physical
_________is a chemical in our brains released when doing different types of exercise or moving our bodies. Having more dopamine can usually lead to more contentment or happiness. Kindergarteners are always in need of dopamine. An example of how this was used in school when I was younger was recess. The school I went to had two recesses and this improved our ability to stay content throughout the day. The ability to be active and release dopamine was crucial for our learning throughout the rest of the day.
Dopamine
_______ is when there are many different neural pathways throughout our brains so we lose or simplify ones we know to create more within our brains. This is something that was constantly happening when I was 5 years old and probably why I do not remember everything that went on. For example, those memories I do not remember, I probably used pruning to create and develop new pathways in my brain and so now I forgot all those memories but am able to do things like spell and create sentences.
Pruning
________ is a part of the brain and what it does is work with memories which can store or not be stored into long term memory. This also connects to pruning because what decides stays in our brains. In kindergarten, it is very easy to remember what was happening in your life in the past few years because that is still a part of short term memory. I used to be able to know all of the things that happened in my preschool class while I was in kindergarten. But now, I am unable to remember things even from middle school as they were not able to be stored into long-term memories.
Hippocampus
_______is very important at the younger ages of kindergarten. As it is in the brain and it is used for processes of emotions. I used this a lot while I was younger because I was such an emotional and fearful child. The amygdala is there to process these things. If I saw something scary my brain and body would want me to cry because that is how I want to process these large emotions I was feeling.
Amygdala