Brain Breaks

January 31, 2007

Elizabeth Cook, a fourth- and fifth-grade reading and social studies teacher at Endy Elementary School in Albemarle, North Carolina

Found In: routines & procedures

I have read that the brain can only absorb about twenty minutes of information at a time, so I have Brain Breaks in my classes every 20-25 minutes.

Depending on what I am teaching, the breaks last anywhere from two to ten minutes. The break may simply be to have students tell a neighbor something they did yesterday after school. Sometimes we go outside and run to a designated area on the playground or take a lap around our walking trail. We’ll do a short segment of an exercise video, or play one or two songs on a CD. I may read aloud from a novel for ten minutes or read one or two poems. I mix up the break activities and sometimes take suggestions from the kids or let them decide what we do. Then we get back to work.

The kids love the breaks and settle back down to work quickly. There are almost no fidgeting or off-task behaviors in my room any more, and my active kids really benefit.

COMMENTS:

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Lauren | 2012/02/04

Have you ever heard of Quantum Learning? It's amazing!!! Best way to incorporate brain breaks into the day!

Jeanne | 2012/02/03

Check out the activities in Brain Gym. They are excellent. Thanks for the reminder to get them moving!

Rick Winter | 2012/02/03

Thanks for these notes. I'm looking for research on building a brain-based schedule (class, day, week, year). I will check out John Medina's Brain Rules. If anyone knows of more citations, please let me know. One of the things I recently heard from a school psychologist is that the brain uses glucose throughout the day, especially for heavy cognitive demands -- so a small bit (not much) of sugar in the afternoon may help behavior problems if they increase at this time.

Darlene | 2012/02/02

Excellent research based activity! Need to get the blood flowing to get the oxygen to the brain. Sitting for more than 15 minutes seems to cause the brain to think we are tired and it produces chemicals to help us sleep. Definitely not conducive to learning!

Eric Peterson | 2012/02/02

Read John Medina's "Brain Rules. Schedule a quick "off task" diversion for every 10 minutes. Something as simple as a story you tell (in music a quick YouTube of something relevant), or a microscopic focus of a concept. Works wonders.

Sheila | 2012/02/02

I've heard it put this way: The brain can only absorb what the butt can endure!

Linda | 2011/07/28

I tried this last year and it worked well for my class. Thanks so much for sharing!

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