Meet you at the Brain Gym!

        The end of summer can bring mixed emotions for everyone. Some miss the warm weather and the long days, others can't wait for pumpkin patches and changing leaves. Some can't wait for a new football season to arrive and others long for their beach vacations. As far as students go, they are no different. On the first day of school, teachers welcome new faces that are filled with mixed feelings. Some students come bouncing in, excited to start a new year and yearn for new knowledge. Others just woke up and grudgingly walk their way to their desk to unpack. Either way, a new school year can be an easy or a difficult transition for a child. Frustrations can occur, especially when there is more homework involved and the units are tougher than prior years.
        Just like we head to the gym or soccer practice to keep our bodies active, we must keep our brain active as well. Brain Gym is a program of physical movements that enhance learning and performance in all areas. These movements have been proven to develop the brain's neural pathways the way nature does – through movement. It began with the work of educators and reading specialists Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail E. Dennison. Originally, the Dennisons were seeking more effective ways to help children and adults who had been identified having issues with memory and learning.

       Brain Gym includes 26 easy and enjoyable targeted activities that integrate body and mind:

• concentration
• memory
• reading
• writing
• organizing
• listening
• physical coordination
• and more...

          The Dennisons produced an innovative new approach to learning: the Brain Gym activities, and the field known as Education Kinesiology (Edu-K), “learning through movement.” Today Brain Gym supports people of all abilities in making wide-ranging changes in their lives. Brain Gym is used in more than 80 countries and is taught in thousands of public and private schools worldwide, in corporate companies, performing arts, and athletic training programs.


          So take a look! The videos below have been brought to you by a fellow third grade teacher. She will be showing the movements while explaining how they help.