Do you need a break?

Hello, hello, hello.  Another week has gone by.  Wow, those of you who blog all the time must be super heroes because I just cannot seem to do it.  I have a million things to do, but since I really want to share this post with you... and the Giants don't play until 8:30 tonight... let's get started.

Do you need a break?  (Ha ha.... cute segueway there.)  My kiddos needs breaks during the day - a lot of them.  I have 18 little ones this year, and only 6 of them are girls.  Which means 12 boys - and a LOT of movement.  And reminders to stay focused.  And bathroom breaks.  And drink breaks.  And pencil sharpening breaks, even though there are already a billion sharpened pencils in the can at their table and isn't is just easier to put the broken on back and take a sharp one?

So needless to say, brain breaks have become a MUST in my classroom this year.  I do 3 different kinds of brain breaks.

1.  The brain break stick pick.  (I'll take a picture of that tomorrow and put it here.  Use your imagination for now.)  I have a ton of brain break ideas that I printed and cut and laminated and glued on popsicle sticks.  On the back, I wrote a quick reminder of what to do for each one, since I sometimes forget what they are by name alone.  All the sticks are in a container and when we need a quick break, I pull one out and the cheers erupt!  My sticks are color coded (yes, OCD... I have a problem...) by type of break - energizer, relaxer, exercise, etc.  I choose one we need at the point and take a couple minutes to get all the squiggly jigglies out.  (I also have a set of cards on a ring that we can choose from, too.  So many ideas!)

Click on the pictures to see more.

 

2.  Now, sometimes we need something even more exciting to do as our break.  This one usually comes after lunch, and after we've done writing and are ready for math and 18 little bodies are drooping and sagging and wondering when recess is.... (and it's not for another 90 minutes!)... then I pull out a dancing/moving/jamming kind of brain break.

 

I have a bunch of these pinned to a folder on my desktop for easy access.  I put them up on the Smartboard and rock it out.  Here are our current top 3 favorites: (NOTE:  These are direct links to the youtube videos so you may need/want to run them through a filter to get rid of any ads.)

 

Gummy Bears!  Be ready to have this one stuck in your head for the rest of the night.





The Hamster Dance - with a western theme!  Yee-haw!!

Just Dance Kids has a TON of great videos for brain breaks.  This last one is an old camp song.  Be sure to check out all the other songs this group does.  Lots of fun!  Let's go bananas!



 

These are loads of fun and make for a quick way to get some energy out so we can move on with the day. 

 

3.  I'm not sure what to call these.  They're not really movement breaks, as much as thinking breaks.  Just a little something to get everyone motivated.  At the end of the day, I usually put a game or website on the smartboard for everyone to do while we're listening for buses to be called.  This one is the most requested right now.  Don't ask me why.  They love it.  Meet the Green Anaconda.



And this one is my personal favorite for now.  Love them Muppets!  My boys like this one.  Go figure :-)

 

Oh that cracks me up.  I find something new to laugh at every time I watch that one.  I hope you've gotten a few new brain break ideas and resources.  What are your favorites?