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.