There’s a lot to fit into every day, and it can be easy to feel like you need to cram every single moment with instruction, practice, review, assessment…that approach can backfire though. Studies show that students benefit from brain breaks throughout the day.
How brain breaks help
Brain breaks offer these plusses for students as individuals and for your classroom community:
Brain breaks get kids moving. It could be standing up to stretch or have a dance party between activities. It could be a game of Simon Says after morning meeting before your first desk task.
Re-energize students and get them refocused
Students learn better when they have breaks because their brain gets a chance to reset. Some people say it’s the oxygen flowing to the brain when students move, but there’s more to it than that. There’s a lot going on in the brain and too much of one activity can lead to stress or overload. You end overload and help students be more receptive to new learning when you use brain breaks.
If you notice students are starting to act out or lose focus, it might be time for a brain break. Ideally, you use brain breaks before kids have lost focus, but you can implement them any time you realize your class needs to refocus or re-energize.
Boost student activity
Kids need to move, but we have them sitting all day. Most kids (us grown-ups too) don’t get enough physical activity in the day. The amount of activity you get during brain boosts isn’t going to qualify as enough activity for the day, but it works more movement in.
How to make brain breaks easy
There’s no doubt that brain breaks make a difference. I’ve seen the effect on my own students, and use them regularly. My favorite brain breaks in myclassroom are using GoNoodle.
How brain breaks help
Brain breaks offer these plusses for students as individuals and for your classroom community:
- re-energize students and get them refocused
- help them develop social skills
- boost their activity.
Brain breaks get kids moving. It could be standing up to stretch or have a dance party between activities. It could be a game of Simon Says after morning meeting before your first desk task.
Re-energize students and get them refocused
Students learn better when they have breaks because their brain gets a chance to reset. Some people say it’s the oxygen flowing to the brain when students move, but there’s more to it than that. There’s a lot going on in the brain and too much of one activity can lead to stress or overload. You end overload and help students be more receptive to new learning when you use brain breaks.
If you notice students are starting to act out or lose focus, it might be time for a brain break. Ideally, you use brain breaks before kids have lost focus, but you can implement them any time you realize your class needs to refocus or re-energize.
Boost student activity
Kids need to move, but we have them sitting all day. Most kids (us grown-ups too) don’t get enough physical activity in the day. The amount of activity you get during brain boosts isn’t going to qualify as enough activity for the day, but it works more movement in.
How to make brain breaks easy
There’s no doubt that brain breaks make a difference. I’ve seen the effect on my own students, and use them regularly. My favorite brain breaks in myclassroom are using GoNoodle.
https://app.gonoodle.com/