Yesterday was the first class of the 2016-2017 school year! During this thirteen week session we will explore human emotions from many perspectives and using several tools to look at emotion. Through art, children's literature, mindfulness, and movement we will compare, contrast, and investigate the feelings all humans experience. Our Central Idea for Session 1 is:
All people experience different kinds of emotions
As the children walked into the art room for their first Mind Move Make class, I asked them to find and sit by the sketchbook I pre-made with his or her name on it. The sketchbooks formed a circle, and I explained that this is how we would sit at the beginning of each MMM class. In order to begin to create a sense of community between all the students in the class, I asked each individual to share his or her name, age, and three things he or she is thankful for. It was fun to hear their responses!
After that we talked about what each word, MIND, MOVE, and MAKE, means in connection to the classes I teach. I asked their opinion of what the words mean, and why I chose Mind Move Make for the name of the program. Then we talked about mindfulness, and how mindfulness helps us pay attention to what is happening in the present moment.
Then we brainstormed different emotion words. The students came up with a great list, and we will explore many of the emotions on the list in the next several weeks of classes. Everyone was eager to contribute to the conversation, so we are off to a great start!
We explored yoga and movement in the next part of our class. Everyone started in child's pose and felt the breath move through the body in this altered form. We tried downward facing dog, and several sun salutations. After coming down to Malasana, we sat back into boat pose, or Navasana. Then, coming into butterfly pose we relaxed by practicing Bhramari, or bee breath. It sounded like there were many little bees fluttering around the classroom!
During the art part of the class, the students had the opportunity to design the front cover of their sketchbooks! I asked them to either draw something that tells me about who they are, or to draw one of the things they are thankful for that we talked about in the beginning of class. It was a fun and very full first class!
