Tucson's incorrigible Steve Gall won't give up. State bills he's worked on to mandate structured recess in Arizona schools, or recommend structured recess, or recommend a certain amount of weekly physical activity for kids during school hours, have gotten close but never made it into law in recent legislative sessions. He's volunteered for years in TUSD, organizing physical activity with kids in a number of schools. His urging helped lead the district to recommend 90 minutes of physical activity a week in its schools.

Steve is one of the voices in an article, Active 'Brain Breaks' Increase Focus, Leaning, Teachers Say, in the Arizona School Boards Association newsletter, AZEDNEWS. We shouldn't need an article to tell us that kids' brains go numb after sitting in class too long, and there's nothing like moving the body for a few minutes to get their brains moving again. What group of people should be least in need of that reminder? Educators, of course. But in today's "skill building," test-driven educational world, seat time is too often equated with learning time, and recess, or even stretch, jump and run-in-place exercises in the classroom, are considered time wasters.

It's a good article with lots of links to other resources, including GoNoodle.com, a site devoted to helping teachers create quick, fun brain breaks for their kids.