Brain Breaks Part 32: Foot Jives! A Novel Twist on an old fave

Hey there teacher!

It has been a while since I’ve sat down to write a blog for you, but I am happy to be here now! I have started a morning routine that is changing my life (literally), and believe it or not I am writing this early, early in the morning after a mile and a half run, gratitude journaling, and more! WHAT!?!?!? Who IS THIS LOCA!?!?!

Anyways, I am excited that I have found a way to connect with you more intentionally and in a way that doesn’t take away from my family! ?

Way back in 2016, I shared a Brain Break I learned from Musicuentos. You can read that blog here. I call it Choco-Choco or hand jives, and it is a classic. I brought it back this week, and kids are really happy!

Even my new students have caught on very quickly, and some are just as fast as my students who’ve been doing it for a year because they know the pattern and rhythm from “Double Double This This” is what they call it! 

Remember, you don’t have to play with the word Chocolate, it can be any four-syllable word! It works in EVERY language! Yesterday, one of my fourth graders discovered yet another word to add to our list that works well “CAPIBARA”! YAY!

Here’s a video of kids playing with the word Mantequilla (butter in Spanish) so you can have a visual! (Faster version first then slowed down – the slower version was a Brain Break Ninja – one of my class jobs– teaching a new student how to do it!)

Last year, I saw my friend Bertha Delgadillo share a novel version of this with her HS students using their feet! It got my Brain going and I created another novel twist off of it! Watch her reel here: 

I aim to make most of my Brain Breaks community building, so I had the kids use their feet to “high five” as part of the pattern so they were interacting with each other throughout the short break in input! 

This is what it looks like:

And here’s the break down:

Kids pair up and find a partner. Sometimes I say, “play with 5 different people!” or “play with as many people as you can before the timer goes off” and then they face each other. 

Next they jump in place with feet together for the first syllables, if you’re doing the word “chocolate” this would be the “choco choco” part:

Then they jump with feet shoulder width apart for the second part of the word, again, in our example it would be “la la”:

Then on the final syllable, they are going to high five with their feet, alternating feet! For the first “te” they’ll high five with their right foot and then for the second they’ll use their left foot!

Watch that video again in slow motion (at the end of the video!):

Remember, one of the most beautiful parts about Brain Breaks is the community that is being built WHILE they’re happening…. YOU should be part of that community. If you’re physically comfortable doing this Brain Break, participate with your students! 

Warning: it definitely is exhausting!!! I can only do it with 5 kids before being SERIOUSLY winded and by that time it is time to move on with class! Sometimes, I end up doing a 10 second Breathing Brain Break right after! LOL

I hope you love doing this and your students too! If you share, please tag me! I love to see and hear y’all’s JOY! Even if you don’t post or share on social, email me and let me know how it is going!

Happy Teaching!

Love,

La Maestra Loca