Active Secondary Classrooms

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Active Secondary Classrooms

• Energy Breaks Impact Student Learning

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Brain Waves- Have Highs and Lows
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Movement Data 1

• http//www.learningreadinesspe.com/
• http//www.kidsreadandride.com/2011_Ar
  kansas_Data.pdf
• Finland 1 in the world in literacy and
  numeracy. After each 45 min class students
  engage in 15 minutes of activity

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Why do our students need Classroom Physical
Activity Breaks (CPAB)?

• It takes just 17 minutes (/- 2) of sitting down
  for blood to leave the brain and pool in the
  hamstrings. Signals the body to release
  melatonin, reduces release of BDNF (brain
  fertilizer).
• Exercise fuels the brain with oxygen and triggers
  the release of neurotrophins which enhance
  growth, impact mood, cement memory, and enhance
  connections between neurons.

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Why do our students need Classroom Physical
Activity Breaks (CPAB)?

• Standing up creates more attention arousal,
  speeds up information processing by 5-20 percent,
  and increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain
  by 10-15 percent.

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Brain Activity
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What are the Academic Benefits?

• Physical activity and cognition are positively
  related (Sibley Etnier, 2003).
• Physical activity improves cognitive performance
  and behavior improves following bouts of activity
  (Tomorowski, 2003).
• CPAB temporarily improve attention and behaviour
  (Pellegrini et al, 1995).

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Academic /Motor Skills

• Academic
• Associative Thinking
• Deductive Reasoning
• Abstract Thinking
• Inductive Reasoning
• Combination
• Sequencing Analysis Sequence synthesis and
  Organizing
• Visualization patterns
• Visual discrimination
• Verbal ability
• Memory and reasoning
• Motor
• Center Line skills Eye-foot coordination
• Spatial coordination
• Eye-hand coordination
• Hand-foot tracking

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Cross Lateral Activities ActivatingAll parts of
the Brain Part 1

• Brain Challenges
• Hold your nose, reach over or under and grab your
  nose with the other hand. Switch and switch
• Point an index finger out on one hand and a thumb
  up on the other. Switch and switch.
• As you write your signature on an imaginary
  table, rotate your foot in a clockwise circle.

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Cross Lateral Activities ActivatingAll parts of
the Brain Part 2

• Brain Challenges cont.
• Guns and Roses make a gun with your index finger
  and thumb on one hand and a circle with your
  index finger and thumb on the other hand. Switch
  repeatedly.
• Slap count face a partner, hands out with palms
  facing up. Cross over your body with your right
  hand and slap your partners right hand while
  counting 1.
• Repeat with the left hand and say 2. Your
  partner then does the same action, saying 3 and 4
  as they slap (lightly) your hands.
• Variations count down or up in number intervals
  (e.g., 3s, 4s)

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Chair Aerobics and 10-a-day

• Chair Aerobics
• 10 squats
• 10 dips
• 1 leg squats
• Calf raises
• Scissors
• Leg swings
• Send 10-a-day NASPE calendars to staff or create
  your own 10-a-day activities

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Activities Colors/Hyperdash

• Pick a color touch 5 things of that color
  around the room (cant be a person!)
• Hyperdash!
• Post colored spots around classroom. Each spot
  also has a number on it (you could also add a
  letter or a symbol to give you more options or
  use two different color sets).
• Hand out index cards student must follow
  sequence on card.
• Can be a color, number or mixed sequence.

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Rock Paper Scissors

• Stand back to back with partner jump 5 times,
  turn on the 6th jump and show
• Variations use feet for symbols together
  rock, apart side paper, front back straddle
  scissors

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Same Different

• Walk around room. On command get toe-to-toe with
  a partner
• Designate one person to be same and one person
  to be different
• Jump 10x. On the 10th jump, both partners put one
  foot forward
• If the feet are the same (both right feet), the
  same person gets a point, if they are
  different, the different person gets a point
• Change movement pairs from one session to the
  next feet apart or feet together palms up/
  palms down

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Sherlock Holmes

• Send two people out of the room
• Choose one person to initiate and change the
  movement of the class quiet, subtle movements
• Invite the detectives back in try to figure out
  who is the person initiating the change
• Add decoys to increase the difficulty

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Maestro Board
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The Maestro Rules

• O lunge
• X jump
• Arrows show which direction to move (one step
  only)
• Read the notes like words on a page L to R, top
  to bottom and SAY THEM OUT LOUD.
• Great activity for decision making, crossing the
  midline of the body, tracking, and rhythm

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Maestro Levels

• Level 1 move and say the SAME direction as
• shown on the screen.
• Level 2 move in the SAME direction as the
• arrows, but say the OPPOSITE direction.
• Level 3 move in the OPPOSITE direction, as the
• arrows but say the SAME direction.
• Level 4 move in the OPPOSITE direction as the
• arrows and say the OPPOSITE direction as shown
• on the screen.

