Flex 1.0 Class 5 LCS Sample
CLASS 5 | SOUNDS LIKE…
Addresses auditory attention and helps students build critical listening skills.
TRAINER OVERVIEW
- Recordings of sounds (see list)
- Music source and speakers
- Class 5 TBH Take This Home cards, enough for each student.
Expert Opportunity! Invite a colleague or volunteer with expertise in auditory health.
WELCOME TO CLASS
- Welcome everyone.
- Introduce the class topic.
Welcome to today’s class! Our topic is “Sounds Like… .”
Our TBH Blueprint focus is the “Sharpen Skills!” action point.
Research shows that brain training can help us better maintain our intellectual skills. How well we hear is one of those skills. We’ll learn why our hearing health matters to our brain fitness and try a fun but effective hearing exercise together.
We will be working on the following thinking skills today:
- Perception
- Attention
- Problem Solving
- Speedy Thinking
- Nimbleness
- Memory
- Executive Control
Hand out the TBH Welcome Packet to all new students for a more complete introduction.
TBH LET'S GET IT STARTED
- Get everyone ready to learn with this seated toes-to-top
warmup. - Use the TBH music to set your pace, or choose your own.
We are going to start with a great warm-up for our bodies and brains called TBH Let’s Get It Started.
It is a wonderful way to get us ready to focus and learn together. We’ll do this right at our seats at the beginning of every class. Just watch what I do and follow along!
(At end of warmup) Great job, everyone! We are started up and ready to go!
FEET GET STARTED!
- Tap toes on both feet, up and down. 10 repetitions. Count together 1 to 10.
- Alternate toe taps. 10 repetitions. Count together using the alphabet A to J.
LEGS GET STARTED!
- Stamp feet on the ground, alternating feet. Make “noise” with group.
- Gently kick legs out from the knee, alternating legs. 10 repetitions. Count together from A to J.
- March in place, alternating legs. 10 repetitions. If your class is physically able to march in place safely while standing, you may choose that option. Count together from 1 to 10.
ARMS GET STARTED!
- Gently shake arms, open and close hands.
- Circle wrists a few times in clockwise and counterclockwise.
- Hold arms straight out in front, shoulder level, palms facing down. Slowly lower both hands to thighs and then raise them back to shoulder level. 5 repetitions. Count from 1 to 5.
- Shrug shoulders up and down, with hands on knees. 5 repetitions. Count from A to E.
VOICES GET STARTED!
- Say “OHHHHHHHHHH.” Have group say sound with you. Hold for a few seconds.
- Say “EHHHHHHHHHH.” Have group say sound with you. Hold for a few seconds.
- Say “AHHHHHHHHHH.” Have group say sound with you. Hold for a few seconds.
- Say “OH – EH – AH.” Hold each sound for a few seconds. 3 repetitions.
BREATH GETS STARTED!
- Slow focus to bring awareness to sitting still in chair.
- Take a deep breath in through the nose.
- Exhale out through the mouth.
- Give selves big hug, wrapping arms across waist and squeezing gently, as able.
- Thank selves and send some “TBH love” to our brains!
Click for the TBH Let’s Get It Started! complete guide.
LEARN THE TBH SCIENCE
Present the science behind the class.- Allow for brief discussion of the science with your students.
Now let’s talk about our hearing health. Hearing is really important for thinking. When we can’t hear something well, we can’t understand it. Hearing is also important for memory. If we can’t hear what someone tells us, we don’t “get” it. And we can’t remember something we don’t get in the first place.
As we get older, it can get harder to hear. However, there are a lot of ways to hear better. If you’ve been losing your hearing, a hearing aid can help make it easier to hear. But sometimes when it seems we can’t hear things it’s because we can’t concentrate very well. And what we need to work on is building our focused listening skills, or our ability to concentrate on the information we are hearing. Exercising focused listening is an important way we can help ourselves stay active and social.
NOW DO IT!
Have students practice focused listening.- Adapt as needed to include everyone as they are able.
Now let’s try focused listening together. This is a great workout to support your hearing skills and something you can also do daily on your own.
I’m going to play some sounds, one at a time. Practice actively focusing and listening as I play each one. After a few seconds, I’ll stop the recording. Then we will talk together and guess what the sound was. Then we’ll try more sounds together. If you have trouble hearing or aren’t sure what you are listening to, don’t worry! This is all about focusing our listening, whatever our hearing ability might be. It can help to close your eyes, so you can focus better.
Ready? Listen up!
