of students find at least half their lectures boring, with about 30% claiming to find most or all of their lectures boring.

"Although a range of factors may contribute to these findings, they do prompt the question of what it is about the learning experience that might be deemed 'boring,'" says Dr Sandi Mann, a senior lecturer in occupational psychology at the University of Central Lancashire.

Mann and her colleagues found that students adopt a variety of strategies to cope with boring lectures. The most popular are daydreaming (75%), doodling (66%), chatting to friends (50%), sending texts (45%), and passing notes to friends (38%). Over a quarter of students leave the lecture at the mid-session break.

"This 'class cutting' is potentially the most serious consequence, since previous research has shown a link between attendance and grades."

One of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent boredom is to have fun yourself. If you are having a good time, chances are your students are too.

In a 2002 paper called The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior, Yale University researcher Sigal G. Barsade separated 94 business students into small groups, each with the same hypothetical task of allocating employee bonuses. Barsade secretly planted one student in each group to act out a different emotion: enthusiasm, hostility, serenity, or depression. When the infiltrator was enthusiastic, he smiled often, looked intently into people's eyes, and spoke rapidly. When he feigned depression, he spoke slowly, avoided eye contact, and slouched in his seat.

Barsade measured participants' moods before and after the exercise and found that students who caught the actor's positive emotions were perceived by others and by themselves as more competent and cooperative. The positive groups also believed they were more collegial than those in the bad-mood groups. But when Barsade asked the students what influenced their performance, they attributed it to their skills. "People don't realise they are being influenced by others' emotions," she says.

Mimicry is a basic biological mechanism that may confer an evolutionary advantage, says Peter Totterdell, PhD, senior research fellow at the University of Sheffield in England. "It helps you understand what another person is feeling and thinking-even when she's trying to hide it."

And research shows that if you can put your students in a good mood, they will learn more too.

"Brain research suggests that fun is not just beneficial to learning but, by many reports, required for authentic learning and long-term memory," writes Sean Slade for The Answer Sheet. Neurologist and educator Judy Willis's book "Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom Teacher" (ASCD, 2006) is one of many that have highlighted the learning benefits of fun:

"The truth is that when the joy and comfort are scrubbed from the classroom and replaced with homogeneity, and when spontaneity is replaced with conformity, students' brains are distanced from effective information processing and long-term memory storage."

"The highest-level executive thinking, making of connections, and "aha" moments are more likely to occur in an atmosphere of "exuberant discovery," where students of all ages retain that kindergarten enthusiasm of embracing each day with the joy of learning."

So fun actually seems to promote learning by increasing dopamine, endorphins, and oxygen in the brain. The question is, how can we make teaching more enjoyable for ourselves in order to make learning fun for students?

How to Have More Fun Teaching

1. Discover new things together.

It's much more fun for both parties when students and teachers learn new things together. Your job is, of course, to educate, but why can't that process include the joy of shared discovery? Make a point each day of letting down your authoritative guard, humbling yourself, and enjoying the lifelong journey together-even if it's just for a few mintues.

2. Incorporate mystery into your lessons.

Learning is the most fun when it's surprising. Don't just disseminate information; cloak it in mystery. Highlight the weird, the unusual, the unique. Ask questions. Start with a curious detail that can only be addressed by diving into the background of the subject and thoroughly exploring it. Pose a mystery at the beginning of the course and let your students work towards solving it throughout the term.

3. Be goofy; show you care.

Let loose; laugh; make fun of yourself. Don't worry about sacrificing your authority. In fact, the latest research says authority stems from showing you care about your students, and making them laugh and feel good is one way to do that.

4. Participate in projects.

I had a creative writing professor at uni who would bring his own material to class for the students to workshop. It was great fun for all of us, and enjoyable for him as well. Stepping down to our level and actually participating in an activity he assigned himself made us all more engaged in the task because he was willing to be a part of it.

5. Avoid "going through the motions."

If you feel yourself slipping into a rut, spending the same hours exactly the same way each day, stop and reassess your teaching process. It's so easy to let it all become automatic, especially after twenty-plus years in the field, and to use the same lessons and techniques year after year with different students. But if it's not fun for you, it won't be fun for your students either. Make an effort to be fresh, try new things, take risks, make mistakes, enjoy the moment.

6. Flip your lessons.

Flipping your lessons will help you avoid boring in-class activities. If students watch lectures or correct their own homework the night before, you can spend the course period focusing on deeper learning. Everyone will appreciate the chance to reflect on, instead of repeat, the material.

