Heartfulness (K-2nd Grades)

The Block by artist Romare Bearden exploring collage
and the theme of neighborhood

One aspect of mindfulness is Heartfulness, which is what we focused on during this class!  The organization Mindful Schools defines Heartfulness as "the intentional nurturing of positive mind states such as kindness and compassion."  Well, for my K-2nd grade students this is a little too complex of an idea!  So instead I talked about Heartfulness as sending kind thoughts to ourselves and to others.

For this class, I asked the students to think of someone who makes them happy, someone that they see almost everyday.  It could be a friend, family member, or teacher.  Then we closed our eyes and imagined this person doing something that makes him or her very happy.  After visualizing this happy, peaceful individual in our heads, we began sending kind thoughts to the person.  Closing our eyes, we repeated the words:

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be peaceful.

We took three mindful breaths after saying the words, and I asked the children to think of that special person one more time and then open their eyes.  If the students wanted to, they could share who they thought of and how the experience of Heartfulness made them feel.  

One students shared that saying the words out loud made her feel a little uncomfortable.  With such an unusual practice I wasn't surprised and I was thankful for her honesty!  Another student said that her kind thoughts didn't have very far to go because they were for her sister who was on the next yoga mat over!  When two boys said that they sent the words of kindness to themselves, I was very excited!  Who deserves kindness more than we do?  Such a great practice to start, and one that we can lose as adults: KINDNESS TO OURSELVES!

During the movement part of the class, I reminded everyone to focus on how they feel both before and after moving their bodies!  We practiced many poses that they are familiar with, and tried Crow Pose (Bakasana) once again as a challenge.  It's fun for me to watch them become comfortable with the poses and make them their own.

Art-wise, I today we looked at the work of artist Romare Bearden.  If you're interested, here is an interactive, kid-friendly site from the Metropolitan Museum of Art about Romare Bearden; you might enjoy exploring the site with your child to learn more about this fascinating artist.  I showed many images of Bearden's work, focusing on his art with collage.  Next class the students will incorporate their photographs into their self-portrait drawings to create a collage of their own.  Today we worked on developing the background of the artwork.  I asked the students to utilize one of Bearden's themes of either neighborhood or music and add that idea into the background of the picture.  It was fun to watch what they came up with! 

Here are a few more pieces by Romare Bearden that we looked at:

Balance and Change (3rd-5th Grades)

 I'm excited to begin Session 2 of Mind Move Make with my smart, quirky, silly, fantastic 4th and 5th grade students!  During this session we'll be utilizing the mindfulness curriculum developed by the stellar organization Mindful Schools.  I've been participating in training with them, and I'm thrilled to put what I've learned into action with these lively young ladies (this group is all girls!).

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?  This is a question I posed to my students, though it is a difficult thing to put into words.  Mindfulness is noticing what is happening in the present moment.  If we are open to it and utilize it, mindfulness can help us in many ways.  It helps strengthen our minds, increase our ability to focus, manage our emotions, and make better decisions.  I described that this class will be an experiment, and the subject we are studying is our very own brains!  We'll be looking at how our minds work.

I gave the students lots of different scenarios to consider.  I asked, "Have you ever":

• Said something you wished you could take back?
• Done something you regretted later?
• Felt angry and out of control?
• Felt nervous about a test?
• Had trouble falling asleep?
• Accidentally spaced out when the teacher calls on you?   

Many of the students could relate to several or all of these situations.  I was impressed by how willing they were to share personal stories about specific events in which they experienced one or many of these things.  Everyone felt encouraged and relieved to know that they were not the "only ones" to feel these emotions or have these things happen.

After the discussion, I explained that mindfulness can help with this, but that they would have to truly try it!  We spent two minutes practicing mindful breathing using an anchor spot, a spot in the body where the breath is felt (usually the belly or chest).  I explained our anchor spot is like the anchor of a ship, connecting us to our breath and our body.  After spending two minutes practicing mindful breathing, several students said they wanted to spend more time doing this!  One student said she was so busy in her life that she didn't have time to think about her breath, or take time for herself in this way.  I am extremely happy to provide these amazing girls with the chance to slow down and just breath, even if it is just once a week!

