Closing
This section defines the key concepts covered in this chapter. These are the central themes upon which the activities are based.
♦ MAINTAINING A HABIT
Because mindfulness is shown to improve focus, grades and emotional regulation while also decreasing test anxiety and stress, incorporating it into each day can help students maintain the benefits of their year-long mindfulness practice. Without formal class or curriculum, the routine of practicing mindfulness can be forgotten over the summer. Behavior change is difficult, but it is possible when the motivation comes from within. Reminding students why they have practiced and offering opportunities for review and reflection help further develop this internal drive, leaving students empowered with their new skills.
This section offers direction as to where the program is headed in this first chapter and some notes about things to look for in your students as you answer the reflection questions at the end of Chapter 5.
1. Are students using these practices?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from doing so?
2. Do students know why they have practiced all year?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from knowing this?
3. Do you think students have developed a strong enough connection to these practices that they will continue to use them?
A. If yes, which categories are they most likely to return to??
– Centering
– Breathing
– Moving
– Practicing
– Reading
– Exploring
– Other
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from doing this?
4. Please use this space to provide any additional information you would like us to know.
Click here to complete the Chapter 5 Teacher Reflection Questions form.
The questions on the Teacher Reflection form are listed below so you can keep them in the back of your mind as you progress through the chapter.
1. Do students have a beginning understanding of what mindfulness is?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from understanding what mindfulness is?
2. Do students have an awareness of what resilience means?
A. If yes, please share a time when you’ve noticed your students being resilient.
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from understanding what resilience is?
3. Do the students notice a mind-body connection?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from understanding how their mind and body are connected?
4. Do students know what it means to practice?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from understanding the meaning of practice?
5. Can students find an anchor?
A. If yes, where do you see them using their anchor?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from being able to find an anchor?
6. Do students understand that they can practice at school and in daily life?
A. If yes, how have you seen this demonstrated by your students?
B. If no, what was missing or prevented them from understanding this?
7. Is there anything additional you would like to share with us?
Centering
These activities are designed to help you and your students can quickly and easily find your center. They can help during transitions between activities, tasks or lessons, and before testing. They can also be used at home with families. Over time, these activities will become comforting and most familiar for students.
Tone Bar
Key Concepts/Goals: Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: None
Similar to the tone bar recordings in previous chapters, keep using this activity for centering or re-centering your classroom.
Glitter Jar
Key Concepts/Goals: Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: None
This video is similar to the video used in the previous chapters; however, there is one significant change. See if you and your students notice anything different about the glitter jar in this video.
You can also share this link with students so they can have a glitter jar recording over the summer.
MAKE YOUR OWN ANCHOR
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Image
Prerequisite: None
This Google Slides activity is intended to be uploaded to the Google Classroom using the “make a copy for each student” setting. Once each student has their own file, they can open it and follow the instructions on the first page to create their own anchor of images, representing the various ways they might feel throughout a day or week (using icons from previous anchors or their own choice of clip art).
Breathing
Breath work is a critical component in regulating the nervous system and is always available to us when needed. There are many ways to incorporate breathing when teaching social and emotional skills that, according to CASEL: help us understand and manage our emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
KEEP BREATHING!
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: Transitions: Start Here!
Reviewing the activities in the Breathing sections in chapters 1-4 will remind students of all the ways they can use their breath as a strategy for reducing stress, managing emotions, taking a pause, calming down and regulating their nervous system. The instructions on the corresponding “Scavenger Hunt Worksheet: Breathing” in the Enriching section support their review with space for reflection on each of the activities. Be sure they keep this sheet handy, as it will help them fill in their “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” at the end of the year.
The questions on the worksheet are listed here for your reference. You can use them to engage with your students about their review process.
– Which breathing practices are calming? Which are energizing?
– Which ones feel most nourishing or comfortable to you right now?
– Which are your top 3 that you will use for your Summer Mindfulness Challenge?
Moving
Dedicated opportunities to move the body can provide a brain break as well as a felt sense of increasing or decreasing energy. Plus, sometimes it just feels good to stretch!
KEEP MOVING!
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: “Transitions: Start Here”
Reviewing the activities in the Moving sections in chapters 1-4 will remind students of all the ways they can stretch to increase or decrease their energy. The instructions on the corresponding “Scavenger Hunt Worksheet: Moving” in the Enriching section support their review with space for reflection on each of the activities. Be sure they keep this sheet handy, as it will help them fill in their “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” at the end of the year.
The questions on the worksheet are listed here for your reference. You can use them to engage with your students about their review process.
– Which moving practices are calming? Which are energizing?
