Mindfulness Newsletter
January 2018--#mindfulAISD
In This Month's Newsletter...
- New Mindful AISD Videos
- Mindfulness Room Starter Kits
- 5 Types of Awareness Activities
- HCP Spring Mindfulness Courses--Now Available!
- Social & Emotional Learning Newsletter
- Mindful Happenings in AISD
Reminder: For more regular mindfulness updates, please follow me on Twitter, @mrbutler629. I post regularly, providing tips and highlighting mindfulness happening across the district. Also, feel free to use #mindfulAISD when posting about mindfulness.
New Mindful AISD Videos
Below are videos recorded around the city with brief guided mindfulness sessions. These practices are beneficial for all ages.
Body Scan: Focusing on parts of our body can help us focus and relax (5 min.)
Highlight Reel: Focusing on personal accomplishments/proud moments can help boost self-esteem (3 min.)
Counting Down: Focusing on our breath can be tricky sometimes, but counting with the breath can help (4 min.)
All of these videos can also be found on the #mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist. Remember, you can also add these to your GoNoodle account and use mindfulness to help your champ grow stronger.
Mindfulness Room Starter Kits
- Bluetooth speaker
- Mini Hoberman sphere
- Growing Mindful deck of mindfulness cards
- Oil diffuser
- Calming Lavender oil
If your school is interested in acquiring one of the kits, please fill out this application.
5 Types of Awareness Activities
- Surroundings--5 4 3 2 1, Loving Kindness
- Body--Tension Release, Slow Down, Chest Opener, Crossing the Mid-Line, Body Scan
- Breath--Fingertip Breathing, Square Breathing, Roller Coaster, Wrist to Shoulder, Counting Down
- Feelings--Happy Memory, Loving Kindness
- Thoughts--Highlight Reel
Below are details for HCP Mindfulness Courses this Spring. All the Fall courses filled up pretty quickly, so sign up as soon as you can if you're interested. SEL will pay for teacher subs.
Social & Emotional Learning: Goals
Mindfulness in Austin ISD
Lanier Girls Basketball
Walnut Creek Refugee Students
Rodriguez 5th Grade Leaders
Belly Breaths at Cunningham
Mindfulness Advisory at Small Middle School
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide
#mindfulAISD archives
December 2017 Newsletter (Videos, Research Supporting Mindfulness, Picture Books)
November 2017 Newsletter (Free Retreats, Class Dojo, Teens, Mindful AISD in the News)
October 2017 Newsletter (Videos, Meditation Bar Gift, Mindfulness Challenge)
September 2017 Newsletter (Mindfulness Videos)
August 2017 Newsletter (Starting mindfulness from Day 1)
2016-2017 Newsletters (One link to access all newsletters from last school year.)
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.
Elementary Videos Explaining Mindfulness
Secondary 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."