Get your kids up and moving with brain breaks with Mallory!
Here's Why:
-
Stimulates students Brains (Ratey & Hagerman, 2008)
-
When we exercise our muscles send signals to our brain that stimulate significant neurotransmitters, which then ignite our neurons, and making connections.
-
In order to learn a task/activity/subject we need attention, focus, and motivation.
-
Physical activity helps balance important neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
-
As more cells are created there are better connections between them.
-
The neurotransmitters flow in a nice balance that creates the best environment needed to acquire new information and retain it as long term potentiation, the mechanism that “binds” cells and makes memories stick, this is enhanced by physical activity as well.
-
-
Gets student's heart rates up quickly​.
-
Has been field tested with second and third graders.
-
Provides students with opportunities to get up and move throughout the school day.
-
Teaches students:
-
Left and right coordination when moving from side to side
-
Hand and eye coordination
-
How to skip
-
How to squat and lunge properly
-
Partner interaction
-
-
No teacher training necessary
-
Provides teachers with their own brain break
In the new federal education law “Every Student Succeeds Act” (2016) there is a strong call and support for educating the whole child. ESSA replaces No Child Left Behind, and the goal is to allow more funding, flexibility, and control to help states and school districts to have a “well-rounded education” for each student (United States Department of Education, 2015).
​
Children are in school all day learning as much as their brains can retain. Not only does exercise impact their overall health so they can come to school and learn, it is a huge factor in our brain function. Exercise provides the link between our brain and learning. Ratey & Hagerman (2008) explain that when we exercise we grow more brain cells, spark our brain cells to activate, and build better and stronger connections between them. When the new brain cells are filled with new learning, exercise continues to foster long term potentiation, which leads to retention and learning. Exercise helps us sharpen our focus, improves motivation and alertness, and allows for more opportunities to learn and remember.
Research Based
References
Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). SPARK the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain.
New York: Little, Brown and Company
United States Department of Education. Every Student Succeeds Act (2015). Retrieved on March 23,
2016. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/essastwebinar12222015.pdf