7. Review-but don't repeat-material.

It's important for learning and memory to review new material regularly and to integrate it into the bigger picture shaped by old material. Spend an hour or two each week reviewing material from the past few weeks, but always position it within old material so that students see how it all fits together. Simply repeating new information represents a missed learning opportunity.

8. Share your passions.

Show students how you have fun. Passion is contagious. If you're having a good time, chances are your students will too.

9. Laugh at your students' jokes.

The best teachers I've ever had got a genuine kick out of their students. It's one of the best ways to ensure teachers and students have fun: enjoy one another.

10. Replace lectures with conversations.

Why should teaching be so passive? Forget the sage on the stage and engage your students in a casual conversation like you would a good friend. This doesn't necessarily mean asking more questions, but it does require a stylistic shift whereby you and your students are actively exchanging ideas-not just responding to them.

11. Put on a performance.

In his books and workshops, Doug Lemov talks about what pace to move around the room, what language to use when praising a student, how to adjust the angle of your head to let students know you're looking at them. Teaching, he says, is "a performance profession." You don't have to be theatrical (though that might help), but you do have to be self-aware.

12. Enjoy yourself.

People with high confidence-people we respect and listen to-tend to have one important trait in common: they enjoy themselves. Quite literally. You'll have a significantly better time teaching if you work on nurturing your personal relationship with yourself. Your students will have a better time, too.

13. Make yourself available.

Don't go to the teacher's lounge during lunch; stay in your room and invite students to eat lunch with you. Keep your doors open after the bell rings at the end of the day. Make yourself available online for part of the evening. Hold one-on-one and group office hours. Invite students to your home for workshops or end-of-course celebrations.

14. Try being a student again.

Take a seat in the audience and let your students teach you for the day. Spend a week doing your own assignments. Let students grade you on projects or presentations.

15. Don't take yourself-or your subject-too seriously.

One complaint I hear from students is that teachers don't sympathise with the fact that their course isn't the only course students are taking. Students have to balance assignments and material from several courses at once (you had to do the same thing not so long ago). This doesn't mean loosening your rules or being lenient on late work; it means acknowledging that students have interests and priorities that might not line up with yours. Try to be understanding, and even express interest in other courses students are taking. Think of it as an opportunity to strengthen students' grasp of your subject by relating it to other disciplines.

Saga Briggs is an author at InformED. You can follow her on Twitter@sagamilena or read more of her writing here.

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Refuse to Be a Boring Teacher: 15 Ways to Have More Fun | InformED

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We've all had that teacher-the one who speaks in a monotone voice and reads aloud from the textbook. And we've all had the opportunity to not be that teacher. We've even had our moments, recognising that flash of interest in our students' eyes, smiling as the bell rings because the energy is so high and...

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1. Include teachers passions and personal interests.
2. Enjoy your colleagues, which I do!
3. It’s not being selfish to take care of yourself.

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3 critical ideas that stood out to me are:
1. You can keep the good stuff in the unit/standards but make it fun. Create activities that the students will like instead of sticking to a plain textbook.
2. Do not be afraid to add fun into the day. It only benefits the students and yourself.
3. You cannot plan for fun sometimes but seize the opportunity when it happens. "Valuable teaching and learning opportunities will also pop up at unexpected times."

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When I think about Middle school and upper grades "play" does not usually come to my mind because we have so much content to fit into our 40 minutes of class each day. However I know that it can be so beneficial for students learning. My intention for the rest of the year is to create one "fun" activity each day that gets the students engaged in my room. I want to start with a warm up that either has them moving around the room with four corners or has them playing a quick trivia game on their Chromebook. When they start engaged I can keep them moving into the rest of our lesson.

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Some things that are fun for me and engage me in my teaching are getting to host games for my students or plan fun activities like scavenger hunts around the room which they love. We are coming up to our final test for the year so I want to plan some fun review activities. One will be vocabulary trash-kit-ball and I will also plan a content scavenger hunt where they find questions around our media center to answer.

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Douma, K. (2022, June 22). Playing to learn in middle and high school. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/playing-learn-middle-and-high-school/

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Students’ Perceptions of “Fun” Suggest Possibilities for Literacy Learning: “You Can Be Entertained and Informed.”

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Students’ Perceptions of “Fun” Suggest Possibilities for Literacy Learning: “You Can Be Entertained and Informed.”

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Mathers, B. G. (2008). Students’ Perceptions of “Fun” Suggest Possibilities for Literacy Learning: “You Can Be Entertained and Informed.”  Reading Horizons, 49(1), 71–88. ERIC.

