Lesso Plas for Teachers Kidergarte - Grade 3 Copyright 2012 by Little Pickle Press LLC
Table of Cotets Quite uique! Streeeetch ad grooow... Overview 3 Activity Set 1 What Is a Brai ad What Does It Do? 4 Activity Set 2 How Is My Brai Uique? 7 Activity Set 3 How Ca I Help My Brai Grow? 10 Additioal Resources 14
Overview I Your Fatastic Elastic Brai, author JoA Deak, Ph.D. itroduces childre to the woders of their ow brais. Through lively text ad colorfully illustrated diagrams, childre come to uderstad the itegral role they play i stretchig ad shapig this powerful orga. Dr. Deak builds her text o a series of scietific priciples idetifyig the critical importace of brai developmet i early childhood. Specifically, the first 10 years of life costitute a magic decade. Key eural coectios must be established durig this early developmetal widow or they are ulikely to develop later. I essece, whe it comes to our brai, we have to use it or lose it. The brai requires its mosts extesive stretchig ad shapig durig this early sesitive period, as comparable efforts i later years provide dimiishig returs relative to the amout of effort exerted. Your Fatastic Elastic Brai depicts umerous pheomea relevat to developig childre s rich uderstadig of their most powerful resource, specifically: a comprehesive descriptio of the brai ad its diverse fuctios; a detailed euroaatomy of primary brai regios; key priciples of brai growth ad europlasticity; the role of idividual agecy i cotributig to brai growth. The text provides a etry poit for teachers to itroduce childre to the habits of mid ad actio that support healthy brai growth. Your Fatastic Elastic Brai promotes several essetial messages, amely: what childre do o a daily basis affects the growth of their brais; brais require exercise ad strugglig to develop ew skills cotributes to brai growth; makig mistakes is a positive experiece that cotributes to healthy brai growth. Classroom activities i this istructioal uit ecourage childre to reflect upo their experieces as idividuals, particularly those related to persoal success ad areas for growth. The istructioal activities also eable teachers to cultivate childre s character developmet through the pillars of courage, reasoig, ad resposibility. This uit icludes three activity sets as well as supplemetal olie resources to augmet the more straightforward projects. The activity sets are desiged to be taught i sequece, such that kowledge acquired i the first set of activities ca be applied i subsequet sets. Teachers ca build ad embellish the activities to best suit their classroom eeds. At each grade level, the lessos alig with the Commo Core State Stadards Iitiative for Speakig ad Listeig (http://bit.ly/corecurriculumstadards). The Commo Core was recetly adopted by the majority of states ad is especially pertiet for educators i the Uited States. Your Fatastic Elastic Brai is a picture book prited o recycled materials usig soy iks ad is a excellet additio to every school library. Please visit the liks at the ed of the lesso plas to see all of our products.
Activity Set 1 What Is a Brai ad What Does It Do? Backgroud The brai is the most importat orga i our body. It iflueces our actios, thoughts, ad feeligs essetially everythig we do! The average huma has 100 billio brai cells, called euros. Although our brai cotiues to grow after birth, the majority of these euros are preset whe we are bor. However, may of the importat coectios amog these euros occur after birth. A average child s brai weighs about two pouds, whereas the average adult brai weighs about three pouds, 75% of which is water. The brai is lateralized, which meas that the left hemisphere cotrols the right side of our body, ad the right hemisphere cotrols the left side of our body. Oe of the most uique features of a brai is its plasticity, which meas that the brai cotiues to grow ad chage based o daily life experieces. Objectives Studets will develop a basic uderstadig of the euroaatomy of the brai. Studets will develop a awareess of the brai s primary fuctios. Studets will develop a uderstadig of the cocept of europlasticity.
