Grease on the wheels – PosEd
Grease on the wheels – PosEd

Grease on the wheels – PosEd

“Panda P” – a brain break game from Positive Education course I attended back in week 1 of my Dubai adventure, reappeared on a leadership training session last Sunday. It made my senior colleagues smile so here it is for you. Feel free to start you lesson with a useful retrieval task that will make your students… smile.

Panda P

Imagine two children playing rhyming games.

A sailor went to sea sea sea to see, to she what should could see see see.

But all that she could see see see, was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea

So here is the learning retrieval task.

Using a repetition mantra similar to those playground rhyming activities – two opposing learners begin.

  • Two thigh slaps… and then…
  • cross-hand left slap/clap…
  • cross-hand right slap/clap.

On each cross hand slap/clap, students recall a category term. These could be nonsensical or equally, a previously learnt items. For example –

Adjectives to describe Hamlet for participant A
Adjectives to describe Juliet for participant B

Adjectives to describe fruits for participant A
Adjectives to describe vegetables for participant B

More grease

Borrowing from “improv comedy” – in pairs or threes, participants recollect or reflect on a session, lesson an activity. The grease on the conversational wheels is this. After the first share – the conversation is passed on the partner at the signal of a chime.

The partner always begins with “Yes – and…”

This keeps the conversation going… and participants recalling what they can remember.

More grease

Lastly – borrowed from campfire games that I am sure, many of you will know. Picture a Mexican wave.

  • Level 1: A leader (it doesn’t have to be the teacher) sends a “clap” to the right, and around the circle.

Maybe with the challenge to see how quickly it returned to the leader.

  • Level 2: Two claps – around the circle.
  • Level 3: Two claps – to the left AND to the right. The crossover the fun part.
  • Level 4: Add a command such as “jump,” or “bounce” or “reverse” to the game.

All good fun at the start of a lesson.

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