Core scripture: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Message: I can see her sitting in the front row.  We will call her Jane.  Jumpy Jane!  I bet you all have that kid in your classroom.  She comes into my last hour class, so full of life.  Her ponytail is always tight.  The warm smile never leaves her sun splashed face.  

The kid LOVES soccer.  I mean, it is like her life.  She eats, breathes, and sleeps soccer.  If I tell the class to journal about their weekend, Jumpy Jane is writing about sweating through five soccer tournament games.  

Watching this kid in my class is agonizing.  I feel her pain!  Her feet are constantly tapping.  She’s completely, undoubtedly restless.  I can see her brain humming.  If it was to talk, it might be saying, “I need a break!  Just get me out of my seat!  No offense to reading the next chapter of The Giver, but when is class over?”  

If Jumpy Jane is not out of her seat moving around at least once midway through the hour, I have lost her.  And it is not her fault!  It is the unique way God created her.  She is a kinesthetic learner, and if she does not have the opportunity to get oxygen to her brain, she checks out.

Enough about Jumpy Jane.  What can we do to fix this problem?  We MUST get kids out of their seats!  If you are not getting your students up and moving around at least once through a 50 minute class, you will lose half the kids daydreaming.  That’s just the reality of the world we live in.  The days of sitting for the entire period are done.  

By no means am I perfect here, but I do have a few ideas.  Take them for what they are worth.

1. Ask your students how many of them are kinesthetic hands-on learners.  You will probably gauge this yourself as you observe your classes, but asking never hurts.  An even better way to phrase it would be to say, “How many of you need to be moving around and cannot sit still all day?”  Watch the hands shoot up.  
2. Tell kids they can request a stretch break any time.  In the past I have assigned a job to one kid as a “movement specialist.”  Their job is to raise their hand and tell me when they need to move.  I always gave this job to the most ADHD kid in the class.  Believe me, whomever was chosen, they did their job phenomenally!
3. Try fidgets.  I bought a handful from Mardel before school started.  A few died immediately, oozing goo out the side.  We had a few fidget funerals, but the kids asked if they could bring some of their own in, and before I knew it, my room was exploding with fidgets.  We had to come up with the 10 Commandments of Fidgeting, but it has proved to be a worthwhile investment for us all.
4. Play a game of Would You Rather.  Would you rather read a book or write a paper?  Would you rather drink a Mountain Dew or Coke?  These can be curriculum based or even just goofy.  Anything to get the kids moving from one side of the room to the other.  We always have a little discussion about why they stood where they put themselves.  
5. Do a partner pair/share activity.  We practice this with fist bumps.  I give the students a question.  They raise their fists to find a partner, and they fist bump their partner when they find one.  I become the kid’s partner if there is an odd number, or I sometimes tell them to do a group of three.  This is an incredible way to check for understanding.  
6. Don’t pass out papers.  On purpose.  Tell the kids to come up and grab the copies of a handout.  Or get their copy of the new novel.  Or put something away that they have out.  Sometimes you will have a kid that is lazy and makes their neighbor do it for them.  I just smile and say, “Hey, this is your opportunity to move.  Take advantage!”  I won’t force the kid to move if they stay planted.  It is on them if they don’t choose to participate.
7. Play four corners.  Make a multiple choice question.  Each corner of the room is assigned a letter.  Have the kids move to which letter they think is the correct answer.  I always tell the story of how I was the only member of my class at MNU to move to one corner of the room, and I ended up getting the question right.  It proves a valuable lesson in being a leader, not a follower.
8. Do an old fashioned stretch break.  Lead the kids in right arm across, then left arm.  Maybe some neck rolls.  Sometimes I will do some jumping jacks with them.  You will always have the kids that quit at that point, but they get what they put into it.
9. Play a fun brain break song!  This is very elementary, but it has the possibility of allowing the kids to relive their glory days with Baby Shark or Purple Stew.  One of my all time favorites is Dr. Jean’s Banana Dance!  Or you could try Snaxx Challenge if your kids like Oreos and Doritos.  Search up any of these on YouTube.  Or, if you don’t have time to pull it up, just tell them to get up and do their favorite Fortnite emote.  Middle schoolers will LOVE you!
10. Do a class relay race.  Get creative!  Have them run across the room to answer curriculum questions and tag in partners to continue the race.  I also do board races, dividing the kids into two teams and allowing them to answer on my white board.  

Remember this … if you are teaching the right way, you will never know when the kids need movement because you yourself are moving continually.  That is why it is helpful to ask the kids if they need the stretch break.  You could even set a timer to go off midway through the hour to remind yourself.  

Figure out what makes your classes work.  For me, my 7th graders are so much more childlike than my 8th graders.  They enjoy more goofy stuff.  While a brain break song might work with them, my 8th graders would be eye rolling me.  I do more pair/share activities with them.  Whatever works.

God created all kids differently.  He gifted them with unique abilities to glorify Him.  1 Corinthians 12:7 says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  Don’t leave out our kinesthetic learners.  Allow them to showcase their talents and thrive!

Challenge: Try a new suggestion from the list above.  It may just turn out to be what your class needs to thrive!

Song application: “Move” by TobyMac

Keep walkin’, soldier keep movin’ on

(Move) Keep walkin’, until the mornin’ comes

(Move) Keep walkin’, soldier keep movin’ on

And lift your head, it ain’t over yet, ain’t over yet

Just for fun: I once had an ADHD girl a long time ago.  She continually wore a shirt that said, “I have ADHD.  Oh, look!  A chicken!”  What a fun reminder to get her up and moving!

Just for fun (part 2): I taught an ADHD kid years ago that forgot to take his meds.  The class was getting started on their work while he was somehow wrapping his sweatshirt into a straight jacket around him.  His eyes became wild, like an animal caught in a trap, as he wiggled in his seat, unable to escape the conundrum he put himself into.  I walked over to him and whispered if he remembered to take his noon meds.  His eyes shot up at me as he became lost in deep thought for a split second before he shook his head vigorously.  Needless to say, I sent him to the nurse!