Guidig Questios: What is a brai? Where is your brai? How big is your brai? What does your brai look like? Are all brais the same? Why do we have a brai? What does your brai do? Do all livig creatures have a brai? Focal Activity How do you thik our brai is differet from that of aimals? Activity A Learig about the Brai s Form Start a brai joural for each studet. All of the activities i this uit ca be compiled withi the brai joural. Provide studets with a blak map of the brai (See Appedix A). Explai that each part of the brai has a special ame. Highlight the five key brai regios (cerebrum, cerebellum, prefrotal cortex, hippocampus, ad amygdala) depicted i Your Fatastic Elastic Brai. Youger studets ca color correspodig regios of the brai; older studets ca label their maps with words that they write themselves (or glue o correspodig labels that you have prepared ahead of time). Activity B Learig about the Brai s Fuctio Revisit the brai maps used i Activity A (or provide studets with a ew blak map). Talk to studets about the fuctios of these key brai regios. Ecourage studets to provide familiar real-world examples of each of these fuctios. Next, ask studets to draw or write about these fuctios o the correspodig regios of their brai maps. As a extesio, provide studets with materials to create brai flash cards. Oe side of the card could depict the ame of the brai regio ad a correspodig picture highlightig that regio. The reverse side of the card could depict (pictorially ad/or with words) the correspodig fuctio of that regio. Activity C Learig about the Brai s Fuctio Preset studets with a grapefruit-sized ball of rubber bads. Explai that the rubber bad ball is similar to the brai i both size ad cosistecy. The brai is made up of rubber bad-like structures, both large ad small. Each of us was bor with large ad small rubber bads, cor-
respodig to areas i which we are skillful ad areas where we ca grow. Model how rubber bads ca stretch, ad explai that this stretchig is symbolic of brai growth. Provide studets with a set of large ad small rubber bads ad allow them to practice stretchig them as they visualize their brais growig. Which type of rubber bad is easier to stretch? Which requires more effort? Reiterate the idea that our brais ca grow ad stretch with practice. To further reiforce the cocept of brai malleability ad plasticity, provide each studet with a ball of clay ad ecourage them to stretch ad mold it ito the shape of their ow brai. Character Buildig Coectios The key character value to cultivate i this lesso is reasoig. Childre ca be ecouraged to woder ad thik critically about their brais: How is my brai orgaized? How does my brai solve problems ad make decisios? Which areas of my brai are used for problem solvig ad decisio-makig? What is my brai s capacity for memory? How ca my brai cotiue to develop skills for learig? Additioal Olie Resources Your Brai ad Nervous System: http://bit.ly/braiervoussystem Brai Form ad Fuctio: http://bit.ly/braifuctio Huma Brai Facts for Kids: http://bit.ly/braifactsforkids Neurosciece for Kids: http://bit.ly/eurosciecekids 100 Brai Facts: http://bit.ly/100braifacts
Activity Set 2 How Is My Brai Uique? umm... Backgroud Each of us is bor with uique stregths. Some of us are stellar athletes who ca ru as fast as the wid; some of us are pheomeal writers who always kow just the right word to use; some of us have huge hearts ad make frieds easily. Each of these stregths relates to a area of our brai. If a particular skill comes easily for us, the correspodig part of our brai is already i shape. Our brais require exercise to stay i shape. Some of the skills that we are good at require less brai exercise while those that we wat to improve will require more brai exercise. Now for the good ews! We ca stregthe our brai ad lear to do ew thigs through effort ad practice. Ad the eve better ews makig mistakes is a importat part of this process. Whe you make a mistake, your brai lears to idetify what did t work quite right so that it ca try a differet strategy the ext time aroud. The aterior cigulate cortex, also kow as the mistake filter i our brai, is oly activated whe a mistake is made. Thus, tryig out ew strategies ultimately leads to skill improvemet ad brai growth. Objectives Studets will idetify areas of persoal stregth, ad coect these skills to correspodig regios of the brai. Studets will idetify areas for persoal growth ad coect these skills to correspodig regios of the brai. Studets will develop a uderstadig of how mistakes fuctio as a learig tool that helps the brai grow.
Focal Activity Guidig Questios: What are some thigs that you are good at doig? Were you always good at this activity or did you have to practice? Are there people i your family with similar skills? What are some thigs that you would like to become better at doig? How do you thik you might improve your skills? Have you ever made a mistake? How did it feel whe you made the mistake? What happeed after you made the mistake? Activity A What Are My Brai s Stregths? Re-itroduce the small ad large rubber bads from Activity C i Activity Set #1. Remid studets that we are all bor with large ad small rubber bads, correspodig to our existig skills ad capacity for growth, respectively. Provide each studet with several large rubber bads ad ecourage them to thik across domais (e.g. kiesthetic, social/emotioal, cogitive, atural, musical, etc.) about which uique skills these rubber bads represet for them as idividuals. Ivite studets to draw or list these skills i their brai jourals. Next, ask studets to refer to the iteractive brai maps created i Activity Set #1 ad fid which skills these large rubber bads represet i their lives. Studets ca attach the large rubber bads to the brai regios o their brai maps correspodig to their areas of stregth. Activity B Which Areas of My Brai Do I Wat to Develop? Now provide each studet with a set of several small rubber bads ad agai ecourage them to thik across domais (i.e. kiesthetic, social/emotioal, cogitive, atural, musical, etc.) about skills that they would like to improve. Agai, ivite studets to draw or list these skills i their brai jourals ad the refer to their iteractive brai maps. Ivite studets to attach the small rubber bads to the brai regios o their brai maps correspodig to desired areas of skill improvemet. Followig Activities A ad B, lead studets i a discussio about the diverse collectio of uique stregths ad areas of developmet withi the class. This discussio ca be used to segue ito a explaatio of how each perso has a uique learig style, complete with stregths (large rubber bads that eed less stretchig) ad areas for developmet (small rubber bads that require greater stretchig).
