One of the primary ways we are reaching out to our students during school closure, is through lunch bunch zoom meetings. We are inviting students by grade level and it is an open group to anyone who wants to attend.
Here is a draft of lesson plan. We always divide the lunch bunch into 3 ten minute sections of games/discussions/activities. This really creates structure and flow.The most popular games are as follows.
- Scavenger Hunt
- Brain Teasers: Rebus Puzzles
- Tribonds: What do these 3 words have in common?
- Question of The Day
- Would You Rather? (click for slide of some)
- Dear Abby letters (Or Dear Max and Spike who are our mascots)
- Simon Says
- Four Corner (virtual style)
- Show and Tell
- What in the Picture is Different/Missing? (Show side by side)
- 5 second Game
- True/False
- Draw What I am Describing
The best practices we have discovered are :
- Advertise the Lunch Bunches on Social Media (FB, Twitter, Insta)
- When visiting class zooms remind kids about Counselors Lunch Bunch
- Combine SEL activities and relection with fun and interactive games
- Use “Show and Tell” as an opportunity for kids to want to come back and show and tell the next group
- Invite other staff to make cameos
- Make sure to use students’ names out loud as often as possible to affirm connection
Other Resources:
Here is a great blog post on some zoom activities from @notsowimpyteacher Some are described above but there are others that I really like.
Here is a compilation of SEL zoom games I copied from FB (see document for credits)
I got this from Facebook Counselors’ Exchange: Coping Skills Jeopardy Game https://jeopardylabs.com/play/coping-skills-jeopardy-157
A fabulous comprehensive list that I also nabbed from the Counselors’ Exchange: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ZcLnaMYe6irwGL9p5JTv84mpcj4Zq_HW4H6KciVrLc/mobilebasic
How are you playing four corners virtually? I would love to hear more.
Cyndi,
I got the idea from the notsowimpyteacher.com blog post. https://bit.ly/2SklM3y
“4 Corners– Have students use a personal dry-erase board or a piece of paper and a marker for this game. Students choose a number (1-4 or 1-6), write it on their board, and hold it up for everyone to see. The teacher then rolls a dice and the number she rolls is the number that is out. If the teacher rolls a 4, every student holding up a number 4 will be considered out of that game. Continue until you only have one player left.”
What are your favorite FaceBook Groups?