POWER UP THE BRAIN FOR LEARNING!

• "You can’t educate a child who isn’t healthy and you can’t keep a child healthy who isn’t educated”. -

Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. Surgeon General

The percentage of high school students who engaged in selected risk behaviors, by type of grades earned —according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2014.

* This means that 12% of students with mostly A's carried a weapon compared to

37% of students with mostly D's or F's carried a weapon. or F's that 12% of students with mostly A's carried a weapon and 37% of

85% of school age students are kinesthetic learners!

Knowing this data why do most teachers continue to instruct in a “Sit and Get”

format?Jean Blaydes – Action Based Learning

Brain Gains

You are the driver of the bus! Enthusiasm and energy attract more

passengers! (Gordon, The Energy Bus)

Offering novelty and variety in what we give students to do

automatically increases task engagement. (Schlechty, Working on the

Work)

Brain Based Movement Challenges

Nose/Ear SwitchFinger/Foot Rotation

Criss-Cross Finger Move

The Brain is Mission Control for everything we do.

• Did you know that skipping, rolling, and crawling are all indicators of reading readiness?

• Have you heard of the term “Mechanical Language Acquisition”?

• We are not hard-wired to read at birth. You can’t learn to read without an internal dialogue.

•Movement increases this dialogue!

Cognitive Layering

•Rock Paper Scissors /Move to Learn

•Review Technique

•Which of the following did not serve as President of the United States?

•A. George Washington

•B. Thomas Jefferson

•C. Alexander Hamilton

•D. Martin Van Buren

Active Listening/RetellingStudents get in pairs.

The teacher then gives a prompt.

Students then begin moving in place. Jogging/Cross Overs etc.

Teacher says “Go”. The 1st person begins story.

Teacher says “Stop” and students stop moving and catch their breath.

On “Go”, the other partner continues retelling where the first partner left off.

Repeat.

According to Dr. John Mesina’s research , shared in the book Brain Rules,…………

* Our brains were made for walking – 12 - 20 miles a day.

* The brain sends a message to the body to go into sleep mode after as little as 15 minutes of inactivity.

•To improve our thinking skills,

we have to move.

•Exercising just twice a week, for thirty minutes will half your risk for dementia. It cuts your risk of Alzheimer’s by 60%.

John J. Ratey, MD - Author of SPARK -

The Revolutionary New Science of

Exercise and the Brain

Movement is Miracle Grow for the Brain

• Crossing the Mid-line

• Cross Over – Wind Mills- Grapevine – Straddle Cross-

Combining physical activity with traditional classroom lessons led to a 13 percentage-point

increase in state test scores at a struggling Charleston, S.C., elementary school.

A recent study out of West Virginia of 5th and 7th graders found that students with better

aerobic fitness scored higher on standardized tests.

Action Based Learning – Jean Blaydes

Newest Research

Brain Boosters

RESOURCES FOR THE CLASSROOM

http://www.buncombe.k12.nc.us/Page/27487

Debbie Bryant,

Healthful Living Director

Buncombe County Schools

debbie.bryant@bcsemail.org

828-255-5960