Student Contributor: M. Sorensen
This is a fun quick brain break. The button plays one of the five 30-second songs. Once the music plays, everyone gets up and dances.
This button makes this brain break easy with little prep. This can be used whenever the class is getting antsy, between transitions, or as a break before a test. The teacher is generally the one to push the button. However, you can also pick one student a day to hit the button one time whenever they feel like it. Remind the students that the goal is to not be the coolest one in the room. Dance and have fun with your students, and they will feed off your energy. It always brings a smile to my face when we start our dance party. This tool can be implemented at any point.
This is part of the supportive phase because this dance break can occur during a lesson. It helps support students in their thinking and behavior as a break. This can be preventative when used during transitions as a way to further the break between subjects. Including the dance parties or other brain breaks can lead to less correction needed for students not paying attention or spacing off. This is more teacher-directed as the teacher is the one to introduce this activity. However, this can be collaborative, or student-directed by having some student input as to when to push the button.
More Information –
Tool Source: This came from my mentor teacher who found the button through social media.
I used this tool with my 25 kindergarteners in a rural school. This tool was so fun for both the students and myself! I told them that after they completed their worksheet, I had a special surprise for them. Once they finished their worksheet, I went over a few expectations for this surprise of making sure our bodies are to ourselves and we are staying in our area. I put up a timer that counted down to 30 seconds on the smart board and played a song that my mentor teacher picked out. Students immediately started laughing, doing dance moves, and having “dance-offs”. This tool allowed students to get a quick movement break and just be silly kindergarteners for a quick moment. How I can make this tool better is by having a dance video on the screen. I have seen a few teachers use the website GoNoodle and play a dance video on the screen that students can follow along to. This might help all students want to participate because they are following a dance and every student is doing the same moves.