60-Second Strategy: Jitter Sticks

Third- and fourth-grade teacher Fiona Medley, at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School (PETES), in Gatineau, Quebec, has a great brain break that brings her learners back to attention when they get restless—she writes action words on Popsicle sticks and draws them as prompts that allow students to explore how to move to the word written on the stick. “[Jitter sticks] are a great way for students to expend their energy and for teachers to focus the students,” Medley says. “The movement really activates their brains.”