Virtual Classroom Theme Days

Today I'm excited because I've been editing our Virtual Classroom Survival Guide and it is incredible. With more and more districts deciding to start the year off by continuing the distance-learning model, this will be an amazingly powerful resource for elementary-school educators everywhere. I especially connect with all of the Social and Emotional Learning components seamlessly woven throughout.

In the planning stage, I came up with some Theme Days ideas for your virtual classroom, but since it's almost 200 pages long, we didn't have room for them, so here you go, just for fun.

Mindful Monday

Mindfulness is all about staying in the moment, mindfully aware, without judgment. One of the easiest ways to teach this is through mindful breathing. Try a variety of ways to focus on the breath with intention rather than just let it happen automatically. Our four favorites include:

1. Square breathing: Inhale slowly for four counts, pause for four counts, exhale for four counts, and pause again for four counts. Invite your students to draw a square box in the air as they practice.

2. Five-finger tracing: With the left hand raised, take your right-hand pointer finger and trace each finger starting at the wrist, traveling up and down the thumb, then each finger as you take deep, refreshing breaths, inhaling as you trace up and exhaling as you trace back down. This will give you five cleansing breaths each time you trace your hand.

3. Crazy-eight breathing: Trace a sideways number-eight racetrack in the air, inhaling as you trace in an upward motion and exhaling as you trace in a downward motion. Try this as you go 8 times around the track.

4. Mantra breathing: A mantra is a phrase or slogan that we repeat to ourselves; when we pick a mindfulness mantra, it’s meant to help with focus and concentration. Sample mantras to self-soothe include: I am strong. Inhale courage, exhale worries. Peace begins with me. I am full of greatness. I am a kind friend. I listen to my heart.

Mantra tapping: Encourage your peacemakers to choose a mantra that they connect with, then using their pointer finger and middle finger on the right hand, gently cross the midline to tap out the mantra from the wrist to the elbow of the left arm as they repeat their mantra. Once they have gone up and back down the elbow the number of times that matches their age, switch sides and tap the right arms from the wrist to the elbow and back while repeating the mantra silently or quietly.

Yoga poses: Encourage your students to try empathy yoga to connect with a parent or a sibling in their home. Visit Giselle online at Kids Yoga Stories for more fun, engaging, and calming yoga poses.

Think-BIG Tuesday

Carve out five minutes every Tuesday to help your learners work on sharpening a skill that they want to improve. Ask them to think about and decide on an individualized goal.

Maybe they need five minutes to practice tying their shoelaces.

Perhaps they need to spend more time strengthening their pencil grip.

It’s possible they want to practice counting to 20 or higher.

Or they could spend some time learning how to spell their names.

Maybe they want to learn some vocabulary words in another language.

It could be that there’s a behavior that they want to work on, like waiting more patiently.

Wellbeing Wednesday

Consider setting aside time once a week to get an emotional barometer by asking your students to share with one another how they’re feeling.

Using a scale from 5-0, encourage your students to check in by showing on their fingers how they’re doing.

5 fingers = Great.

4 fingers = Pretty well.

3 fingers = Okay.

2 fingers = Not very well.

1 finger = I’m having a really hard time.

0 fingers/fist = I need some extra support.

Note: Invite them to put their number in the chat privately if you’d rather they not share publicly.

Naming 'em and claiming 'em: Another way for us to engage students in self-awareness around their wellness is helping them learn about and understand their feelings. If they can name their feelings, it’ll be easier to tame them.

One easy way for use to share who we are and how we feel is by prompting students to explore how certain things make them feel. Encourage students to see how their classmates feel as well.

Ask students for a thumbs up if they agree, then ask them to explain:

Seeing someone cry makes me feel sad.

Snakes scare me.

Getting yelled at confuses me.

Laughing with someone makes me happy.

Not getting my way makes me mad.

I’m afraid of the dark.

I get embarrassed if I fall down.

I feel sad if my friend laughs at me.

I’m glad when my friend shares with me.

Losing a game disappoints me.

Use this opportunity to debrief the fact that feelings are not good or bad, but rather comfortable or uncomfortable, small or big, easy or difficult, and that they are as individual as we are. Help students understand their emotions by getting in touch with how their faces look and how their bodies feel when certain emotions visit them.

These Emotion Pops could help you with that; they're available as a part of our our Virtual Classroom Survival Guide, on sale for $15 by clicking the PayPal button in the right-hand column on the home page.

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Thankful Thursday

What three things are you grateful for? Encourage your students to write or draw what they’re thankful for every Thursday, because what we appreciate, appreciates!

Draw a picture to give to a friend to thank them for a kindness.

Color a picture for someone who serves, like the mail carrier or garbage workers.

Send a thank-you note to a first responder, like the police, EMT, or firefighters.

Do an extra chore at home to thank your parents.

Do a silly dance to make someone special smile.

Say thank-you to teachers, parents, grandparents, cashiers, waiters, waitresses, anyone who is in a service job.

Funday Fri-yay

Set aside some time for an interactive, engaging activity that’s designed to be fun, like:

Ø A scavenger hunt

Ø A Kahoot or other interactive online game

Ø A smile-off (the person who smiles first loses)

Ø A Guess Who? game