Grade 6 Starter
Activity Time!
Draw a picture of your smart brain (pre-frontal cortex) and your emotional brain (the amygdala). Just like the one you saw in the video. Each time you make a smart brain choice, draw a little brain cell that connects your emotional brain to your smart brain (you can see what a neuron looks like at 1:42 in the video).Start at your emotional brain and see if you can get enough smart brain choices to join them up.
Smart brain choices can be anything from helping someone with kindness, choosing not to get angry in a situation, facing a challenge without avoiding it, or trying something new or harder than you have done before.
Some people think that young people’s smart brain (pre-frontal cortex) is not as developed as adults. This is only partially true. The main thing to know is that the connections between the smart and emotional brain areas are not as well connected in young people. So connecting these brain areas as you go into your teenager years is a really important job.
Brain Fact
Learning Intention
- To learn that our brain has different areas and the key to brain health is for them to be connected;
- To learn that the positive choices we make in life helps to connect our smart brain (pre-frontal cortex) and emotional brain (amygdala) areas.
Success Criteria
- To name three positive choices that you have made that show you are using your pre-frontal cortex (because these choices show you have thought carefully, challenged yourself, or considered other people).
