Brain Breaks Part 17: High Fives!

This is easily one of my FAVORITE Brain Breaks because it creates such a positive atmosphere, therefore strengthening the JOY in your classroom, ANNNNND an added bonus is that it contributes to your classroom community. What is it?! Exactly what it sounds like… just high fives… plain and simple…

You can tell kids to high five 4 (or however many) different people in the room
- This is so fast it is more of a Brain Burst
You can tell kids to high five everyone wearing the same color as them
You can tell kids to high five everyone with the same birth month as them
- You can either tell them they can’t communicate using their voice OR
- You can tell them they can communicate only in the TL
You can tell kids to high five everyone with the same color eyes as them
You can tell kids to high five everyone with the same color hair as them

OR MY FAVORITE

You tell them that they have exactly 30 seconds to high five EVERY PERSON in the classroom
- Obviously if you have a smaller size class then give them less seconds

Later in the year when you do have community established and a culture where everyone is respectful and kind to each other (this takes time to create) you can spice up the high fives and make this brain break novel again with added compliments. I didn’t start doing the compliments in Spanish until year two at my last school, the first year I just did them in English. These compliments could be anything (and it is good to give them examples to help give some kiddos ideas):

I like your hair
I love your shirt
I think it is cool that you wear mismatched socks every day
I really like that you’re kind to everyone all the time
It was awesome when you knew the answer nobody else did in Math class
Your eyes are pretty
You’re super good at football
You’re so awesome

Y’all have heard me say before that it is equally important that we teach social emotional skills in our class. Teaching and modeling students how to give compliments is really easy and so beneficial. They immediately feel the effects and appreciate receiving them, so it makes it easier to give them.

It is OK if you don’t get to the compliment stage with a class! For example, this year, I only reached this stage with 5 of my 9 classes before I went out on maternity leave in February. It is incredibly important that you have that safe, kind culture established before adding compliments. It is pretty special though, when you do add them. You can really see how it lifts kids spirits and brightens their days (and yours if you play too! which I ALWAYS do…. in fact, it is for that reason I don’t have a class video… merrr…. but I do have another workshop video to share!!!!)