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-Create a dance that highlights content
-Write a song using new knowledge
-Storytelling
-Question balls

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-Simon Says
-Large Puzzles
-4 Corners
-Gallery walks

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According to Eric Jensen (2005), "Energizer activities can (1) raise blood pressure and epinephrine levels among drowsy learners, (2) reduce restlessness among antsy learners, and (3) reinforce content"(p.66).

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"1. What are my goals for today and this year?
2. What do I need to do today and this week in this class to reach my goals?
3. Why is it important for me to reach my goals today?"(Eric Jensen, 2005, p. 66).

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Could be a whole class activity or individual time!

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Could be a whole class activity or individual time!

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Can reduce childhood obesity if students are regularly being physically active 

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Can reduce childhood obesity if students are regularly being physically active 

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When it's time to recap what you've just taught, recap with rhythm. Remember the old game where you sat in a circle, slapped your knees, clapped your hands and snapped your fingers? Slap, slap, clap, clap, snap right, snap left.

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10 Active Ice Breakers That Will Energize Your Students

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When it's time to recap what you've just taught, recap with rhythm. Remember the old game where you sat in a circle, slapped your knees, clapped your hands and snapped your fingers? Slap, slap, clap, clap, snap right, snap left.

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Take Action

Schools and teachers looking to integrate physical activity both in and out of the classroom should start with a few initial steps and considerations before implementing a new or enhancing an existing program.

Engage and leverage your school health team to identify key opportunities for student physical activity as well as any significant barriers to successful implementation.

Understand your local school wellness policy and how it supports or enhances opportunities for brain breaks and classroom energizers.

Develop your elevator pitch to describe to your different audiences why physical activity is important and how it links to academic achievement as well as other positive outcomes.

Get your principal's approval! A supportive principal is essential to your efforts.

Make this activity inclusive for all abilities:

Empower students to suggest and choose which activities, games and movements they find enjoyable and accessible.

Get to know your students and find out about their abilities, limitations, and interests. Encourage them to be a part of the learning and lesson planning process.

Demonstrate modifications of simple and complex movement skills such as jumping jacks, squats, and push-ups. For example, show students a wall push-up, a kneeling push-up, and a full push-up. Give students the opportunity to choose which option is best.

Adapt the game or activity rules. Some simple suggestions include reducing the number of players on a team, modifying the activity area, eliminating time limits, and lowering or enlarging targets or goals.

Try creative or team-building games where success is only possible when the whole group works together.

Integrate various types and sizes of equipment such as tactile balls, juggling scarves, numbered spot markers, and foam noodles.

Vary body parts used, the speed of movement, and number of repetitions to adjust for mobility limitations or low fitness students.

Mobility adaptations: Some activities may be done from a seated position allowing mobility challenged students to participate with peers or doing similar motions with hands/arms as others are doing with feet legs.

Sensory adaptations: Students with deafness, speech, self-management or cognitive problems may be able to participate fully in a follow the leader manner. These are very short periods of activity and done in groups of fewer than thirty so students are able to keep up to peers.

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Classroom Physical Activity Breaks - Action for Healthy Kids

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Schools and teachers looking to integrate physical activity both in and out of the classroom should start with a few initial steps and considerations before implementing a new or enhancing an existing program. Engage and leverage your school health team to identify key opportunities for student physical activity as well as any significant barriers to successful implementation.

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Ways to help students become reflective 

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Ways to help students become reflective 

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This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View disclosure policy HERE.
Goal Setting for Kids: A list of steps for teachers to take when teaching children to reflect and set goals, using the 3 stars and a wish approach.
As teachers, we all want our students to succeed in life, right? RIGHT! We want our students to be effective problem solvers. We want them to set goals and ACHIEVE them. Teaching children to reflect and set goals is an important lesson that needs to be taught starting at a young age.

Why is Goal Setting for Kids Important?

Goal setting is a lesson that should be revisited and worked on throughout life. Adults continually reflect on life and past goals and use that information to set new goals. Aristotle said, "Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." Having something to focus on and work towards, helps us to be productive human beings. It is our responsibility to teach these skills to children.

