Movement in the Classroom

1. Movement in the Classroom In school classrooms, we often put the cart before the horse. Before we can educate a child's mind we must tend to his bodily needs. A tired, hungry, uncomfortable child does not learn well. -Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben

2. Why does this topic interest you? Exercise activities throughout the day can: • Encourage healthy behaviors-creating healthier students • Increase academic performance • Increase attention and memory • Increase moral and desire to be in school • Decrease disruptive behaviors

4. OPENING ACTIVITY: CHA CHA SLIDE Are you worried that you can’t dance? Your kids won’t know the difference  Using music with the steps/instructions built within will save time. You will not have to create the sequence of steps by yourself. However, my students love to suggest/create a movement daily. By the end of the week we have sequenced five steps that we now can add music to.

5. S’COOL MOVES: FOCUS MOVES VISION MOVES POSTER • This is an example activity that not only provides movement for students but improves: • Tracking from left to right • Ability to focus near to far • and far to near while copying from the board or word walls • Rhythm, sequencing, and timing, which are skills linked to improvement in ADHD • These statements are taken directly from the back of the S’Cool Moves Focus Moves Vision Moves Poster. • www.schoolmoves.com

6. Movement Encourages Healthy Behaviors By encouraging our kids to move and practicing this with them, we are taking steps to fight childhood obesity.

8. Current MT Issues

9. Current MT Issues

10. Childhood obesity results in: Type 2 diabetes- Youngsters with a condition called pre- diabetes are at almost double the risk of dying before 55 (Franks, P., Hanson, R. L., Knowler, W. C., Sievers, M. L., Bennett, P. H., Looker, H.C. , 2010) Metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome isn't a disease itself, but a cluster of conditions that can put children at risk of developing heart disease, diabetes or other health problems. This cluster of conditions includes high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol and excess abdominal fat. High cholesterol and high blood pressure. These factors can contribute to the buildup of plaques in the arteries. These plaques can cause arteries to narrow and harden, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke later in life. Asthma and other breathing problems. The extra weight can cause problems with the development and health of lungs, leading to asthma or other breathing problems. Low self-esteem and bullying.

11. Childhood obesity results in: Sleep disorders. Sleep apnea, may cause snoring or abnormal breathing when sleeping. Early puberty or menstruation. Being obese can create hormone imbalances that can cause puberty to start earlier than expected. Behavior and learning problems. Overweight children tend to have more anxiety and poorer social skills than normal-weight children have. At one extreme, these problems may lead overweight children to act out and disrupt their classrooms. At the other, they may cause overweight children to socially withdraw. Stress and anxiety also interfere with learning. School-related anxiety can create a vicious cycle in which ever-growing worry fuels ever-declining academic performance. Depression. Low self-esteem can create overwhelming feelings of hopelessness in some overweight children. When children lose hope that their lives will improve, they may become depressed. A depressed child may lose interest in normal activities, sleep more than usual or cry a lot. Some depressed children hide their sadness and appear emotionally flat instead. Either way, depression is as serious in children as in adults. If you think your child is depressed, talk with him or her and share your concerns with his or her doctor.

12. Brain Break! Inch Worm Stretch Stand up Bend down and touch the ground with your hands. Bend your knees if you need to. Start inching your hands out in front of you. Your feet should remain in place. You will be moving your hands farther and farther out in front of you. More and more weight will be on your hands. Once you have extended yourself as far as you can go, keep you hands still and stat inching your legs forward until they meet your hands again. Try to keep your knees as straight as possible. Repeat.

13. Movement Affects Learning The body learns ten times faster than the brain and forgets ten times slower. If you want to change the brain, change the body. Modified from talk given by Dr. David Richo

14. Exercise grows our brain better than any other factor we are aware of at the present time • Exercise readies our nerve cells to bind more easily and stronger by increasing neurotransmitter activity, improving blood flow and producing Brain Growth Factors (Serotonin, Dopamine, BDNF). Ratey, 2008

15. Exercise Increases Brain Cells(New Brain Cells Produced in Four Weeks) Van Praag et al, 1999, Brown, et. al, 2003

16. Physical Activities Change the Brain and Body’s Chemistry Exercise increases: • Adrenaline-provides energy • Noradrenaline- enhances focus • Dopamine- thinking, working memory • Cortisol-energy, memory • Serotonin-attention, mood • Glucose-energy, memory formation • BDNF & NGF-growth factors

17. Movement Affects Learning A few studies that examine this claim: • California DOE 2001- nearly a million students (grades 5, 7, 9) showed a positive correlation between levels of fitness and standardized tests scores in math and reading. • Castelli, 2007- 259 third and fifth graders showed a positive correlation between aerobic fitness measures and scores in reading, math, and total academic achievement.

