Freeze It

It’s a freeze dance, flash card style. Dance around the room until the music stops...freeze and respond to a flash card…then dance again! 

Freeze It contains grade-appropriate content categories. Content is presented in the style of flash cards, which appear when the music freezes. Choose from math, reading, geography, emotions, letters, colors, or your own custom content!  

Objectives

• Help students get healthy moderate exercise.
• Use physical activity to engage your classroom.
• Review core-aligned concepts.

When to Play

• At the start or finish of a relevant lesson. 
• During natural transition times. 
• As a start or end to the school day.

Why This Matters

• Exercise can reduce the effects of stress; while at the same time stimulating brain activity and increasing the ability to concentrate. 
• Reviewing core-aligned concepts through fun physical activity helps make content memorable.

Quick Play Instructions

1. Ask students to stand and get ready to move.
2. Select your freeze category.
3. Students dance when they hear music. When the music stops, a question appears on the screen. 
4. Have students answer or react, then click Continue to start dancing again.
5. Once one minute has passed, review the questions and prompts that appeared in that session. Then play more, select a new freeze, or get back to classwork!

About the Content Categories in Freeze It

Freeze It contains grade-appropriate content categories. Content is presented in the style of flash cards, which appear when the music freezes. Note that not every category is available for every grade.

• Emotions (Grades K - 5): Students act out emotions that appear on the screen. This category helps students learn about expressing specific emotions and expands relevant vocabulary.  The content presented is grade-appropriate.
• Colors (Grades K-2): Students identify colors and patterns and are asked to find an example of that color in their classroom. This category helps students expand the color vocabulary and connect those words to real-world examples.
• Geography (Grades 3 - 5): A state on the US map is highlighted, and students will identify the state. This category helps students explore US geography. (Note: to place the size and location of Hawaii and Alaska in context, you may wish to explore those states on a classroom map after play.)
• Letters (Grades 1 - 2): Students are presented a letter of the alphabet and prompted to call out a word that starts with that letter. This category helps students explore the alphabet and practice identifying initial sounds.
• Reading (Grades 1 - 5): Students are presented a grade-appropriate reading word and are asked to read the word aloud. This category helps students develop automaticity with sight words (in lower grades) and practice decoding skills (in upper grades).
• Time (Grades 1 - 2): Students are presented an analog clock and are asked to provide the time aloud.
• Addition (Grades 1 - 2): Students are presented a grade-appropriate addition problem and are prompted to answer aloud. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Subtraction (Grades 1 - 2): Students are presented a grade-appropriate subtraction problem and are prompted to answer aloud. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Multiplication (Grades 3 - 5): Students are presented a grade-appropriate multiplication problem and are prompted to answer aloud. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Division (Grades 3 - 5): Students are presented a grade-appropriate addition division and are prompted to answer aloud. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Mixed Numbers (Grades 4-5): Students are presented an improper fraction and are prompted to convert it to a mixed number. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Improper Fractions (Grades 4 - 5): Students are presented a mixed number and are prompted to convert it to an improper fraction. This category helps students develop automaticity in math facts.
• Go, Slow, Whoa Foods (Grades K - 5): Students are presented various food items and are prompted to categorize foods as “Go,” “Slow,” or “Whoa” foods. This category helps students explore and evaluate the nutritional value of different foods.

The content strategy in Freeze It was developed with input by Common Core experts to ensure grade-appropriateness and benefit for the classroom.

Playing Freeze It with Custom Content

You can customize Freeze It with your own custom question sets. Playing with custom content opens up the game to infinite options.

1. On the game mode page, choose My Questions.
2. Select your question set from the list of available sets. The game presents all sets currently available in your account. Note that if you have more than 6 question sets, you can click the arrow buttons to see more.
3. Click Play to begin the game.

The Create and Manage Question Sets article has more info.

About the “Go, Slow, Whoa Foods” Category

The “Go, Slow, Whoa Foods” category in Freeze It provides the class with an easy and memorable way to explore nutrition. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) suggests kids think about foods in three simplified categories: 

• Go Foods: These are foods that are good to eat almost anytime. These are the healthiest foods.
• Slow Foods: These are sometimes foods. They aren’t off-limits, but they shouldn’t be eaten every day. At most, eat them several times a week.
• Whoa Foods: These foods should make you say exactly that: "Whoa! Should I eat that?" Whoa foods are the least healthy; you should only eat them once-in-a-while.

Suggested use of this category

1. Introduce the concept of Go, Slow, and Whoa foods.  Use the downloadable Go Slow Whoa Food Chart from the NHLBI to introduce the categories in details, along with examples.
2. Play Freeze It and select the Go, Slow, Whoa Foods category. Use the answer key below to provide feedback if you’re unsure of how to categorize a food.
3. At the end of the play session, review each of the foods presented in that session and their appropriate categorization. Discuss why each food might fit in that category.