As soon as everyone was gathered and settled in his or her special spot, we began to introduce one another. I asked each student to say his or her name and tell about his or her FAVORITE thing to do in the whole world. There were several interesting responses to that question. I went first and explained that I LOVE to hike in the woods with my 18-month-old son Harlow. This gave us a chance to really learn something important about one another.
After that we started talking about the idea of "calm". What does calm look like? What does calm feel like in your body? I demonstrated a very un-calm body, with arms flailing everywhere and a loud voice. The calm demonstration came next, and each child could easily tell un-calm body apart from the calm body.
Next, I brought an object out of my bag and asked if anyone knew what it was. I was impressed that several students raised their hands and declared it a singing bowl (absolutely right!). After ringing the singing bowl I asked the students to show me their best "calm" body and explained that I would place something special in their hands when I saw they were calm. After the object was safely in each palm, the children could explore the object. When given the opportunity to tell everyone what he found in his hand, one child exclaimed, "It is a rock!"
While finding a calm body, each child was asked to silently whisper "breathing in, breathing out" in his or her head. One student raised her hand and suggested that we "breath in like we're smelling flowers and breath out like we're blowing out birthday candles". I thought this was a great idea and gave that as another option each child had during relaxation time.
After that we actively looked at the book I Am Yoga by Susan Verde. The book starts like this:
The hero of the story begins by feeling small and out of place, until she uses yoga and her breath to re-connect with herself and the world around her. The drawings by Peter H. Reynolds illustrate each pose our hero uses to help her cope with the situation.
We practiced the poses along with our friend in the story, and I made sure to show each picture to every child in the class.
After that, we were ready to make artwork! Each child selected one phrase from the book to illustrate in his or her own way. My only request was that each student include him or herself in the drawing. Here are a few of the phrases:
I can touch the sky, I am so tall.
I can turn things upside down, I am playful.
I can dance with the moon, I light up the night.
A few of the students had the chance to start on their illustrations, but not everyone. During our next class we'll finish these works of art and turn them into mixed media pieces by combining black marker, oil pastel, and watercolor paint. Stay tuned to see photos of our finished artworks!
