Brain Breaks

I know this is a topic I’ve talked about in previous posts, but I found a different way to select Brain Breaks to change it up a bit.  Now, I didn’t come up with this new way of selecting Brain Breaks on my own – I got the idea from Heather Haupt.  I saw it on Pinterest a few weeks ago and tweaked it to fit my classroom needs.

First, I decorated a new little bucket to hold all of my brain breaks. I also printed each brain break on a card to go in the bucket and laminated it to make it more durable.  I got the cute frames used on my cards from 3AM Teacher.  She has awesome graphics.   This way each time we go to do a brain break I can pick a different one out of the bucket. Makes it a little more fun!  These brain breaks include simple ones like jumping jacks and also some of the “Just Dance – Kid Disney” videos that I found on YouTube.  Check out my post here on how to make YouTube videos safe to use in the classroom using Safeshare.

I love, love, love using brain breaks in the classroom.  Anytime you notice a lull or a lack of participation a quick brain break is a great way to get students engaged again.  Brain breaks can be a variety of things from singing a song, doing 20 jumping jacks, or doing a little dance. My student teacher and I found these great Disney Just Dance Videos on YouTube. They have ones for “Under the Sea,” “Bare Necessities,” “Be Our Guest,” and more.  Now, as a teacher, using YouTube videos can be a concern because you never know what ad could pop up.  Our district found this great site, that you might already know about, but if you don’t I had to share.  It’s called SafeShare.Tv.  It is a way to show YouTube videos in the classroom in a safe way.  You put the web address into the SafeShare website and it provides you with a safe link to use in the classroom – ad free.  The website is www.safeshare.tv.  Wonderful website and wonderful way to show some fun dance brain breaks on the Smart Board!