18. Woodland Elementary School KS City • Inner city school with 80% of kids on free lunch program. • 2005 Fall • PE once per week /50 minutes. 2006 Jan - June • PE4LIFE added: • Cardiac monitored watches, • Dance Dance Revolution, • A few exercise bicycles/fitness machines. Five days a week /45 minutes. Ratey

19. Johannes SkolenCopenhagen, Denmark • School PE was increased from once a week to 5 times a week for 250 students for three months. • ABSENTEEISM decreased by 38%. • CONCENTR ATION ABILITY was measured and it improved 33%. • Teachers reported, “The increase in exercise had great effects on CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR.” • Exercise had a major impact on GRADES; there was an average of 1.5 grade improvement across the board. Ratey

20. Naperville Public Schools, IL • A revolutionary PE program has transformed the student body into perhaps the fittest in the nation with Zero hour PE. • Among one entire sophomore class, only 3% were overweight, versus the national average of 30%. • In 1999, Naperville District 203 scored #1 in science and #6 in math on TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) Ratey

21. Standing appears to provide a 5–15% greater flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, thereby creating more arousal of attention (Jensen, 1995).

22. Brain Break! Ten In this activity, partners will put their arms out and display the correct number of fingers so that both add to 10. Stand up and find a partner. Decide who is A and who is B. Face your partner. Person A will put both arms together in one of these four positions: straight up, directly left, directly right or straight down and display a number zero to ten with his fingers and thumb. Now person B will put her arms out in the opposite direction as person A’s and display her fingers and thumbs to both total 10. For instance, if person A had their hands straight up and displaying 3 fingers total with both hands, then person B put their arms straight down and displays 7 total fingers. Do this as fast as you can. Once person A has led for a while, switch and have person B lead.

23. Goal Improving Classroom Achievement Through Physical Movement Time is short and the expectations are high. How do you fit exercise and movement in your classroom without giving up on instruction time?

24. Yoga Animal Poses to Relax You and Your Students Students crave the chance to be creative while exploring what their bodies can do. Yoga poses, put together in a creative way, help the students begin to learn how to focus and concentrate and release tension that builds up from the busy day of learning.

25. Snake Snake Pose: have the student lay on the floor on their bellies and stretch from head to toe. Have them pretend they are a snake in the grass and stretch in the sun. After holding this pose for a few seconds, the longer the better, I then ask them to raise their heads and shoulder and leaning on their hands, I encourage them to do a quiet "hiss" sound.

26. Crocodile-Locust Pose Crocodile Pose: have them move arms back along side the body, raising head and bend upward from the waist, arching head back. Then like crocodiles, encourage them to open and shut their jaws several times. This is a fun imagination pose as I tell them, "We're crocodiles in the swamp or the river. What can we find to eat today. Look, get that frog or bug" as they snap their jaws open and shut. Feel free to be creative in your teaching yoga or flexibility exercises.

27. Cat-Cat Curl Pose Cat Pose: have them raise their bodies till they are kneeling on all fours. Encourage them to keep their arms straight, with relaxed shoulders, raised heads. I let them make "meow" sounds, then have them arch their back like a cat who is mad. I encourage them to alternate between the raised head meowing position to the arched back silent position several times, breathing deeply when their back is arched.

28. Dog-Downward Facing Dog Dog-Downward Pose: I encourage the kids to lift up their hips and keep arms straight as they become a dog. This is a harder pose for them to hold for very long so you can come to plank and then back up again after a break.

29. Lion Lion Pose: lean back on their knees and lift arms completely off the floor, hanging down beside their bodies as a lion. In lion, they lift their chests, open mouth wide and from the abdomen, roar like a lion, breathing in and out and stretching their tongue out as they roar. This also can be rather difficult, but the tongue being stretched out relaxes the neck and facial muscles, so encourage them to be silly with "sticking their tongues" out.