It can be frustrating when a child doesn't try hard enough when you see the potential. We try to encourage them to try harder or care, with little result. Is there a solution? One thing you can do is teach them how to set goals and achieve them, one step at a time. Setting goals and working towards them teaches children perseverance. This is an important skill in life and one that they will need along the way.

How to Teach Goal Setting for Kids

A part of it is teaching children to reflect on things they do well and things they need to improve on. Another part of it is teaching children what a goal is, how to pick the right one, and making a plan to achieve the goal that they set. This needs to be taught at home and at school.

Children need direction and encouragement in this. Parents are useful is having daily conversations with their children and checking in to see how things are going. Parents may find special checklists or charts helpful in keeping their children on track, along with certain incentives to gain interest.

Teachers are useful in providing an approach to goal setting that is systematic (i.e., can be done during each term of the year) and age-appropriate (i.e., develop lessons for their particular grade level). Teachers can set a few times in the year to reflect on, set, and plan for achieving goals.

Goal Setting Activities for the Classroom

Below are some strategies for teaching children to reflect and set goals. Try these strategies in your classroom. Hopefully, your students will learn the skills to tackle their own challenges in the future.

Goal Setting Activities: Reflect on Things They Do Well

Start by having a discussion about the things that children feel they do well. Brainstorm these ideas on a chart or whiteboard. This is a positive way to start the goal-setting process because they are thinking of things they have achieved and learned already. Discuss how these things make them feel. Encourage them to recall how they went about learning those things. What steps did they take? Did they set a goal and work towards it?

Goal Setting Activities: Reflect on Things They Need to Improve

It is also important to reflect on the things they need to work on, improve, or learn. Before a child can decide which goal to set, they have to think of something that is worth working towards. Children should choose something that interests them or a skill that they need for life. Steve Garvey said, "You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential." Some examples of goals for children are learning to swim underwater, tying their shoelaces, or riding a bicycle. Some examples for school could be counting to 100, learning to read a particular book, or climbing the rope in gym class.

Goal Setting Activities: 3 Stars and a Wish

Before making a plan with the teacher, I suggest that students record their ideas in the form of stars and wishes. You have probably heard of "3 Stars and a Wish" before and it's a great idea! I use this approach for many things during the school year. We think of STARS, the things we do well, and WISHES, the things to work on. Students use the ideas they come up with during our reflection as a class and record their ideas. The idea they choose for their wish becomes their new goal for school.

This form provides a valuable assessment tool. I use the 3 Stars and a Wish reflection sheets during meetings and conferences with parents. Parents want to see how their children are doing and appreciate that they get to hear how their child sees themselves. They appreciate this information because then they can discuss it at home. I keep a copy of the reflection sheets in the student portfolios with a collection of work completed that year. This helps provide a timeline of the progress made. To read about how I create student portfolios and use them during student-led conferences, head HERE.

The 3 Stars and a Wish printable is available for FREE by clicking the image below. You will receive 2 variations and each has either 2 or 3 stars to suit your needs.

Making a Plan for Teaching Goal Setting for Kids

Whatever the goal may be, children need to make a plan! Antoine de Saint Exupery said, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."

I meet with each student individually and we discuss their new goal. We make a plan together and discuss the plan of action. We come up with small, workable steps together. They will most likely need a teacher's help along the way. Check-in periodically with your students to see how they are doing and feeling about their progress. Having a chart visually available to a child is extremely helpful. This way they can see what they've done and what they still need to do. Kid Pointz has a free printable chart that you can download HERE.

Goal Setting for Kids Requires a Timeline

It is also important to have a timeline when teaching children to set and achieve goals. Different goals take different amounts of time and effort. Teachers can help guide students to choose goals that are smaller and can be completed within a reasonable time. I suggest teaching children to reflect and set goals 3 times during the school year. With this approach, each goal should take about 3 months or so to achieve. At the end of the term, a particular goal may continue to be a student's focus for the following term.

