[CASL-L] Mindfulness in the Elementary School Library

[Allison Loiseau]

Hi Kate,
I have a few suggestions based on my several years of teaching yoga for
preschool and elementary school students. I am by no means a yoga expert,
but I love doing yoga with children and I make it very playful.  I'm trying
to figure out how to incorporate it regularly in my library and I'm
considering adding breathing exercises and/or poses into my lessons.

   - I would HIGHLY recommend starting with this card set Yoga Pretzels
   <https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Pretzels-Cards-Tara-Guber/dp/1905236042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532275689&sr=8-1&keywords=yoga+pretzels>.
   I love them and I constantly come back to them.
   - My students always love using the breathing ball.  This is the one I
   have: Hoberman Sphere
   <https://www.amazon.com/Hoberman-Original-Sphere-Rainbow-Discontinued-manufacturer/dp/B00000JN49/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532275751&sr=8-3&keywords=hoberman+sphere>
   .
   - I also have a boatload of lessons in which I use books to create a
   yoga flow.  It isn't practical for every class, but it can be nice to use
   poses inspired by a plot if you do read-alouds.  Here's are a few
   samples-0pi and I'd be happy to share more.  They are not very explicit in
   instructions, but I can elaborate if you have questions.  This one is for
   the Caldecott winning folktale *Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples' Ears*: Yoga
   Lesson
   <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yTF5rlcj5HH55af7GtihTqumjnAUjyQmi88qCpLtcaI/edit?usp=sharing>.I
   did a series of folktale yoga lessons at Driggs in Waterbury and the kids
   really remembered the stories even as weeks passed. This lesson was
   designed for the book* In My Heart: A Book of Feelings*.  It's great for
   little ones.  I laminated little feelings pictures and I ended up having
   students share what made them experience the feelings we read about.  In
   My Heart Lesson
   <https://docs.google.com/document/d/12q9MBCun2OPy-5USfd1nmhU78XBQHGO63KxtHWswfvM/edit?usp=sharing>
   - It can work well to end a lesson with relaxation. My mother in law
   sews and she made little eye pillows for my students to use during
   relaxation.  During relaxation, we usually lay down, wear the eye pillows
   and tune into the chime (you may have one if you do Responsive Classroom.)
   During relaxation I ring the chime three times to correspond to the
   following actions 1. make the body still, 2. think about an intention or
   feeling, and 3. listen carefully for the chime to stop ringing.  When it
   stops students wiggle their fingers and slowly sit up.  As a closing
   message, I do some sort of affirmation and ask students to repeat it.  I
   use "Today I will be safe. Today I will be kind. Today I will be
   respectful" or "Be good, feel good, do good."
   - I sometimes do mudras or hand actions with learners.  In my favorite
   one, I have the children touch each finger to their thumbs (index to thumb,
   middle to thumb, ring to thumb, and pinky to thumb) and say something
   calming like 'I can calm down" to correspond to the touch.  It's really
   nice for a calming corner.
   - If you decide to use a yoga mat in any way, Five Below has nice ones
   for only $5.
   - There are also some great books out there that use yoga.  I enjoy Good
   Morning Yoga
   <https://www.amazon.com/Good-Morning-Yoga-Pose-Pose/dp/1622036026> and Zoo
   Zen
   <https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Zen-Yoga-Story-Kids/dp/1622038916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532276603&sr=1-1&keywords=zoo+zen>.
   The Cheshire Public Library has a great selection of yoga books if you want
   to check some out before purchasing.
   - Last but not least, I was originally trained by Lani Rosen-Gallagher
   with Full of Joy Yoga out of New Haven.  She does workshops for teachers
   and they are worth attending.  Here's her website: Full of Joy Training
   <https://fullofjoyoga.com/events/>

I hope that helps.  If anyone is interested in having me demo a few
book-based yoga lessons, I'd be glad to do it:)

Have a great summer!
Fondly,
Allison Loiseau

On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 11:22 AM, Kate Candido <katemcandido at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I hope you are all enjoying summer!  I am doing some planning for the new
> school year.  My district is implementing an SEL curriculum this year, so I
> need to incorporate some mindfulness activities into my PreK - Grade 5
> library.  Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas/resources for mindfulness
> or mindful yoga activities for the school library?  I am already re
> imagining my Calming Corner.  I would like to incorporate some mindful or
> calming yoga as I have a yoga/dance background.  Thanks in advance for your
> help!  I'll gladly share responses on the listserv.
>
> Kate
>
> --
> Kate Candido
> Library Media Specialist
> Orange Avenue School
> Milford, CT
> CASL Board Membership Chair
> Google Certified Educator
>
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