Hook Ups

What We Do Every Morning

Every morning we hook up our bodies to show students that they are in control of themselves. These exercises are from the Brain Gym program. Below are the ones we do every morning and then we always add something else fun at the end! 

Arms & Legs: Criss cross legs and twisted arms. It is tricky for some students to do the arm part so here it  is step by step. 

1: put your arms out straight in front of you like you are going to clap

2: flip them inward like you are clapping with the back of your hands

3: make an X with your arms flipped upside down

4: lace your fingers together and hold on tight!

5. now here is the magic part- pull your laced fingers towards you and put your elbows at your sides- ta da!

We always wait for everyone to get this part and help those who have a little trouble. When they pretty much have this down on their own, you can teach them how to cross their legs while standing and then sit down into criss cross seat and stand back up the same way. 

Brain: Taking deep breaths help send oxygen to the brain. Instruct students to take a deep breath through their nose and breath out through their mouth. Repeat this breathing. Then take a deeper breath and hold it for a few seconds and let it out the mouth. 

Ears: Take your fingers and unroll your ears starting at the top and going down to wake up our ears. This is supposed to help students wake up their ears so that they can listen to the teacher. 

Eyes: Take 2 fingers and rub small circles right under your eyes. This helps to observe what is going on in the class and to see the board. 

Jaw: Take the same 2 fingers from the eye hook up and rub small circles on your jaw hinge. Help students understand where their jaw is- mixing up the jaw and the cheeks is a pretty common mistake! Instruct students to open their mouths and take a deep breath which will make them yawn. 

The Extra One

Brain Button: The place between your nose and lip is a brain button. Instruct students press their brain button with two fingers. See if they can hear their brains waking up. 

Caterpillar: Students put their legs out if front of them and scoop into them middle then out again. This is can be really fun to do with different categories! For example: 'All the boys caterpillar into the middle! Now caterpillar out!" or "If you are wearing purple, caterpillar in! Now out!" 

Get Out Your Ball & ___: Tell students to take out their ball from their pocket! Of course, these are just pretend, but you can ask students about their ball like what color it is or how big it is. If students seem hesitant, let them borrow one of your balls! Take the ball and bounce it on each toe if sitting or each opposite knee if standing. There are tons of things you can do with this! 

- counting 1-10

- counting backwards 1-10

- saying the alphabet

- saying a poem/ nursery rhyme

- counting by 2/ 5/ 10s