Giving students the opportunity to get up and move during the instructional day is more popular than ever! Brain breaks give students a time-out from all that hard thinking they do in class and gives them opportunities throughout the day to get their muscles moving, blood flowing, and heart rate up. Our ADHD children would appreciate these breaks and it would lessen frequency of fidgeting among students. Our excitable students would have an outlet during brain breaks and students will be able focus on the next lesson.
Check out Minds in Bloom Website and Teach.Train.Love Website.
What is your opinion about brain breaks in the classroom?
What brain break activity would you use as a classroom teacher?
I'm all for brain breaks. I've used them in my classes for the past two years, and my students absolutely love them. I use different online videos that gives the students different dance steps to follow. I usually join in by dancing with my students. They love that I take the brain break along with them. Usually I need it just as much as they do. :) I like some of the suggestions given on the two links you provided. Another great resource is gonoodle.com. This website allows you to set up an account for your class. Then it lets you choose a character for your class. It has so many different brain break videos to choose from. When you complete your brain break, it gives you points and your class character grows. Once your class character has grown to its limit you get to choose a new character. My students really enjoyed using this resource. I highly recommend this website especially for elementary classes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion of gonoodle.com! I'm going to save it to my favorites for certain. Students and teachers are human too. We need brain breaks to stretch our muscles and to refocus. I noticed off task behavior decline after I started brain breaks in my classroom.
DeleteBrain Breaks are a must! Everyone needs them. I guess that's what "recess" used to be. I remember when I would administer the SAT 10 years ago, sometimes breaks were part of the test. The children would close their test booklets and do a few stretches. It seemed to help them get reenergized for the next part of the test. I checked out the Minds in Bloom web site that you suggested. I like the break that included music and the children "freeze" when the music stops. I think the children would enjoy this. Also, the breaks help children to understand that the teacher realizes that they need a break. The teacher isn't there just to keep them busy.
DeleteAs teachers, we are in the classroom to facilitate learning and not to just keep students busy. Students are humans, too. They need breaks in their day to stretch and release energy-so they can re-focus. Our bodies are built to move.
DeleteI think my brain would have exploded if there weren't things like Fall break. I know you are talking about breaks in class but in higher education there is no time for breaks in class. However, student in college can create their own "brain break" because of the flexibility of college courses and students being able to make their own schedules. I can imagine, especially with younger students, it is hard for them to pay attention after a while. Brain breaks are a way to get them back on track by refocusing their brains on something else. I know teaching children is difficult because the teacher has to keep up with the students attention span and the younger the child, the more difficult that becomes. Brain breaks are probably a break for the teacher as well.
ReplyDeleteEven as adults, we have to have brain breaks. Fortunately, we can make time for brain breaks in our busy schedules. Children don't have that luxury. I have to admit that I LOVE brain breaks in my classroom. I enjoy them just as much as my students.
ReplyDeleteGiven the pace of summer classes this summer, we are all likely to appreciate a "brain break" later this month.
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