Brain Breaks - Google Games and More

 

(Source: Brain Breaks: Must-Do or Waste of Time?)

I've long been a huge proponent of finding creative ways to give students a break. Call them "Brain Breaks" or whatever I believe they have real benefits for students. These breaks can be a fun way to interact with students outside of the content or they can be connected to your content in creative ways. I find that my students typically are able to refocus and are usually more productive after we engage in a creative brain break. 

Today I wanted to share a few Google resources we've explored and will continue to use to engage students in creative brain breaks. These may even lead to so unexpected and  learning experiences that can be connected to essential course goals and content. 

Google Slides Templates - Social Media Templates, Activities, and Projects for Teachers & Students

I've been collecting Google Slide Templates to use with my students for several years and thanks to a recent Matt Miller post, I think I've found just about everything I could ever want. Even if social media is blocked in your school, you can still create and share social media with a variety of templates in Google Slides. 

I am always looking for creative ways to engage students in exploring and reflection. One of my favorite ideas is to have students create social media posts to reflect on our learning. Today I wanted to share a template I created for Twitter. I also wanted to share a more complete collection of Google Slides templates for creating social media posts with students. These are all free and ready for teachers and students to use today. 

Exploring the World - City Guesser, GeoGuessr, and Virtual Field Trips

I am always looking for new and creative ways to open windows to the world for my students. Google Earth and Google Maps are two of my favorite resources to explore our world with my students.

Today I wanted to start by sharing two resources connected to Google Street View, Geoguessr and City Guesser. Both of these resources bring students into a Street View. As the students explore the locations they guess where they think they are. The closer the guess to the actual location the more points they earn.

Puzzle Brain Breaks - Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Communication

I've struggled a bit this year with getting my students to collaborate and communicate, so I am always experimenting with different ways to encourage these skills. While I've built quite a few collaboration and communication activities in our content, I also occasionally like to provide students opportunities to think critically and collaborate outside of my Environmental Earth Science Curriculum.

Today I wanted to share two "Brain Break" activities that I've used to get my students talking, collaborating, and thinking critically.

Google Drawings Meme Generator and Creative Google Drawing Activities

Creative Communicator - Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals. (ISTE Standards for Students)

Over the years I have become a huge fan of engaging students in visuals. I love to have students create and explore visuals. I believe we learn best when creating is part of the learning process. We need to design activities to get students creating before, during, and after engaging in a learning experience. Today I wanted to share how I engage students in reflecting on our learning using a Meme Generator.