November can feel gray and sluggish in the classroom. This episode shares five simple classroom energy boosters to re-energize both you and your students. We walk through the five Cs of classroom re-energizing: Change, Connect, Create, Celebrate, and Center. Each C is full of practical ways to add small sparks of novelty. You’ll learn how tiny shifts, like tweaking your classroom ambiance or building connection through gratitude, can make a big difference. These strategies break routines just enough to rekindle excitement, boost engagement, and bring warmth and delight back to your classroom - one tiny shift at a time!

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/classroom-energy-boosters/

Resources:

• Relax Kids: The Wishing Star: 52 Magical Meditations for Children 
• Relax Kids - Aladdin's Magic Carpet: Let Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and Other Fairytale Characters Show You and Your Child how to Meditate and Relax 
• The Brick
• Instagram: James Cook @jamescookartwork
• Join the Teacher Approved Club!
• Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
• Shop our teacher-approved resources.
• Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
• Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
• Leave a comment or rating on Spotify.

Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 37, Holiday Behavior Management Tips to Help You Survive Until Winter Break!
• Episode 51, Teacher Work Smarter Tip: Plan for Inside Recess Now
• Episode 53, How Teachers Can Name What Matters to Survive the Mid Year Slump
• Episode 230, How to Keep Students Engaged Through Every Season of the School Year

Mentioned in this episode:

Set up back-to-school the right way, so the year doesn't come undone by October. Get your free ticket: https://secondstorywindow.net/summertalks

This is episode 232 of Teacher Approved.

You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping

educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm

Heidi.

And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story

Window, where we give research based and teacher approved

strategies that make teaching less stressful and more

effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from

each episode at secondstorywindow.net.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we are talking about five simple ways to shake off

the November slump and sharing a teacher approved tip for

celebrating joy in your classroom.

But let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we share

a quick one that you can try in your classroom right away.

Emily, what is our suggestion for this week?

This one's super simple. Just create a classroom playlist

with your students. This is perfect if you're looking to re

energize your classroom in November. Ask each student to

nominate one school appropriate song that makes them feel happy

or focused. You can have them write it down on a sticky note,

submit it through a Google form, or just share out loud during

morning meeting. Once you've got all the nominations and you've

double checked them for appropriateness, you can create

a playlist that you can use during cleanup time, brain

breaks or transition moments.

Kids love having a say in what happens in the classroom,

and music is one of those things that just lifts the mood. It's a

small thing that can make a big difference in the energy of your

room, especially when November starts to drag.

My youngest daughter's teacher does this, and they can

submit songs throughout the year for the list, and she loves it

so much. Talks about it all the time.

I bet she puts Benson Boone in every time.

Oh, you know she does. And hey, you might discover some

new songs that you actually enjoy too. So give it a shot

tomorrow, your students will feel heard, and you'll have a

ready to go soundtrack for the rest of the month.

If you like this idea or anything else that we have

shared here on the podcast, would you please take a second

and give us a five star rating in your podcast app? Ratings and

reviews really do have a huge impact on the success of our

show, and we are so appreciative of everyone.

And speaking of reviews, here is a recent one from a

listener titled My Favorite Podcast. "Every single episode

leaves me feeling empowered and motivated to support my

students. I always have an actionable item that is easily

implemented to create the ideal learning experience for my

students. So grateful for Teacher Approved."

Oh, thank you so much. We really appreciate that so much.

If this was your review, would you please email us at

[email protected], because we would like to say

thank you for your thank you with a little gift card.

You know, November seems like it should be such a calm month in

the classroom. It's after the Halloween craziness, and the

holidays are still weeks away.

And yet, somehow it is actually a perfect storm. The

Halloween sugar rush has crashed, the time change means

it's dark before dinner, and those gray skies make everyone

feel sleepy, me included.

Boo. And you know the fun stuff, the holidays, are still

weeks away, but the kids are starting to get that holiday

restlessness. You know what I'm talking about. They can sense

that winter break is coming, but it's not close enough to

actually look forward to yet.

Yeah, and you as the teacher are feeling totally

drained, because that energy that carried you through the

start of the year has kind of evaporated by this point.

