Finding Calm

Foreground of one student's artwork

After our one week hiatus for Spring Break, I decided to begin our third Mind Move Make class by re-reading You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey.  For one student, this was his first class of the third session because he was in Mexico on the TIS fifth grade Capstone trip, so he had never heard the book before.  We discussed many of the concepts within the book to bring them back to our central idea:

We live in an interconnected world.

After refreshing the students' memories about the book, I asked them to find their "calm".  I invited them to identify what calm looks like by watching me.  First, I moved my body all around and whispered to the student sitting beside me in a very unsettled way.  Second, I sat with my eyes closed and my hands on my lap.  "Which time was I finding my calm?" I asked the students.  Everyone understood that during the second scenario, when I was sitting quietly with my eyes closed, I had found my "calm".

Then it was their turn!  The students sat with their hands open on their laps, and I explained that I would place something special in their hands when it looked like each of them found their way to calm.  I also asked them to go back to the time and place that they felt most connected to nature.  With their eyes closed and their hands in their laps, I asked them to imagine and notice the temperature, the color of the sky, and their feelings in their special nature place.  I placed a rock in their hands as they contemplated the peaceful place where they felt connection to the earth.

I had planned on that being our relaxation session for the class, but when the students set up their yoga mats, one student turned off the lights and they all began to lay down and get settled for our traditional relaxation session.  After a busy first week back after Spring Break, I think they needed more time to reconnect to themselves and their breath.  And when I ended the second relaxation session, most of the students continued to recline on their mats, and I asked them if they needed a little more time relaxing.  "Yes!" was the overwhelming response, so I gave them a few more minutes of time to themselves.  I am happy to provide them with the much needed time to breath, be, and process the day as it is extremely important.

Two students playing the singing bowl together

When the students were finally ready to get up and move, I lead them through exercises to warm up the spine along with a Surya Namaskar A series.  Then we played Pass the Drishti.  I put a large, beautiful rock on the mat of the student that I noticed as the most focused to lead us through the next pose.  It is wonderful that the students are familiar enough with the poses that they can guide us themselves.

Before jumping into the art portion of our class I asked a student who has worked very hard on her piece so far to share it with the rest of us.  This was really helpful to the student who wasn't there for any of the other classes to grasp the three-dimensional diorama aspect of the project.  I reminded the children to consider foreground, middle ground, and background for this artwork.  Many of the children began adding color to their artwork today!  Some chose to use colored pencil, some chose watercolor, and many combined the two together.  Next week I'll encourage many of them to include fabric, twine, and textured paper into their works.