mindfulness-in-the-classroom

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness means paying full attention to something. It means slowing down to really notice what you're doing. How many times have you told a student to slow down, think about what they are doing and do their best work? I'm guessing more than you can count BUT have you ever explicitly taught them how to do that? When we teach them a new reading strategy you model it, and then you gradually release them to do it on their own. Social-emotional learning should look the same.

Mindfulness in the classroom can look like practicing different breathing techniques, doing yoga poses, taking brain breaks and learning how to calm down and focus after. It could also be establishing a “take a break” spot in your classroom and explicitly teaching how to use it.

Benefits of Mindfulness in the Classroom

Being mindful helps you:

  • pay attention better
  • be less distractible
  • learn more
  • stay calm under stress
  • avoid getting too upset about things
  • slow down instead of rush
  • listen better to others
  • be more patient
  • get along better with friends
  • feel happier and enjoy things more

Teaching Mindfulness

There are a few things you need to take into account before you start teaching mindfulness in the classroom.

  1. Mindfulness should be positive. It should NEVER be used along side discipline.
  2. You need to practice mindfulness yourself.
  3. Create a daily routine for mindfulness.
  4. Prepare your classroom- create a calming space for students, make sure you have ample space- this might just be creating a routine for moving a few desks to open up the space.
  5. Allow your students to help you facilitate the mindfulness time. Pick a different student each day.
  6. Share your experiences with each other. Morning/Afternoon meeting would be a great time for this.
  7. Practice it daily! We've all heard the saying, practice makes perfect but in this case, the more you practice, the more stamina your students will have and the more apt they are to start practicing it on their own when they are feeling overwhelmed, frustrated or out of sorts.

Mindfulness Activities

Here is a list of easy to implement activities to practice mindfulness in the classroom:

  • breathing exercises
  • yoga– Here are some yoga resource cards to get you started!
  • tense and release muscle relaxation (GoNoodle has an awesome video for this one! Find it here.)
  • play with balloons– Tell your students that they should try to keep the balloon off the ground, but have them move slowly and gently. Tell them that the balloon is fragile and needs to be kept safe!
  • create a texture bag– put several small, interestingly shaped or textured objects in a bag. Have each child reach in and touch an object, one at a time, and describe what they are touching. Make sure they don’t take the object out of the bag, forcing them to use only their sense of touch to explore the object.
  • the body scan– Have your kids lie down on their back on a comfortable surface and close their eyes; Then tell them to squeeze every muscle in their body as tight as they can Tell them to squish their toes and feet, squeeze their hands into fists, and make their legs and arms as hard as stone; After a few seconds, have them release all their muscles and relax for a few minutes; Encourage them to think about how their body is feeling throughout the activity.

Looking for other Social-emotional activities? Be sure to check out my friend Shannon's post all about it! You can find it here!