Brain Breaks

For those who don't know, my current day job involves teaching first and second graders to read (I'm a private, in-home tutor primarily for early elementary school). I absolutely love what I do! The kids are hilarious and wonderful, and it's so much fun to get to spend time with them every week.

Part of the deal that comes with working with students that young, though, is that their attention spans aren't always the longest. And so, brain breaks become extremely important! Because my time is so limited with them, I try to keep the brain breaks as productive as possible, without them feeling like actual "work". What we do during those times depends on the kid. I have one student who loves to play hangman more than anything, so I'll usually set a restriction on the word related to what we're doing (syllables, certain vowel sounds, etc...) and let him loose.

For some of my kids who are more into drawing, I've started doing a drawing/writing exercise. You know the old game where you hold a notebook on top of your head and try to draw? Well, it turns out that first grader arms are too short for them to reach all the way to the top of their head! So, instead, we hold the boards out in front of us, try to draw, and write a sentence about the results. It can end up being pretty hilarious sometimes!

A few photos require some explanation. The top right is supposed to be a horse. I had to cut off the text, but she wrote "My horse is not good. I mean, look at it". I started cracking up at that! It was so hard to keep myself composed. In other news, never underestimate a first grader's ability to make a deep philosophical statement, even if they don't really understand what they're saying. "This is a fish and it is not a fish". It is intended to be a fish, but it certainly doesn't look like one. So which matters more, what we intend or what happens? Which one is real? Anyway, not what she meant, but she wrote the sentence entirely on her own, and I thought it was worth some more thought.

And, of course, one of my drawings to end on!

Her fish may not know what it is, but my fish is very happy to be a somewhat misshapen fish.

Have a great Easter weekend everyone!