Activity C Mistakes Are My Fried! Ecourage studets to reflect o some mistakes they may have made recetly. These mistakes could be shared ad charted i a class discussio or recorded (i pictures or words) i studets brai jourals. Ivite studets to share what they leared or what they did differetly followig these mistakes. Ask studets to thik about which part of their brais may have actually grow as a result of the learig that took place after the mistakes. Studets ca refer to their persoal brai maps ad add details about their mistakes ad subsequet brai growth. As a extesio, ivite a local hero (pricipal, art teacher, room paret, mayor, fire fighter, etc.) to share his or her ow positive learig experieces as a result of early mistakes. Ecourage these heroes to highlight how they cotiue to stretch ad shape their brais, eve as they make mistakes as adults. Character Buildig Coectios The key character value to cultivate i this lesso is courage. Childre ca be ecouraged to thik about developig persoal stregth as they actively egage i processes of self-discovery ad brai growth: What risks am I comfortable takig while still maitaiig persoal safety? What ca I lear from my mistakes? What goals ca I set for myself? How ca I be sesitive to both my eeds ad those of others as we work toward stregtheig our brais? How ca I remai patiet with myself as I make mistakes that cotribute to my brai s growth? How ca I best hadle ufamiliar ew experieces? Additioal Olie Resources Brai Educatio Resources: http://www.deakgroup.com/ Teachig Kids about the Brai ad Nervous System: http://bit.ly/teachigervoussystem Neurosciece for Kids: http://bit.ly/euroscieceforkids
Activity Set 3 How Ca I Help My Brai Grow? Backgroud What we do affects the growth of our brai. Strugglig with certai skills helps our brais chage ad grow. If we stick to oly doig what comes aturally or easily, our brais wo t grow. To promote successful brai growth, we have to defy our atural icliatio to back away from thigs that strike us as too difficult ad rather, icrease the time we sped developig skills that may ot come aturally. We also eed to provide our brais with the opportuity to develop ew skills through differet mediums (e.g. listeig, buildig, speakig, creatig, writig, movig, etc.). Each of us is a eurosculptor! Like a fabulous artist creatig a origial desig, we are actively resposible for creatig the desig of our ow brai. There is o oe way to desig a brai either. We ca develop our brais i umerous realms social/emotioal, cogitive, physical, musical, theatrical, evirometal, the list goes o ad o! What matters most is that we defie which areas of brai growth are most importat to us, ad the take the ecessary steps to make it happe. Youg childre are fortuitous whe it comes to takig charge of brai growth as the possibilities for developig ew skills are early limitless. Objectives Studets will develop a uderstadig of the importace of idividual effort ad agecy i cotributig to brai growth. Studets will lear that idividual effort ad practice ca cotribute to positive persoal developmet i umerous realms, icludig social/emotioal, cogitive, ad physical/ kiesthetic growth. Studets will be able to idetify specific actios ad practices they ca udertake to facilitate their brai growth.
Guidig Questios: Focal Activity What thigs am I really good at doig? What thigs do I wat to be really good at doig? Who do I kow that is really good at somethig social or emotioal (might phrase as helpig or beig kid to others )? Who do I kow that is really good at somethig cogitive (might phrase as i school or thikig )? Who do I kow that is really good at somethig physical or kiesthetic (might phrase as at a sport or doig somethig with their hads )? *Note: These questios ca certaily be exteded to iclude other skill areas (i.e. musical, evirometal, theatrical, culiary, etc.) as well. What has/have that perso/these people doe to become really good at that skill? What ca I do to become better at the thigs I wat to be really good at doig? Activity A Growig a Social/Emotioal Brai Talk to studets about the importace of stretchig the social ad emotioal regios of their brais. Buildig these social ad emotioal areas ca help build cofidece i iterpersoal iteractios. For example, whe we work with differet groups of people, we become more skillful at commuicatio ad uderstadig others. As a class, braistorm social ad emotioal skills that studets possess or ca develop (e.g. kidess to others, leadership skills, beig a good listeer, workig as a member of a team, takig care of pets or youger sibligs, etc.). Coect these skills to the brai regios that studets have bee studyig i this uit. Ecourage each studet to idetify a persoal area of social or emotioal stregth, as well as a area for growth. Ask studets to idetify specific steps they ca take to maitai the area(s) of stregth ad build area(s) of growth. Provide each studet with a brai growth tracker (see Appedix B) to keep i their brai jourals. Ivite studets to record (with pictures or words) the actios they take daily or weekly to build their targeted area of social/emotioal growth. Provide a opportuity for a daily/weekly brai break where studets ca check i with the group to share ad receive peer ad teacher feedback about how they are buildig their social/emotioal skills. Ecourage studets to share the feeligs they ecoutered (i.e. cofidece, empowermet) durig this practice. If studets feel comfortable, ask them to share about ay mistakes they may have made durig this brai growth process ad how these mistakes iflueced their feeligs ad actios.
