by Jasmine Randhawa
Teacher, SD38
As a teacher, there are many valuable strategies and teaching tools that can be brought into your classroom. Something that I have found to be very useful is to include brain breaks in our day and to make this a routine. Brain breaks are meant to be quick and simple movements for students. They need breaks throughout the day to continue learning and exploring at school.
“Brain breaks are meant to be quick and simple movements for students. They need breaks throughout the day to continue learning and exploring at school.”
Aside from the usual recess and lunch, it is essential to include movement throughout your lessons. As an adult, imagine sitting through 2-3 hours of a lecture with no movement. You get to a point where you’re sitting on a chair and finding yourself being uncomfortable, which distracts you for a brief moment (or more) from the presentation.
Now let’s consider this from a younger child’s point of view. Children’s attention span is not the same as most adults'. Children at a younger age lose their attention easily, which makes it difficult for them to stay seated for an entire lesson and take everything in. This is why it is beneficial to implement brain breaks throughout the day.
"Children's attention span is not the same as most adults'."
Students need these breaks to get them to continue engaging in learning while in the classroom. If they are given a short break before a lesson or in the middle of a lesson, then they will likely focus on what is being taught. There are a variety of different brain breaks that you can bring into the classroom. Below are a few examples of brain breaks that have worked in my classroom.
Examples of Brain breaks:
- Go for a quick run
o Have a designated route so that it makes it quick and simple
o Routine is important for students
- Have students stand up and do a few exercises. I like to call this “5,4,3,2,1”
o Have students do 5 jumping jacks, 4 lunges, 3 squats, 2 burpees and 1 push-up. (the exercises can be of your choice and you can change it up if you’d like depending on how much space you have in your classroom)
- Short movement games
o Four corners (each corner of the classroom is numbered from 1-4. The teacher closes their eyes in the centre of the room and gives students a few seconds to move and situate themselves in a corner. The teacher will call out a number and the students in that corner must return to their desk. You can play this game for a few rounds.
o Rock, paper, scissors: train edition (play rock, paper, scissors and whoever loses must follow the other person around while they verse another person. The train of people behind you are encouraged to cheer you on while you verse someone new)
- Musical shares
o Play music and have students walk around. They can dance to the music if they are comfortable. Once the music stops they must find the person closest to them and share something about what they learned or you can write particular questions on the board that they must follow. This not only encourages some movement but also allows students to practice their communication skills with their peers.
- Mindfulness
o Breathing exercises (5-finger breathing, hot air balloon, deep breathing)
o Mindfulness chime
There are many other examples of brain breaks out there and not all of them will work for your classroom. It is important to get to know your students and see what they’re interested in and what they need in order to learn better. Brain breaks encourage movement and that is what we all need when we are learning new things.
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