Teaching and learning mindfully in the primary classroom

BACK TO SCHOOL

Going back to school this year is, as we know, full of uncertainties, but we can help children feel safe and happy with a little bit of mindfulness. Mindfulness can help children, but also teachers, regain their routines and attention after a long time without ‘real’ school. The article will give teachers hints and suggestions, along with a lot of useful links and ideas, to start a new school year in the best, mindful way!

di Donatella Fitzgerald

Introduction

For many teachers and children going back to school after the summer holidays this year may be full of uncertainties. They may find a new timetable, new routines, in some cases smaller classes than usual, new classmates, a different teacher, a new classroom or even be attending school in a different building. Their classrooms may look different from before with new desks and chairs and also wider spaces between desks. Some students may be experiencing a variety of emotions in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, such as anxiety, stress or low mood or – in some cases – over-excitement. Some students may need more time to adapt to the new school routine and others may be ready to return to school as normal. Teachers are looking for ways to support the rebuilding of friendships and social engagements and support their students with approaches and strategies to improving their physical and mental wellbeing.
Many teachers are easing the transition from the summer holidays to school routines by using techniques which help students bring their attention to the present and also help students feel less anxious and accept the new reality of their school and these changes to their daily routine. Mindfulness can help.

What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non -judgmentally,”
Jon Kabat-Zinn

What skills can mindfulness bring me as a teacher?

In the Pocket Guide to Mindfulness, Pearson 2019, teacher and Mindfulness expert at No More Shoulds, Amy Malloy, says ‘Mindfulness can help with paying attention, Focus and Concentration, Observation without judgement, acceptance and self-compassion, stress management and performance and productivity’.

How can mindfulness help young learners?

Research shows that regular mindfulness practice can help young learners’ emotional wellbeing, improve concentration, help positive sleep habits, enhance students’ ability to manage emotions and reduce psychological distress and give them strategies for staying calm in stressful or worrying situations. It can help children engage their attention so they are more aware of what is happening around them, and so they learn better and develop mindful habits which could help them on their journey through life.
https://www.smilingmind.com.au/mindfulness-in-education

Fundamentals of Mindfulness

The first step to introducing mindfulness approaches in your classroom as a teacher is to begin to practice mindfulness yourself. It is widely accepted that ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’. As teachers, it is important to take care of yourself first, and practising mindfulness every day is one way to help.

So where can you start? There are many ways to do this. The publication Mindfulness: a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world by Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman, Piatkus 2011 can be a good place to begin.

Pearson Academy also offers a 20-hour Fundamentals of Mindfulness introductory course for adults in English or in Italian by Pearson Mindfulness Lead Ashley Lodge on the fundamentals of mindfulness. The aim of this online four-week course is to provide you with an understanding of what mindfulness is and how it works and to introduce 10-15 minutes of daily mindfulness practice. The course themes cover

1 Coming off automatic pilot
2 Coming back to the body
3 Moving away from striving
4 Relating to thoughts differently

The course trains you to introduce formal practice into your daily life and also informal practice into your day, for example being mindful, paying attention, not being on auto pilot, mindful walking, mindful eating.

For more information about the Pearson Academy Fundamentals to Mindfulness course by Ashley Lodge

Helping children to express their worries

So how can we help our children at the beginning of the school year? In her Guide Mindfulness activities to help children cope with stress in the Pearson Primary Academy Resources, Amy Malloy says ‘many children may lack the language to express what they are feeling or even to recognize it’. In the guide you can find practical ideas and suggestions to use with children to help them express their worries, mindfully and with support, like the one that follows.

Breath activity: worry bubbles

1 Sit together and invite your child to put their palms together.
2 Invite them to take a big breath in. As they breathe in, they can draw their palms further apart, spreading their fingers as they imagine blowing up a big bubble between their hands.
3 Invite them to whisper a worry in the bubble.
4 Invite them to blow the breath out nice and slowly. As they breathe out, they can imagine blowing the bubble (and the worry) away with a big sigh.
5 Twinkle the fingers back down to the lap, and start again, either with the same worry or a new one.

To access the Pearson Primary Academy free resources and Amy Malloy’s Guide to Mindfulness activities to help children cope with stress

Introducing breathing activities into the classroom

A tutti sarà capitato di trovarsi ad affrontare un momento di stress particolarmente intenso, un momento di rabbia o, nel caso di un bambino, un momento di pianto disperato – indipendente dalla causa – impossibile da frenare. E a tutti sarà capitato di sentirsi dire (o di dire ad altri) ‘fai un bel respiro’.