Rewards and Incentives to Encourage Goal Setting for Kids

A big motivator for children is the reward they receive when they accomplish their goal. To some, achieving a goal is the intrinsic reward. However, that might not be enough of a motivator for some children. Teachers may want to offer another incentive. Stickers are a fun and simple reward that can be used on charts like these. I like to use classroom coupons as rewards. They can be given each time a student completes a step towards their goal. A classroom party might be a fun way to reward the entire class at the end of the term.

Looking for another fun way for your students to set goals for the new year? Create a fireworks display of goals in your classroom!

I suggest printing them on colored cardstock to create a colorful display! You could also make a mobile of fireworks hanging from a string.

Grab this FREE Fireworks Goals for the New Year printable by clicking the image below. It includes 2 types of firework goals for you to choose from.

Do you teach goal setting for kids? I'd love to hear from you!

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you would like more tips and ideas from me, be sure to follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to stay connected with the latest news and freebies!
Teach Kids How to Be Responsible Teaching Responsibility in the Classroom
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Teaching Children to Reflect and Set Goals

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This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View disclosure policy HERE . Goal Setting for Kids: A list of steps for teachers to take when teaching children to reflect and set goals, using the 3 stars and a wish approach. As teachers, we all want our students to succeed in life, right?

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Focuses on non-competitive games geared towards special needs learners

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Focuses on non-competitive games geared towards special needs learners

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Ideas for Non-Competitive Games for Special Needs Children in the Inclusive Classroom

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A collection of non- competitive games for special needs children which you can use in your inclusive classroom. Read on for ideas you can use today!

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CHECK THIS OUT TOO

While all kids are special, some need more attention and guidance than others. If you're a teacher looking to teach yoga for kids with Special or Additional Needs, these pointers help you find your footing.

1. Start from where they are.

When teaching yoga to kids with additional needs, open your eyes, ears, heart, and mind. Really see, hear, feel, and understand.

See who is in front of you, and START FROM WHERE THEY ARE! Not from where you planned, from where you think they're supposed to be, where society thinks they should be, or where the books say they are.

If you start from where they are, they'll be able to do just about anything... gradually. Sometimes you'll need to break lessons down more simply, and you'll definitely need to be flexible and creative! You can teach yoga to anyone if you follow this advice.

2. Some needs are physical.

Blind kids need more verbal instruction and touch to guide their movements, but they have amazing spatial awareness and can do absolutely anything-even partner poses and acrobatics! You'll physically help them into poses at first, but after a few times, they'll remember how to do it on their own.

Deaf kids need to see you all the time so they can read your lips and imitate your movements. Talk less and demonstrate more here. If you can speak in sign language, this helps immensely.

With kids on wheelchairs, you can do chair yoga, or even take them off the wheelchair (watch your back though!) to move them into poses while they are on the floor.

Bedridden children can do a lot of yoga in bed. If they can't move much, they can practice breathing exercises. If that's too challenging, you can help them with guided imagery or maybe even massage. If this is too much, you can just hold their hand and share your energy.

There is always a way to do yoga!

3. Other needs are mental or social.

There are kids with various kinds and levels of developmental disabilities or brain damage (from birth, radiation, or accidents), there is a big range of autism spectrum disorders, and there are a million different syndromes, Down syndrome being just one of them.

4. You will be teaching these awesome kids in two different environments.
a. A child with additional needs in a regular class.
In this case, there must be an adult practicing with this child at all times. In a regular kids' class, so much is going on and it all happens so fast that you simply do not have the time or the energy to give this kid all the attention they need.

Kids with additional needs require much closer guidance as they don't imitate as well as other kids and have low body and spatial awareness.

If the class is during school hours, most likely there is a shadow, teacher's aide, or assistant with them. If it's an afternoon program, the parents will usually be present.
b. A whole group of children with additional needs.
Keep these groups small-no more than six or eight kids, and no more than two or three kids per teacher.

Downgrading your teaching by a few years to fit their cognitive and motor skill level works well here. So if you are teaching 3 to 4-year-olds, give them a class like you give 2-year-olds, and if you teach 5 to 6-year-olds, give them a class like you give 3 to 4-year-olds.

You'll also need to make the class slower-but just as fun!

