Mindfulness in the Classroom

This is my current passion. I am a firm believer in putting all things social emotional well being in the classroom first. Academic success can't come without it. In my classroom, part of this means incorporating Mindfulness into our day.

What do I do?

• I carve out a short 3-5 minute chunk out of my day. (For this class, it is always the first thing we do after lunch.)
• Sometimes I will guide the breathing, but more often I use GoNoodle, Breathe Think Kids or Smiling Minds to guide the practice.
• Thursdays our practice is a gratitude practice we call Thankful Thursdays. We do a short gratitude mindfulness breathing exercise and then reflect on one kind act someone at school did this week. We right it down on a leaf and add it to our Kindness Tree. (More on that here.)
• Last year, my kids loved our mindfulness exercises immediately. This year it took some time 😂 But I kept with it and it was so worth it.
• I do not make this mandatory. Kids have a choice to join in, or take a three minute quiet break in their desk. Inevitably, the entire class joins in but I always give the choice.

Why Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the practice of focusing on the here and now. It integrates breathing techniques to help calm the body and mind while increasing self awareness, self regulation and self calming skills. Mindfullness practices have been proven to increase a student's ability to thrive both academically and socially.

I have always incorporated some piece of mindfulness into my day. Early in my career that meant adding stretching and breathing techniques into my P.E. block. However, it wasn't until I experienced my own personal life trauma that I really began to look into mindfulness activities and then saw the immeasurable value of using mindfulness to strengthen my classroom community.  To be honest, part of the consistent implementation of mindfulness was giving myself the few minutes a day to stop, breathe and live in the present moment. But the impact it has had on my class is beyond words. As we continued with the practice as a class, I noticed some significant changes. I saw that this small practice was truly fostering student confidence and independence while also helping my class build empathy and the ability to work together as a team.

Going into 2020, I am excited to deepen this practice. Understanding that kids cannot attend to learning when they are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I wanted to put more into this social emotional wellness journey. In addition to my current mindfullness activities, I wrote a DonorsChoose grant. The grant was fully funded in December (Hurray!) And I cannot wait to get back and get started with the materials.

The materials in this grant include mindfulness games as well as other social emotional support tools. I hope to create a peace corner in my room where students can go when they need a quiet place to destress and calm down. Many of the sensory items included in this project will give students the tools and the space to take short breaks when needed to refocus their attention and energy.

**If you are looking to incorporate more mindfullness in your classroom, check out the recourses on GoNoodle, Breathe Think Kids and Smiling Minds. Also, feel free to check out my DonorsChoose grant for inspiration!

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