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Brain Breaks Optimize Learning. Let’s Get Moving!. Click here for Brain Break - Warm up Video. Brain Break Warm Up.
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Brain BreaksOptimize Learning Let’s Get Moving!
Click here for Brain Break - Warm up Video Brain Break Warm Up 1. Brain Button2. Marching3. Hand to opposite knee (cross crawl)4. Step touch cross5. Elbow to opposite Knee6. Ankle touch behind7. Bend and reach –Windmill8. Hook up - Breathing
What did we just do? • Increased oxygen and blood flow to wake up the brain • Helped develop cross neural pathways by crossing the midline and connecting the left & right brain • Reduced fight or flight hormones/chemicals • Released serotonin to relieve stress “Physical activity and learning are inextricably interwoven.” John Ratey MD
“Exercise is like Miracle-Gro for the brain, it puts the brain of the learners in the optimal position for them to learn.” John Ratey, MD Harvard Medical School Exercise and the Brain
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE Our early ancestors predominately consisted of hunter-gatherer types ensuring the “Running Man” as a standard of fitness for their survival. If you did not run, you did not eat. Individuals who could out-run & out-plan their peers would survive.
Brain Breaks - Are a learning readiness sequence that prepares students for optimal learning. - Brain breaks wake the brain from the rest and digest mode that occurs every 17-20 minutes. - Calming Activities are used to relax and focus before a test, after recess or returning from lunch. - Proper hydration is vital to increase electrical activity, oxygen delivery, and nutrition.
Brain Breaks • Cross Lateral Exercises: • Hand Elbow • Elbow Knee • Hand Foot • Combination • Calming: • Hook Up • Hook Up with Finger Point • Click links for video demonstrations • Fingers 1 & 2 • Fingers 2 & 5 • Fingers 3 & 2 • Nose & Ear • Pointer Thumb • Pinky Thumb • Opposite Arms • Gotcha • Triangle Square • Head Pat Belly Rub
Click to play videos • Pinky and thumb • Triangle and square • Dr Spock Video • blog site = http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com/ For more videos search Brain Gym or Brain Breaks on You Tube You Tube Videos
Brain Breaks can make a difference! • Concentration & Complex Thinking • Memory • Auditory Processing & Listening • Language and Communication • Speech • Vision • Academic Skills: Reading, Writing, Spelling & Math's • Creativity and the Generation of New Ideas • Coordination and Athletic Performance • Stress Release • Positive Thinking and Self Esteem
Brain Break Highlights • After 17 minutes of sitting the body switches to rest and digest (sleep mode) • After aerobic activity learners are able to focus better because of the increased blood flow and oxygen to the brain • For every 3 minute Brain Break you get approximately 30 minutes of focus from students • Brain Breaks are effective with every type of student directly effecting their academics, social skills, and motor skills • blog site = http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com/ • MOVEMENT IS THE KEY TO LEARNING • GET MOVING!
Thirty minutes of exercise has the following benefits: • Repetitive gross motor movement strengthens secondary dendritic branching (the part of the neuron that remembers details). • Daily exercise cements the details learned in the last 48 hours, making a case for daily physical activity. • Neurogenesis: Growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus (learning and memory center of the brain) • BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor) causes neurons to fire more efficiently. • Oxygen and glucose (brain fuel) get to the brain faster.
Thirty minutes of exercise has the following benefits • The vestibular system is activated for better balance enabling the student to better read numbers and letters left to right on the page. • Crossing the midline integrates and energizes the brain for better focus and retrieval of memory. • Exercise activates brain chemicals that reduce stress and elevate self esteem. • Basic motor skills lay the foundation for other learning. What makes us move is also what makes us think. • The brain needs time to consolidate new information to take learning from short term to working memory to long term memory. Exercise helps anchor the new information.
Tell Me, I ForgetShow Me, I RememberInvolve Me… I Understand!
Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Headby Carla Hannaford. Salt Lake City: Great River Books, 1995. Ratey, J, (2008): The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain [Little, Brown and Company (January 10)]. www.actionbasedlearning.com - Jean Blaydes http://learningreadinesspe.com/ (go to links and pdf) http://www.bal-a-vis-x.com/ http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com/ http://www.braingym.org/ http://johnratey.com/newsite/index.html http://bags-balls-and-brains.com/ References “Exercise is the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.” John Ratey, MD
Christopher Jackson: chjackson@northallegheny.org Dean Boronyak: dboronyak@northallegheny.org Beth Frisco: bfrisco@northallegheny.org “Movement is the Key to Life” Contact Information: