Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1505501
10 Pass the Ball Students stand in a circle. One person pretends to hold a large ball in their hands. They pass it to someone else with great eye contact across the circle. That person needs to pretend to catch the ball and then pass it to someone else. That person catches it and passes it to someone else. Etc. After a minute or two, have students make a high-pitched "boowoo" sound when they pass the ball. It's a funny sound that people get giggles from. After another minute, tell students to make whatever sound that comes to them (as long as it's appropriate) when they pass the ball. Counting to 10 in a Circle Students stand in a circle. In a random order they count digits up to 10. Each student can say only one digit at a time, and if two people count at the same time, the group starts back again at zero. If the group is successful, challenge them to do the ABCs. Walk Cool Play a fun song that students can dance to around the room or at least "walk cool" to. After about 15 seconds, pause the music and tell students that they need to freeze. Then they are to partner up with the person that is closest to them. If someone needs a partner, partner up with them. Instruct the pair to come up with the most amazing handshake in the world. Tell them that they have 1 minute to come up with it and practice it. They also need to remember the name of their partner. Play the music again for about 15 seconds. Freeze it and tell them to partner up with a new partner. They are to come up with an amazing slogan (like "winter is coming"). On the third freeze they are to find a partner and give each other kind nicknames after learning a bit about each other (1 minute), and on the fourth freeze, they are to find a partner and give them a hug. After they did the handshake, slogan, nickname and hug with four different partners, tell them that they have 60 seconds to find those four partners and do these again with ...to get your students laughing, connected and engaged By EQ Schools S T U D E N T S W H O P L AY together learn and work better together. Games lead us to feel more connected to others, feel emotionally safer and more regulated, and help us experience relaxed alertness and be more fully present and mindfully here. All these states lead us to be more ready to learn, collaborate and create with others. Games also bring a little bit of vulnerability to the surface in a way that more deeply connects students and teachers to one another and makes failure and being an imperfect human feel a little bit safer. If you play the games below with your students, they are more likely to ask a question about the quadratic formula, how to write a word, or to admit and even celebrate making a mistake after they took a risk in answering a question in class. Check out these amazing games and consider starting your class every day with one of these games in the next month! awesome Tips 24 cta.org Feature