​Energy and Calm:
​Brain Breaks and Focused-Attention Practices

This year at Selkirk we are implementing regulation breaks throughout our daily schedule. Our day will now begin with a soft start and include both movement and mind-breaks throughout the day.
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Strategies

Various regulation activities and strategies are explicitly taught to help with learning. These activities and strategies may vary depending on what the student needs at that time; perhaps movement perhaps a calming activity.

Why do we do this ?​

When presented with new material, standards, and complicated topics, we need to be focused and calm as we approach our assignments. We can use regulation breaks and focused-attention practices to positively impact our emotional states and learning. These strategies refocus our neural circuitry with either stimulating or quieting practices that generate increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, where problem solving and emotional regulation occur.
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​Movement actually does “turn on” the brain. Look how activity can literally light up areas of a child’s brain that allow for better learning:

​Mind-breaks and meditation increase your psychological     functioning and in the process improve your sense of well-being. Research shows that meditation improves cognition and increases your ability to perform tasks requiring focus.

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