Brain Ninjas

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classroom fun

9 Quick Games to Teach Your Students

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Quick games are a great way to help your students transition, build relationships, foster teamwork and give your students a brain break between instruction and working. We've pulled together some of our favourites. Come read the whole post.

The pressure is always on teachers to move through the curriculum and to use their learning time as wisely as possible. We agree. There are already enough interruptions to learning these days that you don’t need to create more distractions. So, why would we encourage you to place games with your students? Quick games are one way we build relationships, teach students to follow directions, teach our classroom management expectations and foster teamwork between classmates. Come read some of our favourite quick games you can use in your upper elementary classroom or with your fellow teachers.

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Why You Should Revive Old Playground Games

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Playground games are a great way to build classroom community, burn some energy and have some fun. Come learn some of our favourite playground games and learn why teaching them is important.

Are you looking for something quick, easy and fun to do in the gym or outside at recess? We’ve been searching for games that students can play that don’t require a lot of equipment and or are simple enough that students can play them on their own with adult support. Playground games are the answer!

Students love older playground games that seem new to them. Even something as basic as teaching students a new chant to use while skipping can boost engagement. Read more to learn how we use playground games to build relationships, get in some physical activity and have some fun!

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Mastering the Angles: Innovative Approaches to Teaching Geometry Concepts

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Are you looking for ways to teach geometry concepts in your upper elementary classroom? This is one of our favourite units. We teach 2D shapes, 3D objects and transformations with interactive math notebooks, task cards, Boom Cards and a huge project where we build an arcade. It's so much fun! Come see how we do this in our math class.

When we start talking about quadrilaterals, trapezoids, and parallel lines, many students get lost quickly. There are so many new and uncommon words introduced in our geometry concepts unit and it is especially difficult for English Language Learners. These are some of the ways we build an understanding of shape and space concepts in our classroom.

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How to Build Community With Theme Days for School

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Theme days are a great way to build community and school spirit, but it's important to have clear rules about what is or is not appropriate. Come read through our guidelines and some of the days we've tried.

Have you been put in charge of school spirit days? Looking for ideas? Well, we surveyed everyone we could think of everywhere we could think of to come up with a list of possible theme days you could host at your school.

Dressing up can come with its challenges. It’s great fun for some, but it can also be stressful for others. No matter what the theme, we encourage you to always make it voluntary, fun and no judging (for best or anything else).

Keep in mind not all your students will have access to the things they would need in order to dress up so no one should ever be excluded. And, you DO NOT have to have a dress up day every week of school. It’s ok to keep it simple and just have the occasional day. That’s what makes it special.

And remember, some theme days work better for different age groups. As with any theme day, the day is supposed to be fun. If there is any chance there will be cultural inappropriateness, racism or insensitivity to others, the theme day is not right for your school.

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How to Prank Your Students

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Are you looking for a fun but harmless prank for April Fool's Day? Pranks are great any time of year and they are a great way to bond with your students. Check out these free and easy to use pranks for your upper elementary classroom.

Do you like a lighthearted and fun prank? Do you have students that enjoy a good laugh? Are you looking for a way to celebrate April Fools’ Day? We were always struggling with ways to prank our students in a fun and caring way, and we’ve come up with a few great ones over the past few years.

If you have the kind of relationship with your students where everyone can enjoy a lighthearted, silly prank, then you’re doing something right. We are very clear with our students about what does or does not make for a good prank.

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