Activity B Growig a Cogitive Brai Activity B parallels Activity A though the emphasis shifts ow to the importace of stretchig the cogitive ad academic regios of the brai. Buildig cogitive regios of the brai ca help build studets cofidece ad success with academic edeavors. As a class, braistorm cogitive skills that studets possess or ca develop (e.g. solvig puzzles, expadig vocabulary, orgaizig ideas or materials, usig techology effectively, etc.). Coect these skills to the brai regios that studets have bee studyig i this uit. Ecourage each studet to idetify a persoal area of cogitive or academic stregth, as well as a area for growth. Ask studets to idetify specific steps they ca take to maitai area(s) of stregth ad build area(s) of growth. Ivite studets to record these areas of cogitive/academic stregth ad growth o a ew page or sectio of their brai growth tracker. Agai, provide studets with opportuities to share ad receive peer ad teacher feedback. Activity C Growig a Physical/Kiesthetic Brai Activity C also parallels Activity A though the emphasis shifts ow to the importace of stretchig the physical ad kiesthetic regios of the brai. Buildig physical or kiesthetic regios of the brai ca help build studets cofidece with their bodies ad the mid-body coectio. As a class, braistorm physical/kiesthetic skills that studets possess or ca develop (i.e. playig a istrumet, beig proficiet at a sport, bakig a special family recipe, learig to dace, etc.). Coect these skills to the brai regios that studets have bee studyig i this uit. Ecourage each studet to idetify a persoal area of physical or kiesthetic stregth, as well as a area for growth. Ask studets to idetify specific steps they ca take to maitai area(s) of stregth ad build area(s) of growth. Ivite studets to record these areas of physical/kiesthetic stregth ad growth o a ew page or sectio of their brai growth tracker. Agai, provide studets with opportuities to share ad receive peer ad teacher feedback. Character Buildig Coectios The key character value to cultivate i this lesso is resposibility. Childre ca be ecouraged to thik carefully about positive decisio-makig ad perseverace i the pursuit of successful brai growth: What steps ca I take daily to follow through with the goals I have set for myself? What ca I do if I feel frustrated by my mistakes ad wat to give up? Who ca I tur to for help whe I eed assistace or guidace with a ew skill or activity that I am developig? How ca I show respect to both myself ad others as we take steps to grow our brais?
Additioal Olie Resources Brai Exercises for Childre: http://bit.ly/braiexercises Exercise Your Brai: http://bit.ly/exerciseyourbrai Brai Games for Kids: http://bit.ly/fubraigame http://bit.ly/braigameskids http://bit.ly/lightbraigame
Little Pickle Press Resources This cocludes our lesso pla for Your Fatastic Elastic Brai. If you have commets, questios, or other ideas please share them with us at the special blog lik we have created: http://bit.ly/bloglessoplas Additioal lesso plas are available for other titles i our collectio, so please check the resource lik at our webpage ofte: http://bit.ly/lpplessoplas Please visit ay of the followig liks to view our products: Picture Book: http://bit.ly/buyyfeb Poster: http://bit.ly/yfebposter ibook ad app: comig soo Video trailer: http://bit.ly/yfebtrailer Awards: 2011 Gold Moobeam Award No-Fictio Picture Books 2011 Mom s Choice Gold Award Juveile Book (level 1 ages 5 to 8) 2011 Nautilus Book Silver Award Childre s No-Fictio 2011 Bejami Frakli Silver Award: Iterior Desig, Childre s/youg Adult 2011 Next Geeratio Idie Award Fialist Childre s/juveile No-Fictio 2011 Parets Choice Recommeded Award Childre s No-Fictio To fid the book elsewhere, please use this iformatio: Your Fatastic Elastic Brai by JoA Deak, Ph.D. Readig level: Ages 5-8 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Little Pickle Press; 1st Editio (December 2010) Laguage: Eglish ISBN-10: 0982993803 ISBN-13: 978-0982993804 Product Dimesios: 10.1 x 10.1 x 0.5 iches Shippig Weight: 1.2 lbs.
Brai Map
Brai Growth Tracker My brai s stregth(s): My brai s area(s) for growth: Day/Week What am I doig to help my brai grow? Actios ad Activities