Classroom Resolution #1:
I will channel my students' wiggles and energy in a positive and engaging way!
This could also be titled, "I will not go crazy during indoor recess" if you live in a snowy state like I do!
As testing approaches and the weather gets colder, classroom management tends to get harder and harder. Plus, there seems to be stress on everyone to do more and more, oftentimes with less and less breaks.
Enter my #1 bestselling product (and currently #12 all-time TpT bestselling product!): Brain Breaks for the Classroom!!
The idea of these are simple, but will have profound effects on your class, I promise! Each choice (there are 65 of them!) comes with an explanation and a circle with a Brain Break and illustration. All you need to do is cut them out, laminate them, and hot glue them to a popsicle stick. I keep all of mine in a bucket from Target's Dollar Spot and pull them whenever we need a quick break!
I have heard so many exciting ways to mix these up, including:
- color-coding the sticks with red sticks= energizing Brain Break and green sticks= calming Brain Breaks
- putting a calming Brain Break on one side and an energizing Brain Break on the other side of the same stick
- having kids choose them or even assigning a student to be Brain Break Leader-- this can work especially well with a student who could use some leadership practice!
- mounting them on a poker chip instead of popsicle sticks and keeping them in a basket
- using them for team-building, transitions, class rewards, partner work, indoor recess
- .... and more!!!
My kids love Simon Says.
ReplyDeleteMy kids love a quick exercise break!
ReplyDeleteWe usually do jumping jacks or stretching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opportunity to win! These are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhat I Have Learned
My kids love an exercise break!
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ReplyDeleteMy kiddos do a sixty second dance party. I let one person choose a song off my playlist and we jam!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'm always looking for new ideas for quick breaks throughout the day. Usually I have the kids come up with ways we can re-energize ourselves. They like stretching, running in place, balancing on one foot, walking on tiptoes, jumping side to side…. Their top two picks: the Hokey Pokey and Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes. We try to keep these to about a minute, which makes them really fast and challenging!
DeleteI have never used brain breaks as a transition, thats a great idea! Thank you for sharing these ideas. I am excited to try them with my group 3rd/4th grade kids. Thank you!
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ReplyDeleteI like to do yoga poses like tree pose and other exercises that I do when warming up at the gym.
ReplyDeleteWe have science and SS songs we sing and several of them have motions and movement! It always helps refocus students!
ReplyDeleteA Tall Drink of Water
I use Greg and Steve's Freeze Dance and there is also another movement song where they walk, tip toe, ice skate, run (in place), hop and gallop.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great ideas......
ReplyDeleteBrain gym!
ReplyDeleteWe have dance breaks
ReplyDelete5-4-3-2-1…5 of a certain movement, 4 of another, and so on. They love when "laps around the room" is one of the higher numbers!
ReplyDeleteWe love to "peel the banana" for our break!
ReplyDeleteYou're so awesome! :D
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of Brain Breaks!! We will be trying them in the new year!!!
ReplyDeleteWe love to find kid-friendly dances on YouTube. Their current favorites are the Dinosaur Stomp and Shake Break. Thank you for a great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI would love these for my classroom.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite brain break is a kid friendly version of the cha cha slide I found on youtube!!! :)
ReplyDeletewe usually stretch or something like that.. these would be perfect to help me really get them moving!
ReplyDeleteI created some of my own, but these are great.
ReplyDeleteI use a website called gonoodle.com. On this site, students do zumba for kids and they love it!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried brain breaks but I know my class can use them. Our movement is usually in the form of a scoot game or hallway hunt but these would be quicker and easier to use every day. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDeb
maxeysjl@defnet.com
Fabulous idea, even for the homeschooler!
ReplyDeleteI try to incorporate fun ways to walk back to their seats. For example, sometimes I will have students think of words that rhyme with cat. Every step they take, they have to think of a new word. I have found this helps to change up the brain breaks while having them practice academic skills.
ReplyDeleteKrystyn
Ms Richards's Musings
If one of our vocab words has an action, after demonstration, I have kids do it as they move around the room. One of my favorite is lumbering or waddle.
ReplyDeleteGreenfrogteacher@gmail.com
My favorite way to get students moving is having them do a bunch of jumping jacks or quickly write down a top 10 of something on their dry erase boards. I also give them secret ways to walk through the hallway or back to their seats (like a mouse, an egyptian, rock star or a disco dancer).
ReplyDeletesome type of whole class movement activity! We love to move:)
ReplyDeleteWe do some kind of exercise, such as jumping jacks or push ups.
ReplyDeletesteph_backus@hotmail.com
We play a song with actions called "Tony Chestnut"....students and teachers love it!
ReplyDeleteI would love to have these. We use "Just Dance" videos on YouTube to get the kids up and moving.
ReplyDeleteI totally love them, but I'm a Spanish teacher and will have to translate them when I get them.
ReplyDeleteWe do a variety of brain breaks including kid dance videos on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteMy kids love the Gummy Bear Dance on YouTube- they take it very seriously! I love your brain break sticks!
ReplyDeleteAdventures to fitness online
ReplyDeleteI have used dance along YouTube videos or a few minutes of exercise.
ReplyDeleteStretching. But I love this idea of yours!
ReplyDeletePatti
One Class, One Sound
Brain Breaks are so great in the classroom, love this product!
ReplyDeleteWe do some of these already and incorporate Brain Gym exercises as well : )
DeleteWe do looooads of brain breaks! We've got that "Cranium" brain breaks thing and my kids want to do them allll day long!!
ReplyDeleteSara
Miss V's Busy Bees
ventrellasara@gmail.com
I started doing the "cha cha slide" from youtube before break and my kids absolutely loved it! I also started playing a game where I would play music and when the music stop I would say "4 presents under a tree." A student has to be a tree and the rest are presents. It works similarly to musical chairs and I would say a different number of presents under the tree every time. They had a blast!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of letting a student be the Brain Break leader. I am going to add this to my classroom jobs! :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing we do at least once a day is take a stroll through the hallways. The kids love walking to the other end of the building. We work on hallway behaviors too.
ReplyDeleteI like to play music during transitions or for short breaks.
ReplyDeleteI love to play the little dance youtube videos like "The Sid Shuffle" :)
ReplyDeleteI would love the 3rd grade Math book!! What a great resource!!!
ReplyDeleteBrain Breaks!
ReplyDeleteI use brain breaks, but not enough and not these cute ones:)! I would LOVE to win these!! Thanks for the opportunity.
ReplyDelete~Sara
sweetsarabowling@gmail.com
I do 5 min yoga stretches. Been wanting to incorporate brain breaks!!!
ReplyDeleteI just started using a version of your brain breaks. I would love to win this!!
ReplyDeleteWhole Brain Teaching - lots of Teach Okays during the day.
ReplyDeleteI've never done brain breaks with my kiddos, but I like the idea and I think my students will love it!
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