And we talked about this back in episode 51, oh, wow, way

back in episode 51, when we discussed how to reset a rough

day. There's a great quote from Haim Ginott, and all these

episodes later, we still don't know how to say that name. He

says, "I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am

the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal

approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that

makes the weather."

Well, I hate that quote because it makes me feel like,

Oh no, it's all down to me. But I also love that quote because

it reminds me that we have more power than we think. If the

energy in the room is stormy, then we're the ones who can

bring back the sun. The kids cannot do it on their own, even

if they're the ones who created the storm in the first place,

and let's be honest, they usually are.

Yeah, funny how that works, and somehow November

comes in hard with that stormy energy. Back in September,

everything was new new pencils, new chances, new energy. There

was excitement in the air, but by November, that novelty has

completely worn off. The pencils are all missing erasers, and

probably a few of them have two marks in them. Why did they do

that? And those routines that you work so hard to establish

are probably feeling a little stale.

And I bet you can guess what we're going to talk about

here. What's happening is the balance between structure and

spark has tipped too far into the structure side. Your

engagement scale is just out of whack.

You know this is our favorite analogy. Picture a

balanced scale with a bucket on one side, labeled structure and

the other labeled novelty, or spark, as we have been calling

it lately. When the scale is balanced, your students are

engaged, but if it tips too far towards structure, kids get

bored, and if it tips too far towards spark, kids get

overwhelmed.

Turns out, neither bored kids nor overwhelmed kids can

learn, and even worse, they'll find something else to do if

they're bored and overwhelmed. And I think we can guarantee

that it's not what you're going to want them to be doing.

Oh no, definitely not. So our job as teachers is to keep

that scale balanced. At the beginning of the year,

everything was so novel that we needed to add tons of structure

to keep kids from tipping into overwhelm. But now we have got

structure in spades. So it's time to add some spark back into

the mix to reignite engagement.

And that's what today's episode is all about. So we're

sharing five easy ways to shift the energy in your classroom

when November hits hard. These are simple, doable moves that

you can make in the moment to reset the tone and get everyone

back on track.

We're calling these the 5 Cs of classroom re-energizing:

change, connect, create, celebrate and center. These are

little ways to add the spark of novelty to your classroom, and

the best part is that none of them require elaborate planning

or a ton of work. These are things that you could start

doing this week.

So our first C is change, and this is the quickest way to

reset classroom energy. This does not have to be big, like,

you know, when you move two desks and everyone acts like the

classroom got a renovation. That's what we're talking about.

Yeah, it really does not take much, even a tiny change

can jolt those sleepy November brains awake.

One of the easiest things you can change is the ambience

of your classroom. Try turning off those harsh overhead lights,

no big lights, and using lamps or twinkle lights instead or

play some calm background music during work time.

Bonus points if you put a virtual fireplace or cozy nature

scene on your projector, a snowy window or a crackling fire or a

peaceful forest walk playing on a loop. Those little touches

make the classroom feel completely different, even

though you really haven't changed anything else.

You could also change how you start class. So instead of

jumping right into directions, you could begin with something

unexpected, like a riddle or a joke or a mystery question.

I saw a fun idea recently for playing guess the emoji to

hook kids curiosity about the day's lesson. Takes about 30

seconds, but it is a huge engagement boost. All you have

to do is display a relevant emoji or a string of emojis, and

then have the kids predict the topic of the lesson. So maybe

you have a picture frame, a door, an envelope, a clipboard,

I'm trying to think of some similar shaped items, and you

display those before a lesson on quadrilaterals.

Oh, that's fun. I like that. You could, mid lesson, try

changing the sharing formats. You could let students show what

they know in a different way than you usually do. So maybe

they're going to sketch it or act it out or build it with

manipulatives. It meets the same goal as a worksheet, but it

feels completely fresh.

And if you don't have the energy to mix things up, keep

everything the same, but just give it a catchy name. Instead

of silent reading, call it a reading retreat, or turn math

practice into math Power Hour.

It's so funny how a name change can shift the energy,

because suddenly the exact same activity feels like an event.

Like even a tiny change sends a signal to your students that's

like, hey, something's different. You better pay

attention.

Sometimes that's all it takes to wake a tired November

classroom right back up.