After that, I introduced everyone to our central idea; the big, main concept we will focus on over the course Session 2.  Here it is!

We live in a world that is constantly changing

Over the next 11 classes, we will explore the idea of change in art, in our minds, and in our bodies through movement.  Exciting stuff!

Then I introduced them to the artist Michael Grab; he calls his work "Gravity Glue".  Michael travels to many different places and creates sculptures made of rocks!  He uses the power of gravity to balance these sculptures.  Here is a link to a video of him at work.  After watching part of the video, we talked about if his sculptures are permanent or impermanent.  We also discussed how balance plays a hand in his work.

Then we worked on using balance with our own bodies!  The girls worked in partners to balance in many different yoga poses.  Here are a few pictures of them in action!

Exploring Magnificent Me (K-2nd Grades)

This was our first class for Mind Move Make's Session 2, K-2nd Grade students!  It was great to see everyone again and get started with some new ideas.  This session we are working with a Central Idea: Exploring Magnificent Me!  The students will explore who they are through mindfulness, movement, and visual art.  I'm excited to dive in!

Also, I've recently completed the Mindful Educator Essentials course through the well-respected organization Mindful Schools.  I'll be combining elements of the Mindful Schools curriculum into the mindfulness component of the class.  I'm looking forward to putting the training into action!

After introducing the students to our Central Idea, we focused more specifically on mindful breathing and the idea of an anchor spot.  We talked about why breathing is important to humans, what breathing does for us, and why we'd want to pay attention to our breath.  In terms of anchor spot, I asked the students if they knew what an anchor is in a boat.  Several students had great explanations for this.  Then we thought about how touching either the stomach or the chest while breathing mindfully helps anchor us to our breath because we can feel its movement.

After that we were ready to move our bodies!  I asked the students to focus on how they felt before and after engaging in movement.  We talked about how our minds and bodies need to work together in order to be happy.  We moved through a few Sun Salutations, then I led a few poses with which the students are already familiar.  Then I introduced them to Crow Pose (Bakasana), a challenging arm balance pose.  A few of the students were able to get into it, and the others worked hard trying!  I like adding in challenging poses at times as it gives the students a goal to work towards.

Then we were ready to make artwork!  We started a self-portrait, but I explained that we'd be using photographs of ourselves as a collage element in the artwork.  I took a picture of each child and I'll print them to be used in the next few classes.  We discussed the ideas of self-portrait and collage.  The students began to use oil pastels to mix a skin tone for him or herself.  During our next class we'll be looking at the artist Romare Bearden and his use of collage.

Performance!

It's amazing to me that I'm writing about our last 3rd-5th grade Mind Move Make class of Session 1! Time has passed quickly, and we're headed towards Session 2.  We had a fun last class together, and I'm thankful for the time I've had to get to know these lovely people even better!

In discussing what everyone liked best about Mind Move Make, most students loved Group Juggling, a movement game we played during several of our classes.  Many other students mentioned that making the masks was their favorite thing about the class.  I think everyone also enjoyed making new friends in the group.

After playing a round of Group Juggling, I gave the students a chance to finish the costumes they began for their final performance.  Then they got into groups and rehearsed the mini movement-based pieces they created last class.  Each student chose the element she felt was most like her: water, fire, or earth.  We already created masks for each element during our previous classes, so students crafted costumes to go with the mask that represented the element they felt matched their personality the best.

I was very impressed with the rehearsal process that ensued.  One group stayed in the art room, and the other group went out into the hallway to have more space for movement.  After each group felt comfortable with their pieces, it was time to perform!  We discussed each performance afterwards.  The girls who practiced in the hallway attracted an audience and ended up performing not just for our little group, but for several of their friends and parents.  I think each group was proud of what they created!

Mindful Eating (K-2nd Grades)

Artist K.R. from our Sahara Desert adventures

It's hard to believe that yesterday was the last Mind Move Make class for my youngest K-2nd grade artists!  We had a fantastic final class.  First, I asked the students to tell me their favorite things about Mind Move Make; I got many different answers.  Several students replied, "Everything!"  Many other students chose a favorite yoga pose as their best memory.  And other children said their favorite thing was getting to know all the people in our group.  One of my main goals in Mind Move Make is developing a sense of community between the students, so I was happy to hear that making friends was one of their favorite parts of class.

