Brain Breaks II

I have a similar post for Brain Breaks but today I'd thought I could share again as we are winding down (winding up if you're a little one) for the end of the year.


Using Brain Breaks you can Spark Student Motivation and help students retain material. Transitioning from phonics to vocabulary can be hard with little ones. They get restless super quick. Brain Breaks are great to use anytime they (and you) may need a little more energy. Getting moving and grooving gets the heart pumped so they can pay attention and remember everything you're teaching. A brain break takes less than 3 minutes. Research tells us that children need physical activities to get motivated and retain lessons learned.

In my classroom I have a Symbaloo for brain breaks. I just click and presto I have an instant choice of songs for high energy movement. 

1. Mirror. Simply teach the students to mirror your movements. Jumping jacks, hopping, tricep dips using their chair, squats.
2. 5-4-3-2-1  Have students stand behind their pushed-in chairs. Call out a trait and everyone who has that trait must change places with someone else (students who do not have the trait stay where they are). Examples: "Everyone with curly hair." "Everyone who ate cereal for breakfast." Everyone who is wearing stripes." 
3. Mingle, Mingle, Group! In this game students move about the classroom saying, "mingle, mingle, mingle" in soft voices until the teacher says "Groups of 3," at which point the students must quickly group themselves into groups with the correct number of people. Students who are left over can do an exercise such as push ups, sit ups, or jumping jacks. This is a great tool to teach multiplication and division.
4. Get Up and Dance! I use Symbaloo for this. Put on some music and dance. Chicken dance, Cha Cha Slide, Tooty ta, Peanut Butter Jelly, Shake Your Sillies Out, Ice Cream and Cake, etc.
5. Freeze Dance!  When the music stops so do the kids. Simple and fun! When the music stops the students must freeze and hold the position they are in until the music begins again. 

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/brainbreaks3

Hippo Hooray for Second and Dive in to Second are hosting a Linky Party for Classroom Quick Tips. I've linked up with them. Check it out!!!

Head Over Heels for Teaching is hosting a linky party called Spark Student Motivation Saturdays. I've linked up with her. Check it out!!!

      Awards, awards, awards excite and motivate! Check out all my awards packs on TPT. Just click the picture to go to the product. Each of them are $5 or less. These Awards can be used at any time and there's something for everyone! Two are editable and the 116 pg. pack is not editable but has more to offer than the others. 

Candy Bar Awards are not only edible but EDITABLE! That's right! You can type student names, your name and the date or a brief personal message.