You know, what else makes a huge difference when

everyone's dragging? Connection, and that is our second C,

because if the classroom feels stormy and connection brings the

sunshine.

Yeah, when everyone's feeling tired and gray, we all

need a little warmth. Since it's November, this is a great time

to lean into gratitude. Try a gratitude circle where everyone

shares one thing that they're thankful for. You could even

challenge kids to share the smallest reason to be grateful

that they can think of.

I love that, because it's so easy to be grateful for a

warm home and a loving family, and like all those really huge

blessings we all have. We shouldn't take those for

granted, but we should also be grateful when our shoes don't

slip on the wet pavement, or when we find the perfect

speckled rock.

Oh, I love a speckled rock. I feel like appreciating

the good around us is a life skill that we could probably all

use.

Yeah.

And another way to build connection is to try a kindness

challenge. Have students write a kind note to someone in class,

or draw a picture for the school secretary or the lunch workers.

Another way to boost connection is to do something

together as a class that's just for fun, so maybe play a

favorite morning meeting game or do a quick round of a game that

you usually save for inside recess. Even just five minutes

of play can totally shift the mood.

And don't underestimate the power of laughing. Try

reading The Book With No Pictures, or sharing a joke or

riddle. We include both jokes and riddles in our morning

messages and fluency in a flash lessons, because kids never get

tired of them. They are instant engagement, and they're huge

connection boosters.

An unexpected way to build a connection is to offer

students a choice. When we give them some freedom to decide,

it's a way of showing we trust them and value their judgment.

You can let students pick the order of tasks or let them

select which brain break the class does next. Giving students

small choices like these increases engagement and

motivation. It helps them feel more in control, which boosts

energy and buy in.

You could even give them the choice of how to reset the

mood, so put it back on them and say, How can we turn this day

around together, and let them be part of the solution.

Don't worry that this reset is taking away from

learning. When kids feel seen and valued, they are more likely

to engage, collaborate and thrive academically. It helps

them feel like they are part of something bigger than

themselves.

And in November, when everyone's feeling disconnected

and tired, that sense of belonging is exactly what we

need.

All right, our third C is for creating. This one is all

about bringing back the fun and curiosity that might have gotten

lost somewhere between September and now.

One way to spark curiosity is to present your

lesson with a twist. Try adding a puzzle or a mystery to your

lesson, like who ate the last pumpkin cookie for a math

problem, or make it silly and start a lesson with a would you

rather connected to your topic?

You could also try lesson mashups. Combine two subjects in

a creative way, like writing math story problems as fairy

tales, or illustrating a historic timeline as a comic

strip. These little twists make familiar content feel fresh and

exciting.

Another way to create energy is through seasonal but

subtle touches in your classroom. This could be a

collaborative class mural where each student decorates one leaf

for a tree of thankfulness or forest of kindness.

Or do some quick academic crafts and decorate your room

with the results—math pumpkin art or vocabulary leaf garlands.

Fun and creativity are really powerful resets, and they help

students remember what they're learning too.

Okay, this next C might be my favorite. It's

celebration. It's just a gesture of generosity that says, I see

you and I'm glad you're here.

Now before you panic, celebration does not have to be

big or earned. Low key celebrations, just because it's

a Tuesday afternoon, are absolutely our favorite kind. So

look for little things to celebrate. You could make up

your own classroom holiday, like thankful Thursday or mystery

photo Friday.

Try a cozy reading day where kids bring a small

blanket, you dim the lights, and everyone reads by firelight,

quote unquote. We'll take any excuse to make things cozy. Or

set up a kindness lab, a corner of the classroom focused on

creative acts of kindness, like notes, posters or secret

compliments. Let students visit as a fast finisher or between

activities.

You can also celebrate student effort. Maybe you bring

in some apple juice and crackers at the end of the month and

celebrate how hard the kids have been working. Anything is a

cause for celebration if you're willing to celebrate it.

And joy is contagious, especially in November, when

everyone's feeling worn down, taking a moment to celebrate can

really lift spirits.

But really don't feel like you have to do these often.

Celebrations only feel special if you keep them special. If you

do something every week, it really loses its power, but when

students don't know what to expect, then it feels like a

treat.