  I told the students that I had a special treat for them since it was our last class together, and that it was something you could eat.  Everyone was curious about what it might be!  I explained that instead of eating this special thing the way we eat most foods, we were going to eat it mindfully, together as a group.  I revealed that I had two dried cherries for each person, and that dried cherries is one of my favorite foods.

I explained that as soon as I saw each child in his or her mindful body, I would put two dried cherries in his or her hand.  Each child was able to explore the cherries as a scientist might, smelling, feeling, looking at, and listening to them, but not tasting them yet.  (Yes, I did have the children wash their hands before we started!)  When everyone in the class had their cherries in hand, I told them they could gently place one in their mouth, but asked them not to chew just yet!  I asked them to take the time to feel it's texture and see if there was a taste before chewing.  After a few moments I told them they could slowly chew the cherry while really paying attention to the taste and the sensation of chewing.  I also asked them to think about the act of swallowing the cherry and to see if they could feel how far down they could feel the food traveling through their bodies.

After everyone was finished, I asked what the experience was like.  One girl said she had never thought about swallowing her food before; she found it really interesting to actually feel the food going down her esophagus.  Many other students described the sour taste of the dried cherry, and the rough texture in their mouths.  I asked why mindful eating was important to practice and one girl said, "Because it lets you really taste your food!".  Very true.

After experiencing mindful eating, we looked at the book I Am Yoga one last time and followed along with the movements of the book.  Art-wise, I gave the students three options: 1. They could draw themselves in their favorite yoga pose 2. They could draw themselves eating their favorite food mindfully 3. They could draw themselves in their mindful body.  Here are a couple of the results:

And here are the rest of the Sahara Desert artworks from last class!

 

Mindful Listening: outside noises (K-2nd Grades)

During the first part of this class we focused on mindfully listening to the sounds around us.  A kindergarten boy in the class requested that we us the rocks again, so I placed a rock in each child's hand when I saw that he or she found a calm body.  Rock in hand, the students began focusing on the sounds happening around the art room.  Afterwards I asked them to share some of the things that they heard, and everyone was enthusiastic about sharing one or two sounds.

After that, we went on another Sahara Desert movement adventure!  We met some of the same animals that we encountered during our last class, and found some new ones too.  The camel, scarab beetle, sidewinder snake, ostrich, and dorcas gazelle all made an appearance.  We also came across a scorpion, monitor lizard, and the fennec fox!  For the monitor lizard we practiced lizard pose, which was challenging to a few students.  At the end of our adventure we used bee breath, or brahmari, to calm down.  Basically, bee breath is created by taking a deep inhale and humming during the exhales.  For the first few rounds of bee breath we kept our ears open, then we used our fingers to plug our ears so that our own "bee" sound was most prominent.  This breathing exercise is fantastic for calming the nervous system!

When the sounds of the bees in the room dissipated, we were ready to jump into creating artwork!  During our last class, the student used black paint to create an outline of one of the desert animals we looked at.  Today they used watercolor paint to add color to the animal and the background.  Here are some photos of the beautiful artworks so far!

        

Travel to the Sahara Desert! (K-2nd Grade)

This busy second grade artist drew the sidewinder, the scarab beetle,
and the ostrich!

Today in Mind Move Make class we went on an adventure to the Sahara Desert!  Before our journey into the desert began, I asked the students what they already knew about the desert.  Almost everyone in the class was eager to tell share a piece of information about an animal, plant, or the terrain of the desert with everyone in class.  Their knowledge was impressive!

