5 Ideas for brain breaks in the classroom during test prep
What are brain breaks?
Brain breaks for the classroom are brief pauses from studying or testing that help students relax and refocus, which is particularly beneficial during test prep and exams. Taking an occasional brain break allows students to relieve stress from tests while still learning. According to Understood, brain breaks can reduce stress, anxiety, and frustration while increasing focus, productivity, and self-regulation skills.
How to use Flocabulary during test prep
Whether you are participating in standardized testing or simply want to review the curriculum students have learned this year, it’s important for teachers to go beyond the curriculum. Rigorous and standards-aligned, Flocabulary’s 1,300+ video-based lessons with activities support vocabulary acquisition and comprehension skills across K-12 subjects. These high-quality videos captivate students and create an impactful and memorable learning experience by harnessing the power of hip-hop music, visual art, storytelling, humor, drama, and poetry. Each video-based lesson includes a suite of instructional activities that provide additional practice and exposure at varying levels of rigor to scaffold instruction.
Here’s an example of the type of engaging videos you can find on Flocabulary!
New to Flocabulary? Teachers can sign up for a trial to access our lesson videos and assessment activities. Administrators can get in touch with us to learn more about unlocking the full power of Flocabulary through Flocabulary Plus.
5 Ideas for brain breaks in the classroom during testing
1. Teach time management skills by jamming out to our song
Do you students need help to balance a busy schedule? Do they need to study, practice a sport, see a friend, and also do their chores? Play our Time Management video to help them manage the rest of your day. With this song, they can learn time management skills while enjoying the music as a brain break. The music and engaging video will give students a refresher while they learn helpful skills for test prep, making it perfect for brain breaks during testing.
2. Freshen up on test-taking strategies with a Vocab Game
Take some time during your test prep review to remind students of strategies they can master for test-taking. In this song, students learn how to implement their own test-taking strategies for success, including getting enough rest, eating a good breakfast, studying with a friend, and more. They’ll learn about different steps they can take to feel relaxed and confident for their next test.
Up the fun with some rigor by assigning the Vocab Game in this lesson! Flocabulary’s Vocab Games are the perfect brain breaks to use in the classroom. Students answer a series of questions and tasks about the topic to complete a song. As they get correct answers, a new instrument will play, and they’ll slowly hear a new beat being built. You can create activity cards with this game as an option and have students choose which ones to complete.
3. Have a mini dance party while listening to our Goal Setting song
This song teaches criteria for setting and reaching goals using the SMART acronym. Students learn to set goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-based. Use our videos as brain breaks for students during your lesson reviews to have mini dance parties or play freeze dance to catchy and educational songs!
4. Take a breather while building math fluency
Our interactive math songs, which include breaks in the beat for students to answer math facts, are a great way to practice addition and subtraction or multiplication and division as a group. Simply play it during a lesson for a brain break, or use it to review. Encourage movement by having them do jumping jacks or stretches while listening to the song.
5. Build social and emotional skills, including mindfulness
If you work with elementary students, our social and emotional learning units on Managing Worry and Managing Frustration can also help as brain breaks for the classroom!
If you teach middle or high school, we recommend watching our Mindfulness & Meditation video. Mindfulness is a practice and state of mind that involves noticing your thoughts and bodily sensations. Studies have shown that it can help increase focus, manage stress, and avoid conflict. This Flocabulary video offers ways to incorporate mindfulness and meditation in the classroom. The video ends with a short meditation by the artistic-wellness movement Kinetic Vibez. Take this a step further by having students do a physical activity such as yoga poses and breathing exercises.
Start using Flocabulary for test prep and brain breaks
So there you have it! Five ways and plenty of Flocabulary resources you can use to give your students a well-deserved breather during testing season. There’s more to test prep than just knowing all the answers. Students must be able to reduce stress and handle anxiety, have good studying habits, and practice staying on task. Incorporating brain breaks for the classroom every 30 minutes can significantly enhance cognitive functioning among students. These breaks revitalize mental energy and improve students’ overall focus throughout the school day. So take a deep breath with your students, and enjoy a quick break.
New to Flocabulary? Teachers can sign up for a trial to access our lesson videos and assessment activities. Administrators can get in touch with us to learn more about unlocking the full power of Flocabulary through Flocabulary Plus.