(At end of workout) Great job, everyone! It was fun to do this all together.
- Lead your class in this workout to personalize their learning of the science. 15
- Practice focused listening with the whole class. Play recorded sounds to your class for a few seconds, one at a time. Play each sound for about 30-45 seconds.
- Have the class discuss together what the sound was that they heard.
- Choose a variety of simple, familiar sounds (i.e. bird calls, dog barking, kettle whistling, traffic noises, children playing) from those provided in the sound prompt resources below.
- After you play each sound, pause and let the students discuss what they heard. See if they can identify the sound, imitate the sound, etc.
- Encourage distance learners to participate.
SOUND PROMPT RESOURCES
Use the resources below to find sound prompts for this workout.
- Mynoise.net. This is a great resource for sounds of all types.
- Freesoundeffects.com. Another terrific source for short sound recordings.
- Noises.online. This website offers a simple interface for sound selection but has a more limited selection of auditory prompts.
- Make It Harder. Divide class into pairs. Play each sound for a shorter amount of time. Have partners decide together what each sound was and then share their guess with the class.
- Make It Easier. Play fewer sounds. Play each sound for a longer time. Give your group more time to discuss each sound.
- One-to-One Delivery. Play a selection of the sounds and guess together what the sounds are. Sit quietly for a minute and listen to the sounds around you, then talk together about what you heard.
- Virtual Delivery. Be sure to position your equipment and adjust the volume as needed so distance learners can hear the sound prompts. Have all distance learners sit quietly for one minute and listen to the sounds around them. Then ask everyone to share with the group what they heard.
TBH TAKEAWAY
Share this brief wrap-up to end the workout.- Distribute the TBH Take This Home card for this class.
- Ask students to share how they feel after today’s class
Focused listening seems simple but can actually be very challenging. It’s a skill we all can improve with practice, no matter who we are, even when we are living with dementia. I hope you will keep building focused listening skills on your own. It just takes a few minutes each day.
Here is a TBH Take This Home card for this class. It will remind you what we learned together today. You’ll find some short exercises you can do to keep building focused listening skills on your own.
Can you tell me one way you will keep practicing focused listening each day?
TBH TAKE A BREATH
- Lead this cooldown exercise to end class.
- Use the TBH music to set your pace, or choose your own.
Let’s wrap up with “TBH Take a Breath.” Being mindful and sharing some positive thoughts gives us a chance to think about what we have learned together and how we can use it in our daily lives. Research shows that mindfulness practices like this supports brain health when living with dementia. And it is a wonderful way to end our time in class together.
- Have students get comfortable, resting both feet flat on the floor, hands resting in their laps.
- Have students close their eyes and keep them gently closed.
- Ask students to focus their attention on their breathing, noticing the rate and rhythm of their breath. Allow them to focus on their natural breathing for a few moments.
- Instruct students to begin rhythmic breathing. Ask them to inhale slowly and deeply through their nostrils, breathing gently into their chest and belly. Then ask them to exhale slowly through their lips, slowing the rate and rhythm of their breath.
- Have students continue rhythmic breathing, instructing them to continue to focus on gently and slowly inhaling and exhaling, allowing their attention to simply “ride” the wave of their breath. Allow them to focus on rhythmic breathing for several moments.
- Offer the following positive affirmation statements below in a calm, slow voice. Invite students to simply listen, repeat the phrase silently to themselves, or to think about what each statement means to them.
I feel relaxed.
I am grateful for my ears.
I am grateful for the sounds I can hear.
I am grateful for my family and friends.
I am grateful for myself.
- Pause for several moments.
- End the exercise by inviting students to bring their awareness back to the room, gently opening their eyes and becoming more aware of their surroundings.
- Invite them to end practice with gratitude for taking a moment for themselves, for the chance to learn together and connect with each other.
Click to open the TBH Take A Breath complete guide.
COMING UP NEXT!
- Thank students for attending the class.
- Invite students to join you for the next TBH class.
You all did an amazing job today. I look forward to seeing you for our next Total Brain Health class!
CLASS RESOURCES
TBH TAKEAWAY HANDOUTS
Download and provide your students with the following handouts.
Class 5 TBH Take This Home Card. Use the Class 5 TBH Take This Home cards for the TBH Takeaway closing activity. Print out enough copies of the cards so that each class member has one to take home. Print the cards two-sided and in color. Cut them apart. If possible, laminate the cards for easier handling and durability. If you’d like, punch a hole in the card and provide a small mountable hook so students can keep the cards in a visible spot at home.