After our discussion, we began our movement-centered travels through the Sahara Desert!  I held up pictures of each animal we met during this imaginary trip so that the students had a visual image as some of the animals are a bit more obscure.  We started off riding a camel over the sand dunes using cat-cow to simulate both the camel's hump and the very bumpy business of riding on a camel's back.  Our cat-cows started slowly and got faster and faster as we moved over the rolling hills of sand!  After that we encountered a scarab beetle and entered child's pose.  Then a sidewinder snake slithered along and all the children hissed in cobra pose, breathing in as they came off the floor and making their best snake noise as they lowered their torsos back to the ground.  Several other animals showed up during our adventure: a jerboa and a dorcas gazelle.  My favorite part of this particular adventure was when each student became an ostrich!  We used Lord of the Dance pose (Natarajasana) to simulate this animal.  Our long arm became the ostrich's neck, our hand became the head.  Ostriches have very powerful legs; their kick is their greatest defense!  So we kicked up our legs to celebrate the beautiful strength of this animal!  Here is a link to more information about each animal that we looked at from the Sahara Desert, if you're interested in learning more.

When our adventure came to an end, we were ready to create artwork!  I explained that this was an art catch-up day.  Some students hadn't yet finished their rainforest artworks, so a few people worked on that.  Some students wanted to spend more time on their hybrid creature drawings from our last class.  Those who were finished with everything got to draw one of the desert animals as a practice study for a painting we will begin next class!  Many of the drawings are beautiful renderings of the animals we encountered in our imaginations.

A second grade artist drawing the dorcas gazelle

A kindergarten artist drawing the camel

Tree Collaboration

One of our big focuses in Mind Move Make is movement.  Many of our activities encourage the students to find a variety of movements: large, small, fast, slow, collaborative, individual.  My hope is that they begin to loose themselves in the act of jumping, twirling, shuffling, spinning, bending, and shaking!  I want to develop a safe community within our class where it is OK to move in any way and no one will feel self-conscious.

For a warm-up movement activity this week, I played music and explained that the students could move in any way they were inspired to.  When I stopped the music everyone had to freeze!  The girls could either work individually or collaborate with another student.  Even within this free-form activity I asked them to be aware of balancing focus and playful.  It was a fantastic way to let the students release energy after a long day of sitting at school!  During this activity I was laughing out loud watching the joy and fun the students were experiencing while exploring music through moving.

After a few rounds of Group Juggling, we engaged in moving like trees as we've been looking at the earth element.  All the students found one partner and became a tree with that person.  During their collaboration, they had to touch in some way; they could become any type of tree that they wanted.  After a few minutes of finding a tree pose together, they had to switch partners and become a different type of tree with another person!  We did this for a few rounds, and the results were pretty fun.

Art-wise, the students continued working on their earth masks.  Here are some pictures of the artists at work!

Inventive Animal Creations (K-2nd Grades)

One fabulous Kindergarten artist!

I had a great teachable moment with my youngest Mind Move Make students.  I accidentally left the portfolio with all their artwork at home, and many of them were excited to complete the rainforest creations from the previous weeks!  After explaining this unfortunate fact to my students I added that, "even grownups make mistakes."  They were extremely resilient and quick to forgive my forgetfulness.  We did make art during this class, but it was an impromptu idea that I'll describe a little later!

I was excited about the movement portion of the class, and was eager to share the activity with the children.  All the students enjoyed the opportunity to create their own movements for the rainforest animals a couple classes ago, so I developed "flash cards" of all the animals we've learned about.  The students got into pairs, received a collection of four flashcards with pictures of rainforest animals, and created their own movement routines using the pictures.  It was fun to see how different each group's movement pieces were.  One group was very focused on telling a story with their movements.  Other groups mixed yoga poses I've taught them with their own notions of how the animals move.

For me, the best part was being able to listen in on the planning of their mini-performances!  It is so interesting to watch the exchange of ideas, and the give-and-take that comes with collaborative work.  After each group worked out their movement-based performance, they had the opportunity to present their creations to one another.

So, back to the forgotten artwork!  For my spur of the moment idea, I explained that the students could either draw one rainforest animal of their choosing, or they could combine two or three animals together to create a new hybrid creature!  I think everyone chose option #2 and let their imaginations go wild.  Some children completely created a one-of-a-kind animal the likes of whom I've never seen in any book or zoo!  Others combined identifiable parts of various rainforest animals together to develop something new.  So my mistake provided an opportunity for a unique exploration of the imagination.  Here are some of the gorgeous, inventive works:

In progress...

Completed drawing!  This student's art reminds me of the work of Japanese artist Chiho Aoshima.

Bonus Feature: this is one of Chiho Aoshima's works