– Which ones feel most nourishing or comfortable to you right now?
– Which are your top 3 that you will use for your Summer Mindfulness Challenge?
Practicing
5-MINUTE AWARENESS PRACTICE
Key Concepts/Goals: Internalize Practice
Format: Audio
Prerequisite: None
This audio practice builds on the awareness practices from previous chapters. Having worked up to five minutes, this activity invites students to be fully present and fully aware.
HEARTFULNESS: PART 4
Key Concepts/Goals: Internalize Practice
Format: Audio
Prerequisite: None
In this final heartfulness practice, Miss Amber invites students to return to their safe heart space and to feel, with curiosity, what’s inside. It is a longer practice with more frequent periods of silence for students to really engage with the practice.
KEEP PRACTICING!
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: Transitions: Start Here!
Reviewing the activities in the Practicing sections in chapters 1-4 will remind students of all the ways they can engage in a more traditional mindfulness practice beyond this class. The instructions on the corresponding “Scavenger Hunt Worksheet: Practicing” in the Enriching section support their review with space for reflection on each of the activities. Be sure to keep this sheet handy as it will help them fill in their “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” at the end of the year.
These are the instructions on the worksheet:
You have tried many types of traditional mindfulness practices this year and probably prefer some over others. This is your opportunity to go back and try each one listed below to remind yourself how it feels. If the practice is one you want to remember and use for your Summer Mindfulness Challenge, circle its name and add a few notes in the column on the right to help refresh your memory when you try it again.
Reading
SILENCE IN THE AGE OF NOISE #5
Key Concepts/Goals: Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: None
In this final passage from Erling Kagge’s book on silence, the author reflects on his mostly autopilot days. When he attempts to sit and do nothing, the chaos in his mind comes loudly to the forefront. He goes on to state that we live in this “age of noise” and that silence is almost extinct.
Exploring
TRANSITIONS: START HERE!
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: None
Though students are facing a big transition in going from the school year to summer break, they often don’t realize that they are in transition all day, every day. Whether going from sitting to standing, from math class to science or from inside to outside, we typically consider the endpoint without recognizing the in-between. Miss Nicole invites students to consider their transitions, large or small, as opportunities to insert a moment of mindfulness.
HOW WILL YOU KEEP PRACTICING?
Key Concepts/Goals: Maintaining a Habit, Solidify Practice Routines, Internalize Practice
Format: Video
Prerequisite: Transitions: Start Here!, Keep Breathing!, Keep Moving!, Keep Practicing!
This is a brief introduction to help get students started on making their personalized plan for continuing practice over the summer and beyond. They will need their completed Breathing, Moving and Practicing Scavenger Hunt worksheets from the Enriching section to help them fill in the “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet.”
Please Note: There is one question about driving. If students do not drive yet and ask you about that particular question, you can let them know it’s the same as biking or walking or taking a bus somewhere.
Enriching
Sometimes we offer videos outside our curriculum lessons, or images or coloring pages that help illustrate a concept. The videos are all linked from this section. Images or coloring pages can be easily downloaded for saving and/or printing.
In Chapter 1, we have included three videos and three images that reinforce/support the curriculum content.
Worksheets
SCAVENGER HUNT WORKSHEET: BREATHING
Prerequisite: Keep Breathing!
This worksheet is designed for students to track their progress through the review of Breathing activities in chapters 1-4.
- Click here to download the PDF version of the worksheet that is best used with pen and paper.
- Click here to open a digital version of the worksheet in Google Docs that you can post to your Google Classroom and “make a copy for each student.
Alternatively, students could recreate the table in a notebook. Ultimately, this sheet will help them complete the “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” to close out the year.
SCAVENGER HUNT: MOVING
Prerequisite: Keep Moving!
This worksheet is designed for students to track their progress through the review of Moving activities in chapters 1-4.
- Click here to download the PDF version of the worksheet that is best used with pen and paper.
- Click here to open a digital version of the worksheet in Google Docs that you can post to your Google Classroom and “make a copy for each student.
Alternatively, students could recreate the table in a notebook. Ultimately, this sheet will help them complete the “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” to close out the year.
SCAVENGER HUNT: PRACTICING
Prerequisite: Keep Practicing!
This worksheet is designed for students to track their progress through the review of Practicing activities in chapters 1-4.
- Click here to download the PDF version of the worksheet that is best used with pen and paper.
- Click here to open a digital version of the worksheet in Google Docs that you can post to your Google Classroom and “make a copy for each student.
