Brain Gym in Szkoła Podstawowa Specjalna nr 40, Bytom- Poland

Movement is a constant partner in the learning process. Mental capacity depends on physical movement, both in infancy, childhood and adult life.

In our school we decided to work with 5^th grade students with moderate intellectual disability. We decided to practice Brain Gym for one month. But after that time students ask everyday about the activity. That is why now for that class it is a daily routine. Students like exercises very much. They remember how to do it, and they remember about drinking water before. 

I FEEL… I KNOW - Istituto Comprensivo G. Giorgi di Montorio Romano Activity:

The children of the kindergarten did many activities for the development of the five senses. Through the proposed sensory activities, the children received many stimuli that provoked different reactions. Some children love bright colors, others dark colors, coloring, others don't; some children trust and taste what they are offered to eat, they grimace when they don't like a food. It was fun to watch the facial expressions while listening to the noises of the "sound bottles", or while concentrating to insert the dough into the sticks, put your hand inside the bag to guess the shape etc. They do not have full awareness of the use of the senses, but are fundamental for the discovery of the world around them and for learning.

 The teachers involved in the activity: Annamaria, Catia, Annamaria and Marina.

I feel - I know- Aver o Mar school, Povoa de Varzim, Portugal

All students in school were given the opportunity to play different challenges related to senses. Students were asked to identify different inputs like sounds, pictures, odors, materials, sometimes with their eyes folded, and identify reactions, feelings, sensations.

The five senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell are the primary means we use to gain new knowledge. ... Using many senses to gain information helps learning to be more meaningful and useful. Children naturally learn with all the senses so it makes sense to alert them for its importance. Therefore, the best way to teach children about their senses is to have them use them.

Teachers involved in the activity were Marta Ferreira, Clara Vilar, Emília Quintas, Conceição Rego, conceição Costa, Marta Antunes and Zulmira Lima. Other teachers participated by taking their classes to the school spots where the games were available.

TOLERANCE DAY IN Instituto comprensivo Giuliano Giorgi, Monorio Romano, Italy

e book

TOLERANCE DAY IN Instituto comprensivo Giuliano Giorgi, Monorio Romano, Italy

( klik on the link )

ACTIVITY I FEEL…. I KNOW - Primary school dr. Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj, Slovenia

At the Primary School Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj, we conducted various forms of workshops with our students, where we developed and recognized our senses. We used many diffrent kinds of  didactic tools.

All the students of our school participated according to their abilities.

With blindfolded eyes, we tried different foods and recognized flavors, smelled, tasted,touch different objects, listened to sounds.

HEARING

We were listening some sounds in our multi-sensory relaxation room. We were making a didactic toy for hearing ditection from natural materials. We used diffrent seeds, pasta and stones. Pupils were searching pairs by sounds.

KINESTETIC

We produced tactile memory game from cardboard  and diffrent materials. Pupils used only their fingers to find matching pairs.

SMELL

We worked with several natural scents. We compare scent of ethereal oil with a plant, that the oil is made of. They identify ethereal oil and a plant using only sniffing.

TASTE

In science teaching, we did an experiment on how well we identify ingredients that have different flavors and how we awaken our senses. Our tongue  detected four basic flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour. We had blindfolds and tried different foods. Then we draw a tongue on the whiteboard .We have found that we can recognize taste by smelling and tasting. In the end, we did some worksheet where we indicated that we were tasting sweet at the tip of the tongue, bitter at the root, and sour and salty at the edges of the tongue.

Teachers:

Damjana, Dragica,Marija, Vesna, Zdenka, Simon, Tanja

Student's classes:

PPVI 3 and PPVI 4,5

Brain gym - ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO G. GIORGI DI MONTORIO ROMANO, Italy

LEARNING AND DOING 

Upon returning from Mobility in Croatia, the Italian team disseminated what they learned about the exercises of BRAIN GYM, used to promote a greater connection between the two hemispheres of our brain.

Following the assiduous repeat of the exercises, the children have manifested fun in doing it, in addition to notable improvements. The practice of these exercises has favored an atmosphere of calm and relaxation in the class and has increased the attention / concentration times during the lesson.

Above all, in observing the execution of the exercises by the children, it emerged that the pupils with learning difficulties showed difficulties in the execution of the exercises, that is, connecting the parts of the right-left body.

By repeating the exercises often, slowly they carried out the activity improving the execution and improving the didactic performance.

Children with major difficulties are unable to perform the proposed exercises correctly.

BRAIN GYM ACTIVITY IN DR. LJUDEVITA PIVKA SCHOOL

Brain Gym – exercising your brain and preparing it for learning. In Croatia we learned some basic exercises.

On our school dr. Ljudevita Pivka we worked with 6th grade students with mild intellectuall disabilities. We conducted brain gym exercises one month. First we drank a glass of water and did some basic exercises for writing skills ( double doudle, arm activation), for reading skills (brain buttons, cross crawl, lazy eights) and thinking skills ( earth buttons, neck rolls, thinking cap). 

We worked brain gym twice a week. After the exercises, the students were mostly more calm and focused on learning. Pupils were very interested for exercises and they like brain gym very much.

I Feel, I Know Game in Metin Sabanci school, Istanbul Turkey

We enabled our students to experience different sounds, smells and flavors in the workshops of sensory, music, kitchen, also physical education hall and classroom activities in our school. Due to our students’ sensitivity, we have realized the activities without them closing their eyes. Because staying in the dark would have had increased their anxiety, they would have not been able to choose emotion based on experience.

In our workshops, sensory activities are held throughout the year, but matching with emotions was implemented for the first time. Since the expressive language skills of our students were not sufficient, we asked them to select and paint their feelings from the picture.

It was an enjoyable experience for the children and us. It was especially worth seeing the happiness they have had while tasting and smelling chocolate 😊