Confession Time: When I first began my teaching career I made a dreadful mistake. (Pathetically, I admit I repeated this mistake for years.) I only used breaks when they naturally occurred or, even worse, when my students began to resemble CW zombies in need of "food." Don't get me wrong! I love watching CW's iZombie, but in my classroom?!?! Yeah. Not a good thing.
This was a horrible mistake, as I learned, because a break before the glazed-over stage takes place is ideal for student learning and the brain's memory storage. Once the glaze occurs, well, it is too late. That is when breaks help students the most. (I highly recommend all teachers reading up on the research that backs this.)
Anyway, I now use brain breaks more than ever. Sometimes we use GoNoodle, but my students really seem to enjoy using our brain break jar too. On my desk sits a plastic jar with neon green polka dots and lid that I found at a local dollar store a few years ago. Inside the jar are 18 slips of paper, each one detailing a fun, but quick, brain break activity. I'm telling you, they love it! We take turns pulling a slip from the jar and then doing whatever crazy activity is written on the slip of paper.
These brain break activities have been such a great thing in my classroom that I decided to retype them for you to have. They are FREE and can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. I really hope you'll download them and enjoy using them in your classroom. Please let me know what you think.
To access them, please click on the image above or the TPT link in this post or near the top of my page. Thanks!