Mindful Classrooms is a program through Mindful Schools, in which I have the honor of sharing mindfulness with students throughout the county. Following are the excerpts from the parent newsletter sent at the end of each week.....
Mindful Moments – week ending 10/2/15
What a mindful week we had!
First we learned a tool to help us come back to our breath when our mindful mind starts to wander to things like soccer, snack, play dates or even noisy neighbors. Like a boat’s anchor tethers it to a spot, our own individual anchors tether us to our breath. As our mind wanders (and it does – that’s natural!), we find our anchor and use it to re-focus on breathing in and breathing out. Please ask your student to teach you how to find your anchor!
We finished off the week with giving more consideration to our new word, heartfulness. We decided that in addition to sending kind thoughts, heartfulness also meant being attentive, supportive and caring of others - being generous! We asked students to consider the concept of generosity, its role in our lives and to notice how it makes us feel when we are generous. We decided it can change our mood in an instant! Your students came up with all kinds of ways to be generous.....in small ways (lending a friend a pencil) and big ways (caring for a sibling while a parent is making dinner). We challenged students to provide acts of generosity at school, home and throughout their community over the course of the next three days. Stay tuned! We guarantee the results will be impressive and inspiring!
Mindful Family Challenge: Why not make the generosity challenge a family challenge? Maybe the family could….call a beloved family member that lives far away? surprise the soccer team with apple slices from your apple tree? cook a dinner together and share it with a neighbor?
Remember to take mindful family moments this weekend and have fun together!
Mindful Moments – week ending 10/9/15
With heartful enthusiasm, we began our mindful week by applauding all our inspirational, generous students!!! In just three days, all 508 of them provided over 3,300 mindful acts of generosity within their school, home and community! Many played with friends who were lonely, created special gifts for loved ones, cleaned up after someone else, helped out their sibling and lent a special hand at home. Some shared something very special to them (like a yummy piece of pizza or a beloved stuffed animal), while others learned that being generous is often about doing things we don’t necessarily want to but ultimately decide to do because it’s meaningful to others…..like ditching soccer with friends to help mom garden.
We ended our week with a lesson in mindful seeing. We observed our classrooms with “new eyes” and discovered things we hadn’t noticed before. In an ever-increasing chaotic world, building attention to visual detail can ultimately increase our academic accuracy in things like reading comprehension and test taking.
Mindful Family Challenge: How about a good old fashioned game of I Spy? You all can play in the car on the way to soccer practice, while at the supermarket or even in your own home. Settle in, put your mindful bodies on, look around and talk about what you mindfully see!
Remember to take mindful family moments this weekend and have fun together!