Kids with additional needs such as autism get sensory overload easily, so play the music a bit softer than in a regular class, or turn off the music and slow down the class if you see that they become overwhelmed.

5. Emphasize touch, hands-on assistance, sound, and breath.
a. Touch
Touch them a lot, all the time, using firm touch only. Rarely will kids with autism not like to be touched.
b. Hands-on assistance
Kids with additional needs lack good spatial orientation and are experiencing delays in motor skills. You'll need to physically bring their limbs into the pose. Be very gentle, though, as joint dislocation is a common result of the low muscle tone that most kids with syndromes have.

Move them SLOWLY into poses so their muscles have time to respond.

Other kids with additional needs have too much muscle tone (their nerves are firing all of the time), making their bodies really stiff and contracted-of course yoga and massage helps!
c. Sound
Vocalize animal sounds, make sound effects, and "Om" or "Hmmmm" as much as you can. Talk less, and sing, demonstrate, and do more.
d. Breath
Teach them breath awareness and control, and help them breathe more deeply using breathing exercises.

6. Success builds success.

Always focus on the children's strengths. Often, a weakness in one area creates strength in another. If you start where it is easy for that child, they will gain confidence and slowly be ready to approach more challenging areas. Don't start by working on the "issue" first.

7. The above elements will help them achieve some of the things they might lack.

Awareness and better body control

Connection to other people and to their environment-they naturally withdraw into their own bubble

Confidence and higher self-esteem

Relaxation

Children with special or additional needs are like any other kid-they just want to be happy and have fun! So please don't come to a class all merciful or patronizing. Come to play, laugh, and make them feel REALLY special!

Do your research-when you know you're going to have a child with a specific syndrome, research adjustments you might need to make to poses, the rhythm of the class, your communication, etc.

WHY YOGA, YOU ASK?

Of course, when you actually meet that child, put aside those points and start from where they are, armed with knowledge to help them go where they want to be!

Image Credit: Rainbow Kids Yoga

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CHECK THIS OUT TOO While all kids are special, some need more attention and guidance than others. If you're a teacher looking to teach yoga for kids with Special or Additional Needs, these pointers help you find your footing. When teaching yoga to kids with additional needs, open your eyes, ears, heart, and mind.

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Classroom friendly yoga poses provided by Freepik

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Classroom friendly yoga poses provided by Freepik

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Using Movement Within the Classroom to Benefit Special Needs students

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Stretching examples to use in the classroom

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Stretching examples to use in the classroom

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Energizer activities to use in the classroom to keep students energy levels up

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Energizer activities to use in the classroom to keep students energy levels up

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Here are some quick games to keep students' brains active

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Here are some quick games to keep students' brains active

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Goal set with students through fun partner activities 

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Goal set with students through fun partner activities 

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Evidence to support the claim that movements is beneficial 

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Evidence to support the claim that movements is beneficial 

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Eric Jensen's thoughts on the connection between movement and learning 

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Eric Jensen's thoughts on the connection between movement and learning 

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Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition

About

Since Teaching with the Brain in Mind was first published in 1998, it has inspired thousands of educators to apply brain research in their classroom teaching. Now, author Eric Jensen is back with a completely revised and updated edition of his classic work, featuring new research and practical strategies to enhance student comprehension and improve student achievement. In easy to understand, engaging language, Jensen provides a basic orientation to the brain and its various systems and explains how they affect learning. After discussing what parents and educators can do to get children's brains in good shape for school, Jensen goes on to explore topics such as motivation, critical thinking skills, environmental factors, the "social brain," emotions, and memory. He offers fascinating insights on a number of specific issues, including

Table of contents

Preparing the Brain for School

Book details

Product No.

ISBN

Release Date

Page Count

Member Book

No

187

May 2005

978-1-4166-0030-5

104013

ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

Sign up for our newsletter

Questions?

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Teaching with the Brain in Mind, 2nd Edition - ASCD

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Since Teaching with the Brain in Mind was first published in 1998, it has inspired thousands of educators to apply brain research in their classroom teaching. Now, author Eric Jensen is back with a completely revised and updated edition of his classic work, featuring new research and practical strat

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Synopsis

Regularly-scheduled movement breaks throughout the day and movement used within and between lessons results in better-behaved, more engaged students who can more easily focus on and retain what they are supposed to be learning.

