Posts Tagged ‘brain’

Brain Training

Today in 4T, we had Jen the school psychologist come to refresh our memories about the different parts of our brain. By learning about how our brain works, we can better understand how we learn and maximise our class time. 

Brain Training with Jen

Two key parts of the brain that we looked at were what Jen calls ‘Brain 1’ and ‘Brain 2.’

Brain 1, also known as our SMART brain. It makes us be responsible, positive, confident, caring towards others, sensible and tries to do the right thing. 
Inside our brain is another part called the Hippocampus. This is for storing and recalling memories. It can only turn on when we are calm. 

Brain 2, or our brain stem, our basic brain, can sometimes act like a little bit of a 2 year old. We have this brain because it keeps us safe by turning our instincts on. If someone is in Brain 2, you might see them acting silly, getting carried away, not concentrating, not persisting or ‘waking up on the wrong side of the bed.’

If we want to learn in Year 4 and be our best, we need to make a conscious effort to ensure we are in Brain 1 most of the time. 

What do you know about the brain? Leave a comment sharing what you know.

Just another Wednesday…

WOW! What a Wednesday, in case our days weren’t busy enough, today 4T took part in two activities – one to make us more aware of ourselves and our thoughts and the other to participate in something with classrooms from all over Australia!

Firstly we had a visit from our wonderful school psychologists Jen and Jessie who came to speak to us again about our Brain 1 and 2 and how we can keep our Brain 2 in check. Especially in the playground when we can be carried away with playing games and sports or seeing our friends.
We watched some videos called ‘Uncle Drew’ where we examined the effects of judgements that we make of others.
Our Number 2 brain does not like having to persist or to try new things. They can easily get into negative habits of being silly, poor choices, not being friendly or not listening. Everytime we give something a go and try to think differently we are growing new neural pathways in our brain to change our thinking. This actually requires courage and strength!

After recess, we participated in the National Simultaneous Storytime. This is where at 11.00am schools all over Australia stopped to read a story at the same time. This year’s story was Tony Wilson’s, ‘The Cow Tripped Over the Moon.’

Relive the fun and watch Tony Wilson read his story below.

This book made us think about our achievements and the role that persistence plays in reaching them. 

What achievement are you most proud of? What did you have to do to get there?

Our Stretchy Brains

In 4T we have been talking a lot about how our thoughts and feelings have a big impact on our learning.

This morning we had the school psychologists Jen and Jessie come to speak to us about our brains, how they work and where our feelings and thoughts are processed in the brain.

Watch the video below which explains ‘Neuropasticity,’ which neuro-scientists have discovered that our brains grow, adapt and learn.

We have also looked at number one brain (our rational and logical brain) versus number two brain (our often irrational and feeling part of our brain). When we are achieving our best as a learner, our number one brain is in charge. When we are tired, angry or make poor choices, usually our number two brain has taken over.

Leave a comment sharing what you know about the brain and how it works.