You may want to use some celebrations as rewards for

positive behavior, but don't let that be the only time you

celebrate. Plan a few as a fun surprise. It feels like you're

giving students a gift, and it's a way of saying, I care about

you and your happiness matters to me.

All right. So far, we have made a change, connected,

created and celebrated. Now it's time for our last C, center.

This might seem a little counterintuitive when we're

talking about boosting energy, but sometimes what feels like

low energy is actually overstimulation or stress.

So this strategy is all about helping everyone feel calm

and grounded. This is where breathing exercises, stretching

and mindfulness come in. Even just taking three deep breaths

together can help everyone reset.

You could add some simple yoga poses or stretches to your

afternoon. We have some yoga style brain breaks in our shop

that work great for this.

Yeah, or you can have kids do the superhero pose, you

know, where they stand with the hands on the hips and their

heads held high, and they take a few deep breaths and repeat some

encouraging words.

Now, I'm a big fan of guided meditation with students.

It helps everyone just feel more centered. You can have kids put

their heads down at their desks or spread out on the floor. Now

I tell them that they can close their eyes if they want, but I

really don't force them, because some kids are not going to feel

safe closing their eyes in a room full of people. And we are

not, we're not after traumatizing people.

There are tons of free guided meditations online, or

you can read from a book. And Heidi, I think you have some

favorite books.

I do. I love the Relaxed Kids book series by Marneta

Viegas. I think that's how you say her name. The Wishing Star

is the best of her books, but I also really like Aladdin's Magic

Carpet. They're both really great, they're short, they have

good messages, and the kids respond really well to them.

Another way to center and calm is through gratitude. This

way you're combining the benefits of connection and

centering. You could have students share one thing they're

grateful for, or write thank you notes to each other or to

someone in the school.

Gratitude shifts our focus from what's hard to what's

good, and that shift in perspective can be really

energizing.

When we take time to center and calm, we're giving

our nervous systems a chance to settle. So don't skip this step.

Sometimes the most energizing thing you can do is slow down.

All right, let's recap the 5 Cs of classroom

re-energizing. First, change. Refresh the routine with small

tweaks to ambience, format or timing.

Second, connect. Rebuild classroom warmth through

gratitude, fun, and giving students choices.

Third, create. Bring back curiosity with mystery lessons,

creative projects, and artistic expression.

Fourth, celebrate. Sprinkle in surprise and delight

with made up holidays and spontaneous moments of joy.

And fifth, center. Calm the chaos with breathing,

stretching, meditation, and gratitude.

The thing we want you to take away from this is how

energizing even tiny sparks can be. One study showed that just

finding a dime on the ground boosted people's happiness. So

we're not talking about elaborate, time consuming

projects here.

No, really think of small, simple gestures that make

a big impact, just a dime's worth of spark. And bonus, you

don't even have to do this often, because what makes a big

impact today will make a slightly smaller impact

tomorrow, and after two weeks, it would just barely register.

Yeah. So, for example, if you hang a disco ball on your

classroom, it is a huge wow factor at first, but then it

just becomes normal. There's no spark left in that sparkle.

Sad. But if you only bring out that disco ball four

or five times a year, the kids will go crazy for it. So resist

the urge to make anything permanent. Keep your sparks

small and occasional, and that's what keeps them delightful.

Because you're only doing this occasionally, it can be

easy to forget to do it at all. Perhaps put a note in your plan

book to add in one of these Cs every week to keep things

feeling fresh without overwhelming you or your

students.

And although we are doing this to help our students, it

has the added benefit of helping us at the same time, it makes

teaching feel like a delight instead of a chore. There's so

little that we get to control about what we teach, but we can

add a little sparkle of magic to how we teach.

Let November be the month that reminds you why you love

teaching, because you get to create joy and connection for

your students and for yourself.

When the storm hits and everything feels out of whack,

use your rebalancing plan. Change wakes everyone up,

connection restores warmth, create to rekindle curiosity,

celebration brings the joy, and centering keeps it all grounded.

And don't do it all. Think about the one C that feels

most doable and most needed for your classroom right now. Write

it in your plan book, make it concrete, and remember even a

dime's worth of spark can turn a tired classroom into a joyful

one.

