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End of the Year Reflections on Social Emotional Learning and Mindfulness
As the last day of the school approaches, I can’t help but reflect on the challenges and success of this past year. Of the many great things about this school year, the most notable one is that our school adopted a cell phone policy that has been a complete game changer. My students actual answer…
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Mindfulness Monday: Coffee Filter Art
Today we tried a fun activity with coffee filters. They make a great canvas for an art project. What you’ll need: Markers, coffee filter, and a spray bottle Instructions: Use the markers to color the coffee filter. Play with different amount of color to create a variety of effects. Lightly spray the color filer and…
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Mindfulness Monday: Wind Chimes
Today we made wind chimes. They proved to be a challenging activity, given the amount of beads that fell on the floor and the difficulty we had tying the fishing line but the results were worth it: What you will need: Twigs, twine, fishing line, beads, bells, scissors, paper plates. First, tie the twine around…
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Mindfulness Monday: Mental Health Awareness Month Coloring Pages
May is Mental Health Awareness Month so I will have a large stack of mental health themes coloring pages available for the next few weeks.
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2 am Meditation
For years I struggled with waking up at 2am in a panic and unable to fall back asleep. I would scroll on my phone, listen to a podcast or jest let my thoughts race in a self-hatred anxiety spiral. But since I started a consistent meditation practice, I have been sleeping through the night without…
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Mindfulness Monday: 5 Senses Pause
Today I shared an exercise that focuses on the 5 senses with my students. I included the link to the the PDF if you’d like to try it in your classroom! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OabtCLQEirlp5qTTiVzz0YNO-D65QCn2ghNgHFYmEtI/edit?tab=t.0
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Mindfulness Monday: Trust Circle
Do you trust that you can fit inside an index card? Try this activity and find out! What you’ll need: -an index card -scissors
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Mindfulness Monday: Book of Aphorisms
Today I am showing my classes a video I made for my YouTube channel with instructions for folding paper into a book. Then, I am giving each student a list of aphorisms (short quotes about life) to write in their books.
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Mindfulness Monday: RAIN Exercise
Since rain has become a recurring theme these days, today we are practicing this RAIN exercise adapted from the work of psychologist, Tara Brach, as a means of processing our emotions. The RAIN exercise is a powerful mindfulness tool that helps students recognize and process difficult emotions in a non-judgmental way. It’s an acronym that…
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Mindfulness Monday: Intention Setting Stars
Today we made paper stars and set an intention while we made them. Once students completed their star, they placed them in the intention box that I left on display in my classroom. Step 1: Prepare Your Paper Strips • Use strips of paper approximately ½ inch wide and 10-12 inches long. • For a…