Mindfulness Newsletter
Sept. 2018 Edition from Mindful Classrooms
Mindfulness Resources Featured in This Newsletter...
- For Families
- Books of the Month
- Technology
- Athletics
- Mindful Happenings
The italicized points above will be recurring themes in each mindfulness newsletter. Resources will be provided that directly relate to those themes. Please feel free to email me suggestions for what to include in future newsletters.
Reminder: For more regular mindfulness updates, please follow me on Twitter, @mindfulclassrms. I post regularly, providing tips and highlighting mindfulness happening across the district.
Mindfulness for Families
Check out this Heart Mind Online article that has some easy to implement mindfulness activities at home. The article mentions young children, but I think most of the activities are appropriate for all ages. Feel free to share this article with your families, or even share this whole newsletter. The more the merrier!
As a reminder, you can always find family resources on bit.ly/mindfulfams.
Mindfulness Books of the Month
Elementary
Amazon review: "We have a kiddo who needs help paying attention to his body and his physical needs. He really enjoyed the book and seemed amazed by all the different things he could sense and feel just sitting and reading it. Definitely something we'll reread many times."
Secondary
The Mindful Teen: Powerful Skills to Help You Handle Stress One Moment at a Time by Dzung X. Vo
Amazon review: "We are using this amazing book with my 9th-12th grade students this upcoming year! I love the way the information is organized and presented. I had several of my students look it over late spring of last year. They liked it so much, that I actually had more students sign up for my classes this year because of it. The author is a complete delight as well. He offered to skype with my classes as we progress through the chapters. They are going to be thrilled. Can't wait for the school year to begin! It is going to be great."
Mindful Technology
This article is about teens, but very applicable for elementary students.
Tips From Teens on Reducing Screen Time
This blog entry from "Screenagers" filmmaker Dr. Delaney Ruston has some great tips about reducing screen time. Why are these tips great? Because they come from teens themselves. Listening to our youth is incredibly powerful. You can sign up for this weekly blog using the link below.
Mindfulness & Athletics
Athletics will be featured every month because it's a great way to get buy-in from students who might need a little extra motivation for why mindfulness is important. Sports can be a great motivating factor for a lot of students.
The Best Mental Game of Baseball
A video from ESPN about Evan Longoria, baseball player for the San Francisco Giants, and his mental approach to the game. Mindfulness is a great mental strength training practice that is utilized throughout all levels of athletics.
Mindful Happenings
Email me or tag me in your tweets with so I can highlight your work in future newsletters.
Morning Check-Ins
1st Grade Mindfulness Leaders
Austin ISD Superintendent Dr. Cruz Visits Mindfulness Room
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide
Those of you who are using Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide, I recommend following along with your school calendar as it's broken down by week from 1-36.
#mindfulAISD archives
Below is a peek into the mindfulness newsletters for Austin ISD. I'll soon compile newsletters for Carrcroft and more.
Mindfulness Newsletter Archives (One link to access all newsletters from 16-17 & 17-18)
Letter to Families
Here's a letter about mindfulness you can share with families. It provides a brief description of mindfulness and a message from Dr. Cruz supporting mindfulness in schools.
The letter is available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari & Burmese.
Inner Explorer
Videos Explaining Mindfulness
#mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist
Calm--FREE for educators!
FREE Calm.com Lifetime Subscription for Teachers (PreK-12)
Multilingual Mindfulness
Want mindfulness activities in Spanish, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Burmese, Swahili & Kinyarwanda? We've got them for you!
Zen Den YouTube Playlist
The "Zen Den" YouTube playlist offers 18 videos, ranging from 4-8 minutes in length.
Mind Yeti: Connecting Mindfulness w/ Explicit SEL Lessons
Mindyeti.com is a great resource that connects mindfulness with Second Step lessons, and it's FREE!
GoNoodle
GoNoodle is for the body and the mind.
Here is a link to a document that lists all the GoNoodle Mindfulness videos sorted by channel and with the length of each video.
De-Escalation Strategies Poster
This poster can be an addition to your classroom, Peace Area, hallways, Mindfulness Room, etc.
Mindful Life Project
Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish--Great for Secondary.
They also have a free app titled "Mindful Life Project."
Stop, Breathe & Think
Contact
Teacher, Author, Founder
Mindful Classrooms
Email: james@mindfulclassrooms.com
Website: mindfulclassrooms.com
Facebook: facebook.com/mindfulclassrooms
Twitter: @mindfulclassrms