I don't know what to call these...but they're cool. :)

In case anyone is curious, here are my questions for these different...conversation starters/reader response/brain break balls?  For the classroom or homeschooling mom.  10 points and maybe even a gold star to anyone who can give them an uber-cool name. :)

GETTING TO KNOW YOU (Yellow Ball) (Keep in mind these are for kids in a first-week-of-class or new-student setting. :):

• How many brothers and sisters do you have?
• What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
• What is your favorite book?
• Do you have any cool secret talents?
• What is your favorite subject in school?
• What is something you're afraid of?
• What is your favorite sports team?
• What are you excited about this year?
• What was the best vacation you've ever had?
• What makes a good friend?
• What do you want to be when you grow up?
• "I want a teacher who _______"
• Name 3 of your hobbies.
• What is one thing you're really good at?
• What is your favorite sport to play?
• If you could travel anywhere for one week, where would you go?
• Have you ever met anyone famous?
• Do you have any pets?
• Where were you born? (And when is your birthday?)
• What is your favorite color?
• Would you rather live in the ocean or on the moon?
• Would you rather be blind or deaf, and why?
• Do you have any pet peeves?
• What was your favorite birthday?
• Who is your hero?
• Who is the funniest person you know?
• "If I were an animal, I would be..."
• "I learn best when..."
• Are you a morning or night person?

BRAIN BREAKS (Red Ball):
(In case you don't know, "brain breaks" are short movement activities to do throughout the day that increase blood flow to the brain and help improve concentration and motivation.  Research says doing one every half hour can make ALL the difference in student focus, especially for the few minutes following.)

• Conga line for 2 minutes!
• Seasonal movement--so, fly like a witch or prance like a reindeer, hop like the Easter bunny, etc.--for 1 minute
• Wall or floor push-ups...x20!
• Line up in order of your birthdays!
• 20 jumps over a pencil on the floor! (You could do rope, but I wanted things that mostly didn't take any extra prep work...)
• Mirror-mirror the student of the week (basically they do something and you copy)...for 1 minute
• Clap the Rhythm...you could do the teacher thing and do a two-bar clap, OR have them clap out beats and rhythms for fun.  Beautiful music!  :)
• "Power pose" (AKA Superhero Pose) for 2 minutes!
• Motion song of choice (Tony Chestnut, Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, the Macarena, Hokey Pokey, etc.)
• Pass around a beach ball for 2 minutes!
• Find it Fast!  (kinda like "I Spy" but with motion...you call out a physical trait, like white or round, and they have to move to touch something in the room that fits that description--no losers!)
• Jump Skip-Counting (by 2s to 20, 3s to 30, 4s to 40, etc.)
• Yoga Time (do 2 poses from Yoga Card List)
• Rock, Paper, Scissors with your neighbor--1 min!
• Try to part your neighbor's hair--with your breath!
• Sing and SIGN the ABCs!
• Whole Body spelling--pick a letter on the word wall and spell out the words with your arms and legs as each letter
• Dance Party--one song on the Smartboard (there are a TON of videos on YouTube)
• How many jumping jacks can you do in 1 minute?
• 5-4-3-2-1 (You make it up, like 5 jumping jacks, 4 toe touches, 3 arm circles, 2 squats, and 1 body roll. :)
• Act like a (name some animal)--1 minute.
• Line up in order from tallest to shortest--NO TALKING!
• Six Spots Dice Game (You have 6 pre-designated spots, and students move to whichever one they want.  You roll a die and anyone at that spot has to sit down.  All the other students can move around to another number if they want, and you do it again.  And again.  And again.  'Til there are only a few students left--the winners!)

FICTION READING RESPONSE (Green Ball, to be played with after reading fiction, obvi):

• What is the setting in this story?
• Do you think the title fits the story?
• Did the book leave you with any questions?
• What was your favorite part?
• Was there anything that surprised you?
• If you could ask the author one question, what would it be?
• What do you think will happen next?
• Retell this story with a beginning, middle, and end.
• Does this story remind you of anything or anyone?
• If YOU were writing this story, what is one thing you would change?
• What genre is this story, and how do you know?
• What kind of reader do you think would most enjoy this story?
• "I felt _____ during (some part) in the story, because ______."
• How did the main character change in this story?
• "One scene I could really visualize well was..."
• If you could ask the main character one question, what would it be?
• What is the point of view in this story?
• Who is the MAIN character?  Who is your FAVORITE character?
• What is your favorite line or quote?
• What is one reading strategy you used? (Chunking difficult words, visualizing, summarizing, etc.)
• What was the problem in this story?  What was the solution?
• What is the theme or message in this story?

NONFICTION RESPONSE (Blue Ball):

• What is the main idea?
• What are 3 details that support the main idea?
• Name 3 text features that show this text is nonfiction. (For you non-teachers out there, text features include anything that helps organize information to make it easier to understand--like charts and diagrams and graphs, captions on photographs, bolded words and the like.)
• What is one text feature that helped YOU understand the text better?
• What is one thing you already knew about this topic before reading?
• What is one question you still have?
• Is the title a good one for this text?
• What is one interesting fact you learned?
• What is your opinion about all the facts in this text?
• What is one vocabulary word that is important to this text?
• What kind of nonfiction text is this? (newspaper/journal article, factual book, digital information, textbook, encyclopedia, biography, autobiography, atlas, etc.)
• Why do you think the author wrote this nonfiction text?
• Did you enjoy this text?  Why or why not?
• Where could you look to find more information about this topic?
• Does this text remind you of anything?
• Who would you recommend this text to, and why?