Brain Break Videos for Classroom Implementation

BRAIN BREAK VIDEO OVERVIEW: 
 Hello! I had the opportunity to create some "brain break" videos to help students get up and moving when transitioning between seated tasks.  The idea behind these videos is to facilitate movements based actions in an effort to help neuro-synaptic communication between different areas of the brain.  It can be difficulty for a child to sit and attend to a task for extended periods of time without having a break. 

When choosing activities to highlight, I wanted to focus on crossing midline and using all parts of the body when possible.  I completed five short videos total and will discuss them each briefly here with you so that you can implement these with your own children or students at home.  Most of these activities are easily explained and do not require a video demonstration in order to grasp the concepts. 

Hookups: 
1. For this activity, the student will stand with feet crossed at the ankles. 
2. He/she will then put arms straight out in front and then cross them over one another with palms facing inwards.
3. Intertwine and clasp fingers together.
4. Bend elbows inward and brings hands up towards chest. 
5.  Keep arms and feet crossed while taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Opposite swirls:
1. The student may sit or stand for this activity.
2.  Move R ankle and L wrist in clockwise circular motions. 
3. Switch direction of motion (counterclockwise).
4. Alternate body parts...(now move L ankle and R wrist in clockwise circular motions).
5. Switch direction of motion (counterclockwise).

Partner Passing:
1. Have the students choose an item that can be easily handed to one another safely.
2. Students may sit or stand back to back with a partner.
3. While remaining back to back, have the students alternately reach with both hands to left and right sides to pass the item to one another, crossing midline each time they pass the item.

 Standing Cross Crawls:
1.  Student reaches across the body to touch body parts on opposite side (i.e. reaches with left hand to touch right toes, ankle, or knee...then switch!).

Superbrain Yoga:
1.  This is a form of yoga that can be quickly found through searching the internet.  Here is a quick link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwhpF9iJSs
2.  Cross arms and grab opposite ear lobes (i.e. grab left ear lobe with right hand).
3. Squat while taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

BRAIN BREAK VIDEO PREPARATION: 
My professional rotation site mentor and I collaborated to create ideas for brain breaks that we felt would work well within the classroom setting.  I also did research by watching many online videos and looking up commonly used movement based activities within the classroom.  I tried to incorporate crossing midline whenever I could as I know this helps both sides of the brain to work together more effectively.  Crossing midline is developmentally challenging for many students but is a great activity to encourage for anyone.  I also incorporated feedback and requests from teachers when creating these videos.  Several teachers had requested such brain breaks and were excited to receive them for classroom use.

In order to increase likelihood of use for teachers within the classroom, I created all videos with the teachers in mind.  These videos were meant to be selected and played on a screen without requiring facilitate from a teacher.  This small break may allow the teacher to set up the next activity with the students follow the instructional and interactive video to complete the task at hand.  For this reason, the videos were kept simple and instructive in nature.  I also had the opportunity to partner up with someone I know very well in order to complete these videos.  My little sister performed most of the activities and explained each task before beginning.  She did a phenomenal job and I am so proud of her!  My mother gave consent for my sister to be in the videos prior to filming or video release.

I had the opportunity to trial several of the brain break videos within a first grade classroom.  They followed along well with the videos and seemed engaged and interested.  It took them a little while to catch on as the activity was new for them.  However, the teacher stated that once a task has become more routine, they do initiate it more quickly.  She gave me some great feedback about my videos, indicating that she felt one of them was too short.  She wanted it to be a little bit longer so that the students could remain engaged in the same thing for a while longer without having to transition too many times (or without her having to pull up another video back to back). She really liked the ones that crossed midline.  In fact, she even said, "If you have any that cross midline, that would be great!".  Overall, I feel that the implementation went well and that the idea of the brain break videos was much anticipated and well received.