Tools to Help Calm the Brain

Now that we understand alittle bit about the brain, how do we calm the brain so it has time to process something we hear, taste,smell, or feel before it responds?  How do we create a buffer between the input and the response or how do we go from a fuzzy brain to a clear one? A fuzzy brain is also referred to as a "puppy brain".
At the end of the first semester we started a toolbox of skills to calm the brain. The students are keeping a list of skills they are learning. This will go home the end of the second semester that they have guidance. Some examples are; counting to ten, exercising, doing a finger labyrinth, coloring a circular Mandala, smelling an aroma we enjoy(we tried the scent of an orange), and taking three deep belly breaths. I can not emphasize the importance of the breath. It not only calms the mind, but as an added bonus lowers blood pressure and heart rate. When breathing is deliberately regulated, the brain is primed to think first and then plan a response.  

Continued Care of the Brain-Meet Some Key Players

We certainly do not have time to delve into a deep study of the brain in Guidance, but we can meet some key players involved in our attention and focus as students in school.  The amygdala is a pair of almond shaped structures that reacts to fear, danger, and threat. The amygdala regulates our emotional state by acting as the brain's gatekeeper. When a student is in a positive emotional state, the amygdala sends incoming information on to the conscious, thinking brain. When a student is in a negative state, the amygdala prevents the input from passing along, basically blocking higher level thinking and judgment. Therefore there is an automatic response of flight, fight, or freeze from the brain. Examples might be, "I can't do this" or " I won't do this".
The hippocampus assists in managing our response to fear and threats and is a storage vault of memory and learning.Information is fed to the prefrontal cortex-the learning, reasoning, and thinking center of the brain. This area of the brain controls our decision making, focuses our attention, and allows us to learn to read, write, compute, analyze, predict, comprehend, and interpret-phew, that's alot to do.
If the amygdala triggers an alarm we go into fight, flight, or freeze without letting the parts of the brain that think about something  do their job. We also are unble to send information into the storage banks , the hippocampus and the the prefrontal cortex. How do we calm our brains in a stressful situation so we may store information and make good decisions? Stayed tuned as we next develop a toolbox to help our brains to work as best as they possibly can.

Learning to Love Your Brain or The Care and Feeding of the Brain

This semester the fourth and fifth grades are learning about the brain. The brain is nearly 3 pounds of gooey, slimey, gelatinous stuff that smells like blue cheese. It is grey and light pink, and about the size of two fists side by side. It is the control room that directs almost all your activities: thinking, moving, feeling, talking, and just keeping alive. It works 24 hours a day. So how do we take care of it and help it to work well. If you have a fourth or fifth grader in the first semester Guidance class ask them. Here are a few ideas: the brain needs blood, oxygen, good food, sleep, exercise, to be kept safe from head injuries(helmets, seat belts), water and happiness. Yes, happiness helps our brains work better. Two ways we can boost our happiness is with gratitude and with optimistic thinking. Each student made three links of things they are grateful for and combined made a very long chain, a chain of gratitude. Thinking on the "bright side" of life also is a happiness booster, so keep your sunnyside up and see the glass as half full not half empty.

THIRD GRADE GUIDANCE CURRICULUM-DIFFERENCE

The goal of this unit is for students to value themselves as unique and special individuals and as members of various groups. The lessons are based on the belief that before children can accept, value and understand others, they must first value and know themselves. Among other things students will have the opportunity to share their names, their likes and dislikes, and information about their families and where they have been with students in the class. They will each have an opportunity to bring home what they have shared, "What's in My Head?" Ask them to share it with you.
We also viewed an award winning short video, Small Differences. This video allows children, some with and some without disabilities to explore the realities and perceptions about people with disabilities with video cameras. Interviewing other children, parents, each other, and adults with disabilities they discover two basic things. One is that everyone is unique and the other is that most of us want the same things in life.

THIRD GRADE GUIDANCE CURRICULUM

As children grow into socialization, the need to make and keep friends becomes a major issue for them. Friendships play a critical role in their lives, shaaping their social skills and helping them forge a sense of identity and a feeling of belonging. Friends matter to children. The rewards of friendship-a mutual relationship built on understanding, trust, sharing, and concern for one another-can be great, but for children whose social skills are still evolving friendships can be a source of anxiety.
The lessons provided in Guidance are designed to help children develop skills for building and maintaining friendships. Friendship is the first topic of third grade guidance.