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This week I want to take time to have my students play more games. We are currently working on decimals and money. I am planning on doing a "store" where students will get a random amount of money and will need to buy as many things as possible. I want to do more activities like this one where students are just sitting and doing worksheets, but are actively engaged with their learning. Like the reading said, when students are having fun they are engaged!

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One thing that engages me with teaching is giving students a challenging math problem without teaching students how to do something. This is usually some sort of a non curricular thinking math task where students need to problem solve to figure out the solution to this problem. (If you get the chance search up non curricular thinking math task. They are fun to solve). These problems also have more than one correct way to solve these problems. I have fun seeing students use different strategies and methods to solve these problems.

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Testa, G. (2022, October 11). Why students learn more when they have fun. Labster. https://www.labster.com/blog/why-students-learn-more-fun

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1. Students learn more and retain more information when they are having fun! “ 'The students achieved significant learning results without being aware that they are studying - by playing, having fun, solving tasks at their own pace.' described Guillermo." (Testa)
2. Fun and engagement go hand in hand. When students are having fun they are more engaged with their activities. "Research shows that when fun is involved, the students are involved, too." (Testa)

Testa, G. (2022, October 11). Why students learn more when they have fun. Labster. https://www.labster.com/blog/why-students-learn-more-fun

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Svalina, V. (2021). The Importance of musical play for the development of musical abilities of First Grade elementary school pupils. Department of Education.

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This chapter talks about how learning is deepened with play.  In the research article that I read it states that musical play develops intellect, and enriches a child's mental health.  Children's musical play is an inexhaustible source of creative instinct and joy of life.
In other words, two connections is that play enriches lives and is good for our students' health.
Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1353118.pdf

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1. Allow students to have control over their learning.
2. Don't assume you can't have fun and take risks. It's ok to take risks and try something fun in the classroom.
3. Students talking doesn't always mean students are off task. It can just be students excited about their work or talking with a neighbor about their learning.

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My intention for the remainder of this school year is to pick the singing game first and build my lessons around a singing game that I know my students will love. I will also look at adding other types of music games that will support the unit objectives that I hope to touch on in these last few weeks of school. I will let things go and just enjoy being with my students. Just be a Be-er instead of a Do-er.

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The author suggested taking the most fun part of the lesson, perhaps the game that corresponds with the lesson for that day/unit, and making the game the main part and building the lesson around the game instead. I LOVE that idea. There are so many games that correspond with the folk songs in our elementary music curriculum, and I always save the game for the end of the lesson, if there is time left. Now, I have a new way to use Backwards Design!

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1. Fun can be either simple light hearted pleasure as well as deep engagement.

2. Laughter has positive health benefits such as boosting the immune system, preventing heart disease, lowering stress hormones, and reducing pain.

3. When we are having fun in the classroom, we can let small annoyances roll off of us and have more positive energy for our students.

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I did this last week as an experiment and my students absolutely LOVED it. I want to do it again this week, as we work on writing skills as third graders. I was actually being observed by a student teacher from a different class and he told me he was "blown away" at how engaged the students were. I used "the random wheel of names" and students told me various verbs, nouns, and adjectives. I spun the wheel and as it landed on a word, they wrote the word in their journal. When they got 20 words, they had to write a story. My students were SO engaged and produced hilarious stories. We designed a book cover and will add stories to it each week.

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In our third grade, we made an ABC countdown to summer calendar. This week we are doing as follows:
Monday: Exercise  Day (doing work outside)
Tuesday: Figit Day
Wednesday: Game Day
Thursday: Hat Day
Friday: Inside Out Day
The students LOVE these different alphabet days as we end the year and it helps bring joy into the classroom.

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This article continued to say to use the curriculum we already have, but add to it.  Find out what the students' interests and passions are and use these as fun, engaging activities to add into our day.
Play also helps children learn what they know and what they do not know. But it takes place in more of a positive way.

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The benefits of fun

1. Keeps our spirits high (and our students)

2. We enjoy life when we're having fun (as do our students.

3. Laughter definitely has a lot of health benefits

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1 - Games and fun is important to kids, "Our research shows that with the use of games, children of all ages have better engagement, participation, achievement and recall of their learning"

2 - I loved this quote from the article I found, that connects to both readings: "Play lets children practice what they know, and also what they don’t. It allows them to experiment through trial and error, find solutions to problems, work out the best strategies, and build new confidence and skills. In our busy lives, it can be easy to forget the value of play. We often think play is not a good use of time and children should be doing some ‘proper’ learning instead."

Kids are here to play - the importance of games. (n.d.). Cambridge Assessment English. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/parents-and-children/your-childs-interests/kids-are-here-to-play-the-importance-of-games/