Alternatively, students could recreate the table in a notebook. Ultimately, this sheet will help them complete the “Summer Mindfulness Challenge Worksheet” to close out the year.
MORE MAZES & DOT-TO-DOTS
This file contains some new mazes and dot-to-dot pages. This mindful practice was first introduced in Chapter 4.
DOODLING ALPHABET
This file contains block letters that the students can use as a final doodling project. They could doodle inside the first letter of their name or use multiple letters to form a word. The possibilities are endless!
MORE MINDFUL COLORING
Coloring has been shown to increase focus and reduce stress. We offer this coloring page as an opportunity for your students to continue to experiment with mindful coloring. The end of the school year can be stressful for many students, so providing some calm and familiar practices can be extremely beneficial.
IF I HAD A STICKER COLORING PAGE
If students completed these journal prompts in chapters 1-4, this coloring page is where they will put those words or phrases. Students can design and decorate the sticker images on the laptop cover however they choose, as a way to personalize and remember the specific things they wrote in the “If I Had A Sticker…” journal prompts. If the students did not complete the journal prompts, they can still complete this page. Simply have them identify five words or phrases they would like to remember from this program and write those in the “sticker.”
SUMMER MINDFULNESS CHALLENGE
Students can fill out this worksheet using their responses from the Breathing, Moving, and Practicing Scavenger Hunt worksheets. Creating this intentional and personalized plan for summertime practice will help students internalize the work they did throughout the year.
Enriching
These activities are best done in person. We describe them for you to lead with your students if and when you are all together during the upcoming school year.
YEAR-END REVIEW
We invite you to take this opportunity to remind students of all the activities they have practiced throughout the year. Engage your students in a conversation about what they have learned in this class and what tools and/or strategies they will carry with them into the summer and beyond. This will help further support continued practice.
COUNTING GAME
This game is most successful when students practice and work together — two important components of review at the end of the year.
The objective is to count to xx (the number of people in the circle or on the computer screen). What makes it tricky is that there’s no set order, each person can only say one number, and only one person can speak at the same time!
Instructions: Gather the group in a circle in the classroom, or ask everyone to turn their cameras on if playing online. Take three big breaths together, and then start by saying, “1.” The next person will say, “2” and so on until two people talk at the same time, then the group starts over at “1.” See how high you can count.
N: Ask students these noticing questions:
– What was it like to wait their turn, especially when they didn’t don’t know when their turn would be?
– How is this game helpful?
– Why do they think this game was played?
9 DOTS
This challenging puzzle is a great opportunity for students to notice their tendencies and to implement the tools they’ve learned throughout the year. It will likely require being comfortable with the discomfort, persevering through a challenge and considering other perspectives.
Ask students to make a grid of 9 dots on a piece of paper — three across and three down, as shown on the right.
The challenge is for them to connect all nine dots without lifting their pencil, without retracing their line and making only four lines.
Here’s a hint: lines can cross.
DOODLING ALPHABET
If your students really connected to the Mindful Doodling activities, offer them these block letters to continue their doodling practice. They can just do their initials or all the letters of their name. Making a collage of them all together can be symbolic of their group, and is often something the students appreciate having.
STUDENT SURVEY
Key Concepts/Goals: Internalize Practice
Format: Form
Prerequisite: None
This link goes to the post-program survey, the same combination of two nationally validated scales (Perceived Stress Scale and Mindful Awareness and Attention Scale) that students took at the beginning of the year. Responses are used to compare the pre- and post-ResilientKids intervention statistics. No student-specific information is stored, recorded or shared. Any data that is collected is confidentially shared in aggregate with schools.
STUDENT PROGRAM EVALUATION
Key Concepts/Goals: Internalize Practice
Format: Form
Prerequisite: None
At the end of the year, after students have completed the survey and reflection activities, please ask them to submit the form found through the link at the bottom of the Student Site in the dark blue footer. Some responses are short-answer and some are checkboxes. The questions on the form are listed here for your reference:
- What is the main thing you learned from Resilient Kids (Mindfulness)?
- Has mindfulness helped you at school?
- Has mindfulness helped you outside of school?
- What is your favorite mindfulness strategy?
- Did you use the mindfulness website in school? Outside of school?
If yes, how often? How did it help you?
If no, why not? - What did you like about live classes?
- What would you change about live classes in the future?
- Tell us about your experience with the review sheets.
- Please use this box to provide any additional information you would like us to know.
TEACHER PROGRAM EVALUATION
Once you have completed this chapter’s activities, please complete the Chapter 5 Reflection Questions as you have for the previous four chapters. In addition, there is a Program Evaluation as well.