I teach more kids than adults, so I �ll offer what nuggets of wisdom I have.
I usually...
1) We play WHAT �S YOUR *** NAME? (*** topic chosen by teacher) I �m Matt - M is for monkey (I chose animals as an example, but you could use any lexical set you want) so for today you should call me Matt Monkey - and I will call you all by your animal name.
2) Kids in a circle. Hands, palm up on your knees. Put your left hand ON the right hand of the person on your left - put your RIGHT HAND UNDER the left hand of the person on your left.
Go around the circle passing a hand clap across to the partner (from your left hand onto the right hand of the person next to you) and count from 1 - 10 (or 20, or 15 or whatever the teacher chooses). Once the group has gone around the circle a few times there are a number of speed-bumps you can throw in...like replace numbers with words...1,2,banana,4,5,pineapple etc. Introduce the challenges one at a time though, or it can be overwhelming to remember;)
3) Getting into groups activity: MUSICAL NUMBERS. Play an upbeat song and have the students move/dance/walk around the room. Teacher stops the music and calls out a number. Students then get into groups of that number. Repeat with a few variations before settling on the number of groups you need for the activity to follow.
4) In groups, have brainstorm some ideas for GOOD BEHAVIOR/HABITS for a student in the classroom. RULES basically, but it �s modelling the positive behavior. You might want to introduce your own classroom reward system at this point too.
To share my reward system: I made "Matt Money". I bought some cheap candy and pencils/books/small prizes. I assigned each prize a value. Students in my class (from 5 years old and up) achieve little fake banknotes. Money can be saved up to buy a more expensive prize - like a pretty pencil (I �m in China, stuff is cheap!) or an interesting eraser etc, or they can use it straight away for stickers/cheap candy (just 1 per note!). And WOW can these kids save it up! I promised them ice-cream from McD �s if they saved up 50MM! Of course, start off the reward system making it quite easy to achieve ... but get gradually more reserved with your rewards...make it more challenging to get the rewards, but always a positive experience.
5) We round off the GOOD BEHAVIORS by doing "Classroom Instructions" activity.
Teacher calls out a high-frequency instruction: Stand Up, Take out your books, Put your book under your chair etc. Every so often I �ll toss in something silly: Put your pencil under your chair, stand on 1 leg.
Hope that helps. If you want more, I �ll be happy to help. The above would take around an hour.