We would love to hear about how you're adding spark to

your classroom this month. Come join the conversation in our

Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where

we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters

and simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is

create a laugh jar. Can you tell us more about it, Heidi?

Well, I saw this idea on edutopias Instagram page, and I

thought it was so fun, we had to share it. Christine Esmond says,

"In my class, I have a laugh jar. Every time something funny

happens, we jot a quick summary about it with the date, and then

pop it in the jar. On the last day of school, we read out all

of the memories and laugh again." And I love this because

it goes right along with what we are saying about energizing.

It's building that meaning and connection that are so integral

to helping students stay engaged.

I love this. My college roommates and I had a big poster

on the wall where we would write down the funny things that would

happen or that people would say in our apartment. And I still

have pictures of those, and laugh at them. When I come

across I'm like, I remember that that made us feel so connected.

And it was 20 years ago that I lived with these people, but

when I come across it, I still remember the jokes, and I feel

so connected to them. So I think this is such a great way to

connect with your class, and it's training them to recognize

what's good. If we have a system for collecting moments of

laughter, it will help everyone appreciate them more fully.

It's probably just a good idea, though, to have a

discussion ahead of time about laughter that's funny and

laughter that's hurtful. We don't want anyone's moment of

being laughed at to become memorialized for the whole

class.

Yeah, you probably want to go through that jar and make

sure that only the best ones stay in there. But if you try

this out, we'd love to know what ends up in your classroom

laughter.

To wrap up the show, we're showing what we're giving

extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra

Maybe it is. No, it is a device that you can use to block

credit?

I'm giving extra credit to the Brick.

That sounds like a new gritty TV series.

distracting apps on your phone at the times when you need to be

And there are ways to get around this. You know, you could

focused. So you can set up different focus modes in the app

that block certain apps at certain times, and you can

schedule those to turn on at certain times, or you can

activate it on demand. So I have tried using time limits on my

apps, you know, like Instagram kicking me out when I've been on

it for more than an hour, or whatever. Or I've used the focus

settings on my phone that block apps at certain times. But the

reason I like the brick better is that in order to unbrick your

device, you have to go scan the device.

delete the app, but you can set in your settings that it can't

be deleted. There's something that you can do. So they try and

help you. But the thing is, there's always a way around it

if you want there to be, but they're annoying enough that I

haven't been tempted to use the ways around this one. This has

been enough of like, enough inconvenience to make me do what

I already want to do. So then I'm not tempted to be like, I'm

gonna find a way around this, because it would be, it would be

inconvenient to go around it, you know? So just trying to make

it inconvenient to do the thing that you're trying not to do.

Yeah, that's smart. I'm gonna have to get that because

my downfall when I'm supposed to be getting ready for bed and I

don't want to get up and get ready for bed. I'd rather just

scroll my phone, but if it were, yeah, I'm gonna have to look

into this.

I'll send you the link. What are you giving extra credit

to this week, Heidi?

Well, I'm giving extra credit to James Cook on

Instagram. His account is James Cook Artwork, and now he makes

the most incredible art using a typewriter.

What?

It's astounding to watch. He uses letters and punctuation

to make amazing artwork, like a picture of the Colosseum or the

Statue of Liberty. And I promise that whatever you're picturing

right now does not do this justice, because if you just

glanced at the picture, because I I saw a video of his and he

was talking about the typewriter, I was like, clearly,

you didn't do that with a typewriter. Clearly you drew

that. But when you look up close, you can see that it's all

these tiny little letters. It's amazing to watch him work. It's

amazing to see it all come together. So I will put a link

to his Instagram in the show notes if you also want a little

art appreciation moment.

Whoa. I just pulled it up on my phone. That's crazy! That

isn't what I was picturing. So that's that's pretty impressive.

And he, like hides himself in the pictures with

little, he makes himself out of, like, letters and punctuation.

It's wild. Really worth checking out.

I love that.

That is it for today's episode. Use the 5 Cs to

re-energize a sluggish class, and don't forget today's tip to

create a laugh jar.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Teacher Approved. I'm Heidi.

And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow

or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an

episode.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye, for now.

Bye.