Building a Background (K-2nd Grades)

This week we continued our exploration of calm and un-calm bodies!  We always explore un-calm bodies first because this gives everyone a chance to move in any way they need before being asked to come to stillness.  They have the defined space of their yoga mat to jump, wiggle, dance, or roll around until it is time to find "calm".

After finding calm, I ask the students to place a hand on their chest, their stomach, or both to feel the breath move through the body.  It is really beautiful to watch these small humans breathing in a peaceful, quiet way after a busy day at school.

After that, we returned to our imaginary adventure in the Amazon rainforest!  Instead of taking a kayak to the center of the rainforest, we flew on a Seaplane in Warrior III or Airplane Pose.  First, we sat in chair pose, buckled our seat belts, then we were off!  We once again saw the kapok tree and entered into tree pose.  We saw a jaguar, a red howler monkey, and a poison arrow frog, moving our bodies in the same way that these animals might.  During this adventure, the last animal we explored was a spider.  This was a huge hit with the children as they got to walk like a spider and even spin a web!

After returning to our TIS classroom we were inspired to make artwork.  Once again, we observed the artwork of Henri Rousseau for ideas.  The students took a look at the horizon lines they drew last class and began painting the color they wanted for the sky and the ground.  We are building these pieces of artwork, starting with the background.  I asked the children to really think about the time of day and the weather in their picture.  As a result, we had several interesting stormy pictures with moody, dark skies alongside sunsets and nighttime scenes.

Tropical Forest with Apes and Snakes by Henri Rousseau

A few students finished painting their backgrounds early and had the opportunity to draw animals for the middle ground and foreground of their pictures.  I was impressed with the amount of detail the students added to their observational animal drawings!  I supplied several pictures of some of the animals we've imagined at the rainforest.

Here are a few photos of the students in action creating artwork!    

Amazon Rainforest Adventure (K-2nd Grades)

Tropical Forest with Apes and Snake by Henri Rousseau

During this class we took our first yogic adventure into the rainforest!  It was such a huge journey we made sure to warm up our bodies before it began.  We traveled to the heart of the rainforest in our kayaks in boat pose while singing "Row, Row Row Your Boat".  We hit some pretty rough waters, and actually navigated our way down a waterfall!  From there we saw many different animals and connected the ideas of animals and plants to the movement of our bodies.  I think my favorite part of the journey was either becoming a great Kapok Tree (tree pose) or seeing a poison arrow frog (downward facing frog)!

When we safely made it back to our classroom at TIS, we looked at the artwork of Henri Rousseau.  Rousseau was a self-taught artist who lived in Paris in the late 1800's.  Although Rousseau never traveled to the rainforest, he learned about the plants and animals through exploring the many botanical gardens and zoos Paris had to offer.

The students had the chance to draw a horizon line that will become an image inspired by Rousseau and the rainforest.  On the back of the artworks each child drew the imaginary bird he or she become in order to fly out of the rainforest and return to the classroom.  I'm looking forward to seeing these colorful, interesting birds make an appearance in the childrens' finished pieces of art.

The Equatorial Jungle by Henri Rousseau

Apes in the Orange Grove by Henri Rousseau

Surprise by Henri Rousseau

Investigating Water (3rd-5th Grades)

In the beginning of this class we jumped right into relaxation time.  I asked each student to find a comfortable spot anywhere in the classroom and start paying attention to her breath.  I sounded the singing bowl and asked the students to tune into the sound while focusing on the breath.  This gave everyone a chance to unwind a little bit after a long day at school.

After that we reviewed the ideas of "playful" and "focused" from last class.  I asked each girl to reflect on whether she thought she was more playful or more focused in everyday life.  There were quite a range of answers!  Several students thought they were a good balance of both playful and focused.  Several other students said that they are definitely more playful.  No one wrote that she thought she was more focused than playful.

We also reviewed how we did with group juggling from last class.  Everyone agreed that the movement work was wonderful, but that the students' lack of focus caused the ball to be dropped during the game more often than it should.  We played again during this class to see if we could improve.  With less students than during the last class the game became even more challenging!  We will continue to work together to improve both our movement and focus.

Next I explained that we would be looking at the different elements of the earth during this session: water, fire, earth, and air.  We will work on moving like the elements along with creating masks to represent each element.  For this class we started with the element of water and the students wrote down as many different types of water as they could think of.

After discussing initial ideas of what water is, I asked the students to move into any part of the room and begin to move like one of the types of water they wrote on the paper.  To add another challenge, the students were to be present in their own movement but also paying attention to the other students around them.  At the end we guessed which types of water were being expressed through movement.  I was very impressed by many different ways movement was used to communicate the idea of water.

After that, each student began designing her mask that is trying to capture the essence of water.  Many beautiful shapes began to emerge, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this project leads.

Exploring Our Backbone (K-2nd Grades)

What a pleasure to teach the second Mind Move Make class for our K-2nd grade students!  When we made our way to the classroom, everyone remembered exactly what to do before entering.  Each child carefully took his or her shoes off and put all belongings on a hook outside the classroom, ready to gather together at the end of our time together.

After each child carefully selected a yoga mat, we were ready to begin!  We started the class by talking about and experiencing the difference between a calm body and a not-calm body.  First I asked the children to show me a not-calm body.  When I gave the signal, everyone dissolved into fun fits of wiggles, jiggles, and chaotic movement!  Though as soon as I gave the signal to stop, each child froze in place and a silence engulfed the classroom.  Then we experimented with a calm body.  I asked the students to be aware of their breath, breathing in as if smelling flowers and breathing out as if blowing out birthday candles.  What a stark difference between calm and not-calm bodies!  We will continue to explore this throughout Session 1.

After that we once again read I Am Yoga.  Since the students were familiar with the poses from looking at and moving with the book last week, we went a little faster.  It was amazing how much they remembered!  I asked them to pay attention, especially to the pose and phrase they chose to illustrate from our last class.

When we completed the last yoga pose I asked the students to feel up and down the middle of their own backs, first with their backs straight, then with their backs bent.  "What is that bumpy thing that you feel running up and down your back?" I asked.  Several students raised their hands, and we decided it is our backbone, or vertebrae.  I explained that the vertebrae supports half the weight of our entire body, and each bone stacks one on top of the other like building blocks.  Yoga is GREAT for our backbones because it allows our backbones to move in many different ways!

Then it was time for everyone to finish the artworks that we started the previous week.  Many students still needed to complete the drawing using markers, but some were ready to begin adding color!  We used oil pastel and watercolor paint to add color the the images.  I demonstrated a resist technique in which the oil from the pastels resists the watercolor and shows up beautifully bright against the paint.

Here are the student's finished artworks, along with the phrases they chose to illustrate from I Am Yoga.

What is "calm"? (K-2nd Grades)

The first Mind Move Make class for kids in Kindergarten to second grades happened last week, and we had more fun than a herd of mice in the Tillamook cheese factory!  We started the experience by standing patiently outside the classroom and carefully taking off our shoes.  The enthusiastic students entered the room in which brand new purple yoga mats were just waiting, almost begging to be chosen by one particular child.  Each little mat seemed to scream, "Pick me, pick me!"

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! 

Playful + Focused (3rd-5th Grades)

What an energetic group of students I have for Mind Move Make, Session 1, 3rd-5th grades at TIS!  We started our first class of the year discussing the importance of mutual respect for every individual in the class.  Then each child had the chance to introduce herself by telling everyone her name, grade, and one thing that she LOVES to do so that we can really get to know one another.

For this class we concentrated on the ideas of "focused" and "playful".  Throughout Mind Move Make, Session 1 we will try to find the intersection between being focused and playful.  In group creative work, if individuals are only focused then there is no life in the work.  If individuals are only playful, the work can dissolve into an uncontrolled fit of silliness.  Both of these beautiful, important ideas need to come together to make successful creative work!

In order to try finding the balance between being focused and playful, we engaged in a game called Group Juggling!  The students stood in a circle and everyone started with one hand in the air as if asking a question.  I had a ball, and I threw it to one person in the circle.  After receiving the ball, each student put her hand down.  Once each person had the ball passed to her, we were ready to start!  Going in the same order, we passed the ball together.  After that, another ball was added so that students must focus on two balls going around the circle.  Then we added movement to the mix, and students were encouraged to move as intuitively and playfully as they could WITHOUT dropping the balls or loosing focus!

Through playing this game we discovered that our group is MUCH more playful than focused!  I was impressed with the courageous, uninhibited, beautiful ways that the students moved intuitively through the room as we engaged in Group Juggling.  Unfortunately, our lack of focus led to the ball being dropped over and over again.  We'll work on bringing the ideas of focus and playful closer and closer together throughout Session 1.

For the art portion of the class I asked the students to create a piece of artwork illustrating FOCUSED and PLAYFUL while finding the place in the middle where they come together.  It was interesting to see their artistic interpretations of these two ideas.  Some students used shapes, all the students utilized color to explain the two concepts.  Here are the results of their endeavors!  See if you can recognize which part of the artwork is "focused" and which is "playful".