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Do This, Do That

• Chosen leader performs various movements, each
  preceded by saying do this or do that.
• Students copy the movements but only if they are
  preceded by the phrase do this.
• If the directions are do that, no one is to
  move.
• Can use points students try to get the least
  number of points during the game.

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Do As I Say

• Leader gives verbal commands
• Leader attempts to confuse the class by
  performing a different movement from what they
  are saying
• E.g. Say put your hands on your elbows while
  placing hands on your waist

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Academic Integration Part 1

• Quick Math
• Face your partner. Pretend to put your water gun
  in your holsters.
• For one-hand addition, on the signal Draw each
  partner shows any number of fingers and thumbs on
  one hand.
• The first partner who adds the fingers and thumbs
  of both partners wins the draw.
• For two-hand addition, add partner 1 and partner
  2 fingers and thumbs together for the sum.
• For one-hand multiplication, multiply partner 1
  times partner 2 for the product.
• For two-hand multiplication, multiply the sum of
  partner 1s hands times the sum of partner 2s
  hands for the product.

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Academic Integration Part 2

• Evens
• Students walk around the room.
• On command they find a partner, designate one to
  be odds and one to be evens.
• Hit fist into hand 3x and on 3rd time stick out a
  combination of fingers 0, 1, 2,3, 4, 5.
• Total number of fingers is added together.
• If it is even, evens player get the point, if
  it is odd, odds player gets the point.
• Play best of 3 games then find another partner
  and repeat.

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Academic Integration Part 3

• Balloons
• One per group of students.
• Keep up have to review topic/ answer question/
  link concepts while keeping balloon from hitting
  the floor/ table.
• Great for icebreakers learning names etc at the
  start of the year.
• Languages give students a theme, verbs to
  discuss.
• Social Studies review key concepts from current
  topic.
• Post a word or a question on the board and give
  students a set time to come up with an answer.
• Latex allergies? Use a beach ball or yarn/ koosh
  ball. Set clear ground rules for behavior ahead
  of time.

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Academic Integration Part 4

• Rock Paper Scissors, Math
• Walk around room. On command get toe to toe with
  a partner.
• Face partner and say R-P-S Math.
• When you say the word math, you should put
  between 1-4 fingers out (no thumbs or zeros).
• The person who adds the numbers/multiples the
  numbers first wins the round.
• Play best of 5 rounds.

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Academic Integration Letter Spots

• Letter Spots
• Think of a word involving letters A,B,C,D,E.
  Right shoulder A, Right Ear B, Nose C, Left
  ear D, Left shoulder E.
• Without talking, spell out the word using letter
  spots on body.
• Partner has to say letters out loud and say the
  word.
• Change letters/ body parts/ add body parts.
• Vocabulary lists for topic spell out answer to
  question using body.

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Academic Integration Pre-Test

• Pre-Test Taking Activity
• Before starting test have students perform these
  warm-ups/hook-ups
• 1 leg squat touch opposite hand to floor 20 each
  side
• Spins and turns 5 spins in each directions
• Knee to Elbow 30 times for each elbow
• Stretches
• Hands over heads
• Hands behind back
• Shoulder shrugs
• Head Rolls

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Getting Everybody On Board

• Ask for time at the start of each staff meeting
  to go over one or two brain breaks
• Forward news articles on physical activity/ brain
  function/ academic achievement.
• Visit your school board and tell them what you
  are doing and why (have them try a few!).
• Have a set time each day for physical activity
  time e.g., announcements, homeroom.
• Daily challenges how many leg raises, scissors
  can the class do during announcements.
• Monthly challenges marathon, ironman, walk to
  the moon, 1000 minutes.

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Resources

• http//www.aahperd.org/naspe/publications/teachin
  gTools/upload/PA-During-School-Day.pdf
• Pages 2 and 3 have a variety of links to
  different activities http//brainbreaks.blogspot.c
  om/
• This is where you will find videos and
  explanations of a number of the activities in
  this presentation. Great for sending a quick link
  to colleagues. You can also order the DVD and
  book from this site.
• http//pecentral.org/lessonideas/searchresults.as
  p?category55 classroom integrated lessons. Most
  of them are elementary but you could adapt and
  tailor them to suit your needs
• http//abllab.com/wp-content/themes/abl/doc/abl-h
  andout.pdf document from Jean Blaydes Madigan.
  Many of the games are elementary level but it
  contains some suitable for higher grade levels
  and some background research into brain based
  learning.
• Classroom activity success stories