I am Resilient

Activity

Click HERE to access Unit 1 Activities

Click HERE to access Unit 2 Activities

15 Minute Activities

Index Card Tower

Materials: index cards and something to write with

Directions:

Put students in groups of 3-4
Give each group a stack of index cards.
The group has to find something they have in common and write it on the index card.
As they write the index cards, they can start creating a tower.
The more they find that they have in common, the more cards they have to build their tower with.
The group with the tallest tower wins!

Meet Me In The Middle

Directions:

Students stand in a circle.
One student gets to be in the middle and says, "Meet me in the middle if...." and one thing about them. Examples:
- You have a brother
- Like Pokémon
- Your favorite color is pink
Then they get to choose someone who met them in the middle to be in the middle next.

Compass Name Game

Directions:

Students stand in a circle.
One student is "it" and stands in the middle.
Whoever is "it" will walk up to someone and will give one of the following directions: you, me, left, right.
As soon as a direction is given, the rest of the students will count out loud, "1,2,3!"
The person who was chosen, has to quickly say the name of that person before the 3 seconds are up.
- You - they say their own name
- Me - they say the "it" person's name
- Left - they say the person's name to their left
- Right - they say the person's name to their right
If they get the name correct in 3 seconds or less, they change places with the person who is "it." If they don't, the person who is "it" gets to go again.

Alphabet Game

Directions:

Students sit in a circle.
Someone starts by saying, "On my way to school I saw...." and then something that starts with A.
- Example, "On my way to school I saw an apple."
The next student has to say the same sentence but then add a word that starts with the next letter.
- Example, "On my way to school I saw an apple and a bear."
Continue around the circle with each student adding a word from the alphabet.
If a student forgets one of the words or messes up, the game restarts and they start with a new word that starts with A.

Alibi

Better for upper elementary

Directions:

Explain that an alibi is a story of where someone was at when a crime took place.
Students sit in a circle.
One student is chosen to be the investigator and is sent to the hallway.
Once the investigator is out of the classroom, one student is chosen to be "it."
The "it" person is the one who did the crime.
Every student will think of a silly (quick) alibi to tell the investigator when they come back in.
- Examples, "I was eating ice cream with my mom." "I was bowling." "I was at the dentist."
The investigator comes back and and gets the alibi from every student.
After everyone has gone around the circle and given their alibi to the investigator, they will go around the circle one more time to say their alibi again. Everyone will use the exact same alibi EXCEPT for the person who is "it."
The investigator has to pay attention to everyone's alibi so that they can spot the one who changed their alibi the second time.

Talking Circles

Better for upper elementary

Directions:

Divide the class into 2 equal groups.
One of the groups will be the outside circle and one will be the inside circle.
The inside circle will walk clockwise and the outside circle will walk counter-clockwise (like the picture above).
Start some music and when you stop it. They have to stop and face the person from the opposite circle.
Then ask a get to know you question that they have to discuss for 1 minute. (What's your favorite thing to do after school. What's the best gift you have ever received. What's your favorite tv show.)
Repeat with different questions.

10 Minute Activities

Hot Seat

Click HERE to see a video of how to play.

Directions:

One student sits in a chair with their back to the board.
On the board the teacher writes a word (Example - apple)
The other students have to give clues without saying the word.
When the student in the hot seat gets it right, they get to choose someone else to be in the hot seat.

River - Bank

Click HERE to see a video of how to play.

Directions:

students line up in 2 rows, facing each other, with about three feet inbetween them.
When you say, "river" they jump into the space. When you say "bank" they jump back to where they were.
If a student jumps into the "river" when you said "bank," they are out (and vice versa).
Go faster to make it more difficult.

This or That

Directions:

All students will start in the middle of the classroom.
Teacher stands in the middle and gives two options while pointing to opposite walls.
- Example: Point to left wall and say summer, point to right wall and say winter.
Students will walk to the wall that they like best.

Click HERE for a list of this or that questions.

Balloon Bop

Materials: a balloon

Directions:

Everyone holds hands and stands in a circle.
The objective is to keep the balloon in the air, BUT students cannot let go of each others hands AND they can't use their feet
- They can use their head, shoulder, knee, stomach, hands while holding their partners hand, etc.
Optional - Set a timer to see how long they can keep the balloon up so that they can try to beat their previous time.
Optional - Can you can add additional balloons to make it more difficult.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Waterfall

Directions:

Pair all students up to play 1 game of rock, paper, scissors.
Whoever wins will find someone else to play against who also won their round.
The person who didn't win, will follow the person who won and cheer them on as they compete against someone else.
Every time someone loses, they will join the "waterfall" to cheer on the winner.
Eventually two students should be playing against each other with several students behind them cheering them on.

Follow the Leader

Directions:

One student is chosen to be the guesser and will go into the hallway.
The rest of the students will stand in a circle.
One of the students is chosen to be the leader.
The leader will choose different motions that the class has to silently follow (stomping, clapping, patting knees, etc.). Let them practice following the leader for a few moments.
The guesser comes back to the class, and stands in the middle of the circle while the rest of the students are still following the motions of the leader.
The guesser has 3 guesses to figure out who the leader is.

Wompkin

Materials: Dice (1 or 2)

Directions:

Students sit in a circle.
Someone starts by rolling the dice.
The student who rolled will chose something for the class to do the same number of times as what's on the dice.
- Example: "Student rolls a 4 and has everyone do 4 push ups."
Then they pass the dice to the next person.

Comfort Zone

Directions:

Explain that there are 3 zones for this game:
- Comfort zone - (Where you are standing in the circle) You feel completely fine and comfortable, heart rate is low and calm.
- Growth zone - (A step backwards from the circle) You feel more alert, heart rate is up a little bit.
- Panic zone - (All the way to the wall) You feel scared, worried, very nervous, heart rate is high.
Teacher will give different "imagine if" statements and students will move based on their comfort zone.
Examples:
- Imagine a huge 12 foot snake slithered into out classroom.
- Imagine if you were sitting on the couch watching your favorite tv show.
- Imagine if you had a spelling test coming up but forgot to study.