Movement has been shown by educational, cognitive, psychological, medical, and behavioral research to be one of the best ways to get all children - neurotypical and neurodiverse (special needs) children alike - to gain control over their behavior and to engage with and retain what is being taught to them. When you look at the research around movement and productivity/engagement - for children of all ages and a variety of learning styles -- what is truly shocking is that every school does not already schedule movement into the school day and incorporate movement into school lessons.

If you read my last post, on the ever-growing Need for Inclusion Schools you'll already be familiar with my argument for why Special Needs children and typical children all benefit from being in classrooms together, and how regular movement in those classrooms can help facilitate this inclusion. Regularly-scheduled movement breaks throughout the day and movement used within and between lessons, help all children (both neurotypical and neurodiverse) regulate themselves, which leads to better-behaved, more engaged students who can more easily focus on and retain information from their lessons.

Most schools not only ignore the latest research on best teaching practices, but the teacher-centric, "sit still and listen" method of teaching still employed is one of the main reasons so many neurodiverse children are not able to be in regular schools to begin with, why so many children are said to have "behavioral problems" in schools in general, and why so many school children are being diagnosed with ADHD. It seems that the problem is less with the children, and more with the way schools are typically organized and run. Schools need to change with the times, become more flexible, more relevant, and more engaging, so that all students can connect with and learn from the material presented to them more effectively.

Regular movement has been shown to increase focus and retention in children and adults of all ages. Movement also helps all children regulate (ie, adjust their energy), and it therefore has been shown to lower rates of behavioral problems such as fighting and bullying. Many "behavioral problems" in schools today would be eased, and diagnoses would be fewer, if more movement was incorporated into every aspect of school.

There is no better time than the present to advocate for this change in schools. Every day, there is a new article highlighting research which shows how bad sitting for long periods of time is, not only for productivity, but for overall health. A recent article even cites an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic as saying, "If you've been sitting for an hour, you've been sitting for too long." And yet, in all these articles that go on about treadmill desks, standing desks, fitness bands, fitness trackers, and about the physical, emotional and mental problems that arise from sitting, there is no mention of how this issue concerns children and schools." This needs to change.

If children are being forced to sit still in school for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, year after year, for fear of punishment, suspension, expulsion, and psychological diagnoses if they actually do need to move, then how on earth do we expect them to have healthy, active lifestyles when they become adults?! How is this transformation supposed to happen? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to institute healthy active policies into school so that all children grow up with the habits that not only help them learn best, but also help them become healthy, active adults?

For many years now, Finnish schools have understood the importance of incorporating regular movement into the school day, and approach it in a variety of ways. Most Finnish schools provide 15 minutes of recess for every 45 minutes of instruction. Researchers say this accounts for part of their ongoing academic successes. During the same time period, US and UK schools have, alternatively, reduced the amount of movement and recess time or break time that they offer primary school students, and students' performance has suffered accordingly.

Individual teachers and schools can make a big difference in their students' lives by incorporating movement into the lessons, classrooms, and/or school day. It also helps, of course, if school policies support their efforts. An emphasis on regular breaks for movement should be incorporated into EVERY classroom, into every lesson, and be made an important part of overall school policy. US schools are slowly starting to respect the need for recess and movement. Whether implementing school-wide movement breaks or recess, introducing movement breaks between lessons, or even incorporating movement into the lessons themselves, schools are slowly realizing how beneficial movement is to boosting academic performance and to regulating behavior and attention.

Schools don't need extra space and they don't need special instructors in order to do this. They mostly need to change their mindset and accept that movement is beneficial. Movement breaks can be included between lessons very easily. Teachers can reduce the amount of instruction time per lesson from 40 to 30 minutes, and then use the remaining 10 minutes for movement breaks, so that children are clear and focused before the next lesson begins. There are a number of movement-in-school programs that train teachers with moves for calming or invigorating students (whichever is needed at the time). There are also instructional podcasts, apps, and DVDs that can be purchased by a school in order to give teachers some ideas on what moves to give their students at what times. However, basic jumping jacks, running in place, and some stretches behind the desk are also very effective in helping students get the movement their bodies and brains need in order to perform at their very best.

The movement breaks cause a win-win situation, because the children are getting some exercise and regulation and, in addition, the shorter lessons are more easily remembered. The movement itself also helps children focus and retain more information from the lesson. Therefore, having 30 minute lessons plus 10 minutes of movement in between them, means a happier, more engaged student body, as well as students who will retain more information over the course of the day than would be retained from regular 40 minute lessons. More time teaching is not always better, especially if the lesson is not being absorbed and retained.

Other schools are incorporating movement into the actual lesson plans because they have found that the lessons that students understand deepest and retain longest are those lessons which incorporate movement. Whether it is using your own feet as a source of measurement, role playing a fight between the Aztecs and the Conquistadores, or having students circle and crash into one another to physically demonstrate how atomic particles behave during fission and fusion, students are more engaged and have better retention of subject matter when they are physically active during the lessons. The New Jersey Education Alliance, for example, prepared informational booklets and a website to give examples of movement-based lessons. They emphasize that "Students often learn better by doing."

The benefits of incorporating movement in lessons is supported further by research currently being done in "embodied cognition", in the field of Educational Technology. It shows that children, especially when they are young or if the material is difficult, can better understand concepts when they use movement to physically act out the concepts. Researchers at Columbia University show that embodied cognition makes abstract concepts more tangible. It "allows the learner to develop a "feel" for the concept being described, a physical sense that is more comprehensible and compelling than a concept that remains an abstract mental entity."

Still other schools are recognizing the benefits of giving the entire school 30 minutes or more of movement per day, either in the school gym or playground or even in a local park. The principal of a progressive inclusion school in Upper Manhattan, NYC, guides children through a series of warm ups and supervises Free Play every morning and afternoon in their school gym. She says it helps all the children, special needs and typical children alike, with both behavior and attention. Studies show that Recess, or Free Play (movement activities where children direct their own activities and are not directed by adults) is incredibly important to children's development of executive functioning and coping skills they will need in order to be successful adults, such as negotiating, planning, and coordinating with peers, and making decisions on their. These type of skills build independence and confidence, which greatly help with long-term success in life. Yet, studies show that the amount of Free Play in most American children's lives has declined tremendously over the past few decades, with many teachers restricting free play even further as a "punishment" for children with behavior problems, which of course, only increases their behavior problems. Researchers attribute many problems - including increases in children's behavior problems, anxiety, depression, and other psychopathologies, over that same time period - to the decline in free play.

A school district in Milwaukee, for example, brought back previously-cut phys ed classes 3 days a week this past year, in order to improve attendance records, boost academic achievement, and to increase student and parent engagement in schools. They found that kids came to school more often when they knew they'd have physical education that day, while recitals and sporting events brought parents into the school more often, making them more engaged in their children's learning. The trial was so successful, the school district will be offering physical education every day next year.

Movement benefits students' work and behavior in school, their understanding of difficult concepts, their retention of learned information, and their lifelong health and well-being. Movement is one of the most beneficial ways for ALL children to engage with and retain the information they are being taught in school. It makes lessons more engaging and memorable, it helps students focus, it regulates student behavior, it helps foster inclusive environments for all children, and it makes children want to come to school every day.

Keeping children active, engaged, and healthy, in the environment where they spend the majority of their waking hours, should be a top priority for all schools. Luckily, regular movement does not require a lot of space, a lot of time, nor a lot of money to implement. It mostly requires a change in teacher and school attitudes so that children's need for movement is not perceived as a negative.

Tags: adhd, autism, education innovation, education sector, education standards, focused attention, movement, neurodiverse, nina fiore, physical activity, playtime, recess, special needs

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Regularly-scheduled movement breaks throughout the day and movement used within and between lessons results in better-behaved, more engaged students who can more easily focus on and retain what they are supposed to be learning.