30. Butterfly Butterfly Pose: have the students sit on their bottoms, legs flexed in a triangle shape in front of them with the soles of their feet touching each other and hands on their ankles. They then move their legs up and down, in a "flapping butterfly" motion. Encourage them to float and flap slowly and deliberately, being silent like a butterfly.

31. Monkey-Tip Toe Pose Monkey or Tip Toe Pose can be noisy if you choose. They stand on their feet, bend their knees and squat down close to the floor with their feet body-width apart. Have them touch their hands to their chest and then raise and lower their elbows while making a monkey sound. Let them use their imagination as to what a monkey sounds like. Encourage students to have spatial awareness at all times.

32. Turtle-Childs Pose (Arms Extended Forward) Turtle is a good way to begin to quiet down. Have the child kneel and sit on their heels. Then lower their upper bodies so that their forehead touches the floor. Have them slide their arms forward above their head while keeping their bottoms curled up on their heels in a small hunched turtle pose. Have them hold inside their shell so no one can see them.

33. Mouse-Childs Pose (hands by heels with palms up) Last kids yoga pose is the mouse pose for quietness and stillness. From the turtle position, have the children slide their arms back alongside their body toward their feet. They keep their bottoms on their heels and place their arms by their sides so that their hands are along their entire body ending at the feet. I encourage them to remain "quiet as a mouse" for as long as they can, usually at least 30 seconds.

34. CLOSING MOVEMENT Can you follow directions? Track Name: The Previous Command Body Jive CD by Ambrose “Braz” Brazelton This CD is available at www.edact.com. It has a very helpful pdf file recorded within the music CD. This file has objectives written for each song, as well as illustrating movement images. We are about to find out!

35. Moving to Music! • Macarena • Cupid Shuffle • Cha Cha Slide • Tootsiroll • YMCA • Chicken Dance • Hustle • HokiePokie • Electric Slide • Cotton Eyed Jo • Conga • Bunny Hop • CDs/DVDs to check out • No Worries: Songs for Sensory Modulation (K-4th grade) • Body Jive by Ambrose Brazelton (middle grades) • Kidz Bop music/dance videos ages 5-12 • Hip Hop dance moves for kids on ehow.com (video) • What ever the source, music or video, remember to preview before. Although videos and music may be advertised for kids, use your judgment and decide whether it is appropriate or not. I have not previewed the Kidz Bop videos and am not certain if they would be appropriate.

36. Resources to Check out from the CARE Library • Break Breaks DVD • Brain Gym Teacher’s Edition www.braingym.org • Energizing Brain Breaks Booklet http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com • FitDeck Yoga Exercise Playing Cards www.fitdeck.com • Healthy Kids, Smart Kids by Yvonne Sanders-Butler, Ed.D. • Mind and Body Activities for the Elementary Classroom • Recess in Action booklet • S’cool Moves for Learning • Spark, by John J. Ratey, MD • Supersize Me DVD (school version)

37. Other Resources to Explore: • Hip Hop Dance Moves for Kids Video Series www.ehow.com • Star Power for Preschoolers by Andrew Oser • www.schoolmoves.com/index.htm • Student Wellness Website- District site under Student drop down • Videos to watch • www.brainrules.com • http://www.learningreadinesspe.com/index.html • http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com/

38. Contact Information Kendra Fanning- 4th grade teacher, West Elementary Kendra_fanning@gfps.k12.mt.us ex. 7194 Michelle Peterson- Health Enhancement teacher, Sunnyside Elementary michelle_peterson@gfps.k12.mt.us ex. 7140 Allison Struber- Student Wellness Coordinator allison_struber@gfps.k12.mt.us ex. 6782

39. References National Center for Health Statistics Franks, P., Hanson, R. L., Knowler, W. C., Sievers, M. L., Bennett, P. H., Looker, H.C. (2010). Childhood Obesity, Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Premature Death. N Engl J Med 2010; 362:485-493 Castelli, D., Hillman, C., Buck, S., & Erwin, H. (2007). Physical fitness and academic achievement in third- and fith- grade students. J Sport ExercPsychol, 29(2), 239-52. California Department of Education. (2005). California Physical Fitness Test: A Study of Relationship Between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement in California Using 20 Test Results. Californa Department of Education, Sacramento, CA. (http://www.asep.org/files/Grissom.pdf) Ratey, J. SPARK: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. Little, Brown Company, New York, NY.