Everyday Superheroes: Session 1 for the 2017-2018 School Year

The first classes for Session 1 of Mind Move Make have started!  For this collection of classes we are focusing on the idea of Everyday Superheroes.  I'll be asking the students to look at their community and reflect on the people who help and support them everyday.  The students will also identify their own inner superpower and think about how they can use this power in a positive way to help people around them.

During our VERY first class we started by getting the wiggles out and also practicing Tadasana, or Mountain Pose.  Each child stood in their most solid Mountain Pose and I went around the circle trying to push him or her over.  It is surprising how strong children can get standing in this grounding pose!  Then we shook, danced, and moved all around, but when I said "Mountain!" all the students needed to once again find their strongest standing pose.

After that, everyone grabbed their snack and we discussed the three parts of the class: MIND, MOVE, and MAKE.  Many students shared what their ideas of mindfulness, movement, and artistic creation were.  Then we talked about COMMUNITY, what a community is, and how we are working to create a community together in this class.

Since this was our first class we took the time to introduce ourselves!  Standing in a circle I asked everyone to share his or her name and the superpower he or she most wanted to have while reflecting on how this superpower could help others.  Then each person created an individual movement that everyone in the class had to perform while saying his or her name.  It was fun hearing everyone's desired superpower and watching each student lead the group in a quick movement activity.  The students came up with amazing superpowers!  One girl wanted to be able to talk to animals, another teleported using rainbows, and yet another had the ability to grant any wish imaginable but also to take the wish away if it was used in a negatively.  Wow!

After that, we focused on the mindfulness part of our class.  I talked about how mindfulness is paying attention to what is happening right now, in the present moment.  Everyone was sitting on the floor in a circle, and I asked each child to slump over and try to take a good, deep, nourishing breath.  "Was that hard or easy?  How did that feel in your body?" I asked.  Everyone agreed that it was hard to take a deep breath when the body was in a slumped form.  Then I had everyone sit up straight and tall and try to take a breath.  Everyone thought that that was much easier and felt so much better!  "This is your mindful body," I said, "throughout the course of this class I'll ask you to find your mindful body."  We practiced taking a few deep, lovely breaths while sitting in this pose.

Next, I told the students I had a surprise for them!  Each child received his or her very own sketchbook.  We will use these throughout the course of Session 1.  During the first class they designed the front covers of their sketchbooks.  They could either draw themselves demonstrating the superpower they most wanted, or draw something that represented them.  Below I'm sharing a few of the sketchbook designs.

 

Scent Experimentation

To change things around a little bit, we started this class with MOVEMENT!  First we played a game that integrates rhythm with the movement of the body.  I led the first round of the game, and then invited the students to become the leaders.  We stamped, clapped, twirled, and bounced along with the percussion created by our movements.  Then we played one round of Pass the Pose!  Each student got to teach his or her favorite yoga pose to everyone else in class, with help from me if it was needed.

After some of the the wiggles and giggles were released through movement, I introduced the idea of mindfulness of smell.  Either choosing to lay down on their yoga mats or sit up (with eyes closed!) each student got the opportunity to smell four different scents.  If they knew what the scent was, they were asked to keep it a secret so the surprise wasn't spoiled for the students who hadn't experienced the scent yet.  It was absolutely wonderful to watch each child's face as I held the scent up to his or her nose.  Inhaling the fragrance, mouths broke into smiles and relaxation took over.  I reminded the children to think about how each different smell made them feel and to connect with their breathing during the entire experience.

After all four scents were sniffed by each child, they were exploding to reveal the mystery of every fragrance!  I shared the scents of vanilla, tea tree oil, orange, and rosemary.  Everyone recognized the orange fragrance, and a few children knew vanilla; one child named rosemary, and no one recognized the tea tree oil.  What a fun experience!

During the art part of our class, each student continued working with their photograph and the picture of the animal they chose for this session.  Some children added detail with pencil while others were ready to infuse color into their artworks.  Here are some of the works in progress!

Mindfulness of Sound

Artwork from a Kindergarten artist

Have you ever been curious which animals on our planet have the best hearing?  During our last Mind Move Make class, this is one of the things we talked about!  I was incredibly shocked to learn that the animal with the best hearing in the entire world is (drum roll please) The Greater Wax Moth (there is a picture of the moth at the very end of this post)!  The Greater Wax Moth can hear 150 times more than humans can.  If you want to know the other 9 animals with the best hearing, check this out!

We've been imagining what it would be like to become an animal, and learning about compassion for other creatures along the way.  Over the next few classes we will explore our five senses and contemplate how other animals in our world experience their surroundings.  Today we practiced minfulness of sound.  I asked the students to pretend their hearing was ultra sensitive, like one of the animals we learned about with incredible hearing.  Then we focused on the sounds that existed around us.  Afterwards, we discussed all the different things we heard and the students shared which animal they were pretending to be during our mindfulness practice.

Then, during the first part of our movement work the students became the animal they've been working with over the past few weeks.  They could move around the room in a way they thought the animal might move.  It was fun watching them get into character, and interesting seeing them move their bodies in such different ways depending on the animal they chose!  After that we focused on a more traditional yoga practice, working with poses that the students are already familiar with.

After that it was time to continue our animal paintings during the art portion of the class!  I passed back the picture of the animal each child chose for a visual reference, and the students added color to their drawings and backgrounds.  Here are some of the colorful pieces of art the children created:

The Greater Wax Moth

Learning About Compassion

During our last class, each student chose an animal to focus on for the course of our nine weeks together.  Last week I briefly introduced them to the idea of Native American Spirit Animals.  Some Native Americans believe that animals can help us through difficult times in our lives, and act as teachers in many ways.  Each student chose an animal he or she really likes to learn more about for this session.

Before the students entered the classroom I had a picture of the animal he or she chose with his or her name on the picture.  Each animal picture was placed on a yoga mat.  I asked the students to sit on the mat with the picture of the animal he or she chose.  Then they spent time with the picture looking at every detail using the powers of observation.  During this session it is each child's responsibility to take good care of the animal picture that is theirs, as if it were a pet.

During our mindfulness activity, the children imagined what it would feel like to become the animal they chose.  I asked many questions as they were following their breath:

Do you have fur, feathers, or scales?        

How do you get from one place to another? 

Do you fly, run, walk, swim, crawl?

What do your feet feel like?  Do you have flippers, hooves, claws, paws?

It was wonderful hearing the students share their thoughts and feelings about using their imaginations to become their chosen animal!

After that we had a conversation about compassion.  When I asked, no one was able to tell me what the word compassion meant, but they were all very curious.  I explained compassion by having each child imagine that their best friend fell off the monkey bars on the playground and got hurt.  The friend was crying and had scraped both knees badly.  "How would you feel toward that friend?" I asked.  Everyone agreed they would feel sad and want to help their friend.  "That is the feeling of compassion," I said.  Compassion combines caring for another living thing and not wanting harm to come to that thing.  

Then the students got to move all around the room pretending to be the animal they had chosen!  That is how we began our movement practice.  We also found many other yoga poses.  At the end of our movement work I let the students self-practice their favorite poses!  

During the art part of our class, the students painted a drawing!  They used a thin paintbrush and black paint to draw the image of the animal they will be working with.  Many of the students were very proud of their animal drawing when they were finished.  

Animals and the Imagination

When I was brainstorming ideas for this session I was dreaming of Spring's arrival.  Visions of our dreary grey skies changing into bright sun-infused blue and dormant trees suddenly bursting with delicate light-green buds filled my head.  The idea of transformations returned to my mind again and again.  Then I thought of my 3-year-old and how he is constantly using his imagination to "become" other things: animals, pilots, astronauts, monsters, The Rat King from The Nutcracker.  

My mind centered on developing a Mind Move Make session devoted to children's imaginary transformations.  If you have a child of your own, how many times has he or she decided to become a cat for the afternoon, or perhaps a horse?  During this Mind Move Make session we will focus on pretending we are different types of animals.  What it would be like to have hooves instead of feet or fur instead of skin?  What would it feel like to flutter above a flower like a butterfly?  Or to be able to see at night like an owl?  Each child will choose one animal to focus on during this session, but through our group interactions we will look at many different kinds of animals.

I believe that through these imaginings, children can develop a sense of empathy for other creatures, with the right guidance from a teacher or an adult.  Our Central Idea for this session is:

Our imaginations can help us connect to other living things.   

During our first class I posed the question,  "If you could become any animal, what would it be?".  Then I had the students choose one partner with whom to share his or her ideas about this.  By the end of the conversation, each child had chosen the animal on which he or she wanted to focus.

For our mindfulness practice we worked on connecting to the breath, as we do during every class.  I also asked the children to picture the animal he or she had chosen.  I asked them to think about the habitat the animal would live in also.  Then we returned again to purely concentrating on our breathing.  After our mindfulness activity was finished, I asked the children to share what they imagined.

Then we transitioned to our movement practice.  I talked about how animals are very aware of how their bodies are moving at all times.  As humans, we sometimes forget we even have bodies when we are deep in thought.  We stood in a circle and I asked the students to follow my movements.  At first I moved in a slow, graceful way.  Then I changed my movements to very fast.  All the while I reminded them to continuously notice their bodies and how they felt during the slow and fast movements.  Then I let each student lead us, moving alternatively fast and slow.  There were lots of giggles, and we had fun with the movements!  Afterward, I asked how their bodies felt different moving slowly or fast.  Several students said their limbs and bodies felt heavy during the slow movements, and lighter during the fast movements.  They did a wonderful job truly noticing their bodies!

During the art part of our class, each student received a sketchbook.  On the front cover of the sketchbook the students drew the animal they will focus on for this session.  Here are a few of the students' drawings!

Last Class for Session 2

One student transformed his coral reef sculpture into a bracelet!

It always surprises me how quickly each session of Mind Move Make passes by!  During our final class for Session 2 I asked the students to reflect on their favorite things from our time together.  There was a diverse array of responses!  To my great surprise, two students said their favorite thing about our class was the pose Savasana.  Savasana is the "do nothing" resting pose that we take at the end of each yoga-influenced movement practice.  With seven active, excited children aged 6-9 years, at the beginning of our class it was a challenge to get everyone to practice Savasana at all!  Over the past several months I've noticed more quiet, peaceful moments during Savasana.  The resting pose is considered THE MOST IMPORTANT in a yoga practice.  I'm pretty excited that several of the children are recognizing that their bodies and minds need time to relax, rejuvenate, and just "do nothing".  Several other students mentioned the art part of our class as a favorite.  One child said she loved the movement-based games we played, especially when the students worked in groups to create different forms of water.

During our previous class I let the students choose which movement practice they wanted to engage in for our final class.  The majority of the children picked the game Musical Mats, which is similar to Musical Chairs accept no one is ever "out".  Students became different types of sea creatures as they moved from mat to mat waiting for the signal that it was time to stop.  When I said the word "ocean", the students paused on whichever mat was closest to them and I asked them to take a yoga pose.  Then, when I said the word "swim" they became ocean creatures again and "swam" from mat to mat as jellyfish, mermaids, sharks, and seahorses!  Any student who wanted to select their favorite pose got to teach it to the class during the game.  It was a fun end to our movement practice!

After that, we began to build a sculptural coral reef using the metallic fish we created during our last class.  Students used cardboard, colorful paper, and pipe cleaners to create the sculptural coral reef environment.  It would've been wonderful to have one extra day on these sculptures, but some of the students said they would take them home and add more elements into their reefs.  Many of the children were very happy with their sculptures as they were and went home to show them off to family members!

 
    

Pass the Pose

One of my favorite parts of teaching Mind Move Make is feeling the sense of connection and community that is created between the children in the class.  At the beginning of this class, I asked the children how they were doing and if anyone had something he or she wanted to share.  The twins in my class talked about how they were going to visit their grandparents.  Another girl was excited to share that she was going out to dinner with her family.  I was surprised when one girl raised her hand and said that her grandmother died.  She talked about it for a little while and shared how she was feeling.  Everyone showed respect and consideration for her.  This student was slightly shy when our class began, so I was honored that she felt comfortable enough to tell us about her grandmother.

After practicing our two minutes of mindful breathing, we warmed up our bodies by finding child's pose and practicing cat-cow.  Then we imagined our bodies were the ocean's waves rolling in and out from the shore.  After finding a little bit of movement, we played a game called Pass the Pose!  Going around in a circle, each child got to share and teach his or her favorite yoga pose.  Most of the students have been in Mind Move Make for two sessions, so many of them know a lot of the poses and they definitely have favorites!  It was fun going around and learning about the poses the students like the best.  I helped when they needed assistance with teaching the pose, but for the most part everyone truly flourished when teaching the poses themselves!  They liked the game so much we played two rounds.

Then I shared a book called Coral Reefs by author and illustrator Jason Chin.  While looking at the pictures, I had the students work together to tell the story!  The illustrations are gorgeous and show a girl finding a book about the coral reef at the library.  As she is reading the book, the entire library slowly transforms into an underwater world, and the sea creatures she reads about become real.

After being inspired by Jason Chin's exciting book, the students had the chance to complete their own coral reef artworks!  Some students continued cutting out and adding coral while others were busy making more sea creatures to their creations.  Below are many of the student's artworks!