Each person in the class is assigned to a character in the story called Fidget Family. Every time the teacher in the says your character's name in the story when reading aloud, the person will stand up and sit back down. Whenever the teacher says "the entire fidget family", then the entire classroom stands up and sits back down.

Write a word on the board and think about if each letter is below, touching, or above the line. Have students stand up for this activity. If the letter is below the line (like the letter g), have students squat down with their arms down. If the letter is touching the line (like the letter e), have students put their arms straight out. If the letter is above the line (like the letter t), have students put their arms above their head.

Go around the class to have students share aloud something fun or exciting they did over the weekend. The teacher should also share with the students what he/she did as well. If you want to incorporate writing, have students write their share in their journals and you can post them on a board or have students share after.

This is going to get the kids moving around! For #5, students will stand up and touch their toes five times. For #4, students will stand up and sit down four times. For #3, students will hop on one foot three times. For #2, students will spin around two times. For #1, students will take a big jump!

Have students stand up in class. The teacher will say to use a certain part of the body and touch a specific color that they see in the room. You can use multiple body parts at the same time to make it a little more challenging.

Examples:

1. Use your pointer finger to touch something blue.

2. Touch your foot to something gray.

3. Put both hands on something green.

All students will stand up for this activity. Students can be doing an activity like running in place, jumping jacks, knee touches, and air guitar. The teacher will have a list of vocab words and will read them aloud to the class. When the teacher reads a vocabulary word, the classes freezes. Then the teacher calls on a student to use the vocab word in a sentence. Then the activity is repeated through the list of words.

Have students stand up in the class and pretend to be in a marching band. Students will march in place. The teacher will say an instrument, and students will march in place and pretend to play that instrument. You can select instruments like the clarinet, flute, drums, harmonica, cymbals, and trumpet.

Students stand up at their desks. The teacher will read out a sentence to the class and the students will have to act out the sentence as if they were actually doing it. The students will act each one out for about 10-20 seconds.

Examples: run in place as if a bear is chasing you, reach for the sky as if you are trying to grab a balloon, and move around as if you are ice skating.

The teacher will first have students point to their heart. Then explain to students briefly why it is important to keep our bodies healthy. The teacher will ask students to squat if something is bad for their heart, or to jump 3 times if something is good for their heart. The teacher can also invite students to say something instead of the teacher. Some examples are eating fruits/veggies, playing outside, smoking, sitting on the couch all day, eating fast food a lot, dancing with friends, etc.

The teacher will ask students to pick a topic like dogs, the beach, the weather, hiking, the zoo, etc. Students will need to all agree on the topic and have some prior knowledge about it. The teacher will explain that each person should contribute with three words to the story (and three words only at a time) and they will take turns to contribute. The teacher will start first then call on students to continue the story until the last person in the class finishes it. Try to move quickly around the room.

The teacher will ask students to come up with one positive word to describe themselves. The teacher will start, then popcorn around the room to give each student an opportunity to share. This helps with building self-esteem and confidence.

Pair students together to play a few round of rock, paper, scissors, shoot. Have students play a best 2 out of 3, so everyone has a couple of opportunities to play. To make the game a little more physical or to adapt to online learning, have students act out each object. If they choose rock, students will scrunch up. If they choose scissors, have students jump out, in the shape of an x with their arms diagonally out. If they choose paper, have students jump and put their arms together in the air and legs together to make a straight line. Another alternative is to have students choose a partner around the room, if a student loses, they must follow the person that won and stand behind them to encourage and root for them. This continues until there are only 2 students left to compete and the rest of the class and cheering behind them.

Have the students pick an item in the room. Pair students together. Have each student take a turn asking about what their peer's object may be. The questions asked should be yes or no questions. If a student is really stuck, then they can ask for a hint. You can give students sentences starters for example, "is the item that you have...". An alternative to this is to pick one student in the room to chose an item. Then popcorn around the classroom to have students try to guess what the student's item is. This is a alternate version of the headbands game.

The teacher calls out the words and does the hand motions to go with a song about bananas. The teacher will model for students, then the students will repeat what the teacher says. This is a fun call and response chant/song.

https://www.appleschools.ca/files/Energizer_Banana_Dance.pdf

Partner students together, or have them be partnered with their neighbor. If online, the teacher can prepare a list ahead of time with who will be working with who. Give students 2 minutes to draw their partner or neighbor. Then after the two minutes, have students show each other their drawings.

The teacher will start the game by using the sentence starter, “All my friends who...” then say a trait, color, event, or object aloud. Students who apply to what the teacher says, will stand up, those who don't stay seated. For example, “all my friends who have green on”. All of the students that have green on will get up. "All my friends that like going to the beach." You can also use things like wearing jewelry, have glasses, have pets, like sports, etc.

The teacher plays the song on Go Noodle and the students follow along with the video.

You say: “Hey _____”

They respond: “Hey what”

You say: “Are you ready?”

They say: “For what?”

You say: “To Pop!”

They say: “Pop what?”

You say: “Pop See Ko! My hands are high, my feet are low and this is how I Pop See Ko” (insert a dance move)

Then everyone joins in: “Pop See Ko, Pop pop see koo, pop see ko, pop pop see koo!”

(everyone does the dance move)

The teacher has a deck of cards. The teacher can either use Uno cards and use the colors, or use a regular deck and use the symbols, to assign tasks to the colors or symbols selected. The teacher will have students choose a card, and the teacher will reveal the color or symbol to the class. Then the class will have to complete whatever the task is assigned to that color or symbol. For example, if the teacher has Uno cards, and a student chooses a yellow card, the yellow card’s task might be to do 5 jumping jacks. If the teacher has a regular deck of cards and the student chooses a heart, the students would jump 3 times. Choose multiple students to choose cards, and repeat the steps. You can also create a legend and share it on the screen so students know what the task is for the color or symbol chosen.

The teacher will start by saying a phrase to the class. For example, I like ice cream. All students who agree with that statement will stand up from their chairs and say "just like me." Students who do not agree stay seated. Then the teacher will have students popcorn around so all students have a turn. For virtual learning, the teacher can have all students shut their cameras off and leave their microphones on. If students agree with something someone says, they will turn their camera on and say "just like me." If students don't agree, they will leave their cameras off.

https://www.pleacher.com/mp/puzzles/menuwack.html

There are many different topics that the teacher can choose from. The students will have to try and guess the wackie words to guess the hidden phrases in each photo.

The teacher will start by choosing a student in the classroom without telling anyone. The teacher will tell students to ask her yes or no questions to guess which student was picked. All students will stand up. If the question that was answered yes does not apply to the student, the student will sit down. After the last student is standing, the teacher will say if the students guessed correctly which student was picked. You can also call on a student to pick another classmate and answer the questions. If you are virtual, have students turn their cameras off if the question that was answered yes does not apply to the student.

Have students sit in a comfortable spot or area like the carpet, on the floor, or in their seat. Take deep breaths with students to make the room feel calm and relaxed. You can also play calming music in the background as well. Have students close their eyes and read them a calming passage. Then as students to re-open their eyes at the end.

Students will arrange their chairs in the middle of the classroom in a circle. The teacher will start in the middle of the circle and say "the great wind blows..." followed by a statement. If students agree with the statement, they will stand up and switch chairs. They must choose a chair that is not directly next to their previous chair. If a student does not sit in a chair and all seats are taken, then the student is now in the middle and says a statement. This continues for however long you want to play the game. For example, the great winds blows for anyone who likes pizza, plays a sport, likes to travel, favorite color is blue, has a pet, etc.