Sending Kind Thoughts to our Everyday Superheroes

This Kindergarten artist chose his Grandma as his Everyday
Superhero!  He talked about how she saves "treasure"
for him at her house, and how she is making him a
Halloween costume this year.

Each Mind Move Make class is packed with loads of different activities, and all of them blend into one another!  In the Mindfulness part of the class we've been slowing down and focusing on the present moment in many different ways.  During each class I select a Mindful Leader to conduct our Mindful Breathing practice.  For most of the classes we've used a Breathing Ball, or Hoberman Sphere.  After I demonstrated using the Breathing Ball during the first class, the students have been leading one another in mindful breathing by expanding and contracting the ball.  The students have also found their pulses or put hands on their hearts and counted heartbeats to find calm and focus.  It is amazingly beautiful how silent the room becomes when everyone is counting their heartbeats.

During another class the students sent kind thoughts to the person they chose as their Everyday Superhero.  Each student found a very comfortable position, either sitting or laying down, and I said these Heartful phrases while they repeated them in their minds and thought about the special individual they selected:

May you be safe and protected.

May you be healthy.

May you be loved.

May you be happy.

May you live in peace.

I allowed the students time and space to think about their own, personal kind wishes that they wanted to send to their Everyday Superhero.

In the art realm of the class, students experimented with using markers, then brushing water on top of the marker with a paintbrush.  The paper I gave the students to create their Everyday Superhero postcards is high-quality watercolor paper.  When water is brushed onto the marker, the pigment of the marker looks and acts like watercolor paint.  The students were surprised and excited by the results of this experimentation.  During our next class, many students told me that they tried this fun technique at home with their own markers.

A stamp was created for the back of their postcard, just like a real postage stamp.   The children wrote a message to their Everyday Superhero explaining why they are grateful to them.  The students range in age between 5 years and 10 years, so there is a large variation in skill and ability when it comes to writing.  I supplied the younger students with a prompt sheet to use and glue on the back of their postcard to write their message.  Some of the TIS students wrote their note in their target language as each child is learning either Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, or Japanese.  Many of the children used their own words to express their gratitude and appreciation for their Everyday Superhero.  

Here are the fronts and backs of many of the postcards.  I had the postcards lined up on the floor so that the parents could see all of the unique, fantastic drawings.  One parent commented, "I would buy many of these postcards and send them myself!"  So would I; they are beautiful.

From TIS:

From Alameda: