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Saturday, November 17, 2012

Brain Breaks!

What am I doing on a Saturday night you ask?  Blogging.  That's what I'm doing this fine Saturday night.  The hubby is at a softball tournament (in November!) so I'm catching up on my housework and blogging duties.

This year I started using Brain Breaks in my classroom and I love them!  More importantly my students LOVE them!  I made my Brain Break sticks this summer and wrote about them a little bit here.



I used craft sticks and painted half of the front and back of each one with green paint.  After they dried, I taped the words on each one.  Pretty easy.  I have them stored in a cup in my classroom.  Any time that my students need a break, have been sitting too long, or we have a few extra minutes I grab a stick from our Brain Breaks cup.  Once we complete it, I put it back in the cup upside down (hence the paint on one end).  That way we aren't picking the same Brain Break over and over.


There are a lot of Brain Break ideas out there.  I am borrowing some ideas and using some of my own.  These are the ones I have:
Line Up In Order
10 Jumping Jacks
Jog In Place
Three High-Fives
I Spy
10 Cherry Pickers
The Wave
Spin 3 Times
Hot Potato
Dance Party
Wax Museum
Stretch
Hot Foot
Seat Switch
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

My students' favorites by far are Dance Party and Seat Switch.  For Dance Party I just play a song from my Kidz Bop CD and my students can dance around the classroom.  Of course there's usually one or two students who just don't feel comfortable dancing.  When we pick Seat Switch I call out "Seat Switch" and the students get up and find another student's seat to sit in, kind of like musical chairs.  We do it about three times.

Here are some pictures of my students in action!  Excuse the freaky blurred faces, I want to protect my kiddos' identities.

Wax Museum
Dance Party
Hot Potato
The Wave
Seat Switch

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