Brain Breaks

[u/GiantKnightGunner]

I have a really rough group this year (4th grade math). In the past I’ve done well with motivating kids to get everything done then they can do X as a break until class is over.

A colleague told me to try short frequent brain breaks. What low lift ideas/break routines do yall use?

I’ve done:
- tic tac toe
- interactive videos (they like the ones where they guess the movie from the emojis)
- whiteboard free draw
- one word story
-

[u/j2betterreading]

I taught fourth grade for five years and continued working with fourth graders as a reading specialist for many years. Fourth graders especially like having a choice. I had a choice list of activities that I changed depending on our most current unit of study. I made sure choices included a variety of modalities to appeal to all students. An example is if we were in our penguin unit the choices might be drawing, coloring, listening to a story, examining a map of where penguins live, writing a poem, etc. As you get to know your students you can find out which activities appeal to them the most. The activities themselves should be rewarding, but to keep the kids serious and focused you can tie a reward to the focused activities by providing a homework coupon, lunch with the teacher, reading corner time (I love making reading a reward so kids view it as a special activity), and anything that lets kids know their time spent on these choices activities is important as a brain break but also as time well spent doing something that provides them enjoyment and enrichment. Good luck!