Website for classroom teachers: Mallory's brain breaks

Schools have the ability to help shape students’ futures and provided them with ample opportunities to succeed, including improved health and increased physical activity (Bailey & Clyde, 2015). The new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 allows for more funding, flexibility, and control to the state and district to have a “well- rounded education” (p. 6) for each student. Physical activity can have a positive impact on students’ brains, which in turn can enhance academic performance, executive attention, classroom behavior, attention-to-task, selective attention, concentration, on-task behavior, and alertness (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011; Janseen, Chinapaw, Rauh, Toussaint, Mechelen, and Verhagen, 2014; Kubesch, Walk, Spitzer, Kammer, Lainburg, Heim, and Hille, 2009; Trost, 2007; Trost, 2009; Trost & van der Mars, 2009; Trudeau & Shephard, 2009). The focus of this project was to create and design a website for classroom teachers, K-6, to implement throughout their curricular school day. This project helps address the importance and need for physical activity throughout the day and how it affects students emotional, mental, and physical well-being (Barr-Anderson, AuYoung, Whitt-Glover, Glenn, & Yancey, 2011; NASPE, 2011). Brain breaks is one way to implement physical activity into the school day. They are most beneficial when children sit longer than thirty minutes or when transitioning from subject matter to subject matter (Jensen, 2000). The content of the website was the creation of videos to encourage the use of brain breaks for elementary age children. This electronic tool consists of sixteen videos to help students think, move, and engage (Ma, Sures, & Gurd, 2015). The videos utilize an instructor leading the movements and giving explicit instructions on how to perform each move correctly. The videos and scripts offer guided brain breaks and explicit instructions. It can be accessed by using this link  http://BrainBreakswmallory.wix.com/hibb. The website allows elementary teachers to implement brain breaks seamlessly throughout their school day.