Have you heard that Halloween is on Friday? I think I was asked some form of this question about twelve times this last week. The kids were antsy. SO antsy! It was time for some movement. I taped a life size e on the floor and we practiced walking the steps. "Hit the ball, run around the bases," I said as I slipped on my sparkly gold handwriting shoes. It was a big hit.
How were these kids who just swooned over masking tape on a floor going to manage to learn anything from sitting at a computer for an hour. YouTube. I googled my favorite school singer, Shari Sloane and checked out some Jean Feldman tunes too. Ah yes, practicing letter sounds while doing karate moves is a great way to review with interleaving. Each of my modules has one of those brain breaks incorporated. Moving and learning are, to me, the perfect partners.
Hey Meagan-
ReplyDeleteWhile walking down the halls lately, I have seen more and more classrooms on brain breaks. Mostly in the primary wing, you can walk by and see kids doing jumping jacks or dancing to whatever is playing on the interactive whiteboard. Do you find it hard to calm your kids down after a brain break or are they into a routine around using them? Have you heard of gonoodle.com? One of my kindergarten teacher uses it, but is still searching for good ending strategies to move to the next activity. Do you find a good time of the day is best for brain breaks?
Hi Katie,
DeleteThanks for the cool site. My kids know that the movement activity is their chance to move and there will be no funny business afterwards. I think the multi-grade really helps with that; the 2nd grade kids calm right down. Usually I do more in the afternoon, they seem more fatigued.
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteWhat did you mean by "hit the ball, run around the bases"? And I love movement and learning at the same time! Do you have any activities that can be applied to many fields of teaching? I would like to steal some because I'm not great at being creative like that. It's tough to find things that help the students practice their math skills and is fun at the same time!
Erin
I often used youtube videos as brain breaks in my classroom but I love how you incorporated an element of learning to them by adding in the handwriting. Kids spend so much time sitting during the day, especially when I had them on their computer programs (math and reading computer time would equal about an hour a day sitting and looking at a screen). I love the flexibility and adaptiveness that computer programs offer students in their learning but I wish that they were more physically engaging. I've read about ideas for augmented reality technology that would allow students to take it outside to use as a tool for exploring the world around them. I think as technology because more compact and mobile learning continues to grow, the types of programs that are offered to schools will similarly adapt and become more mobile friendly.
ReplyDeleteAre your kids boys, Meagan? We discussed this a bit in this class when we read the article about “unschooling.” Boys are at a disadvantage when forced into the model of sitting still in a classroom. I’ve wondered if something like a scavenger hunt where you have to solve a math problem or fill in the blank to get to the next item would work. I do this a little bit with my nephew if we’re playing a game or Lincoln Logs or something. I’ll only answer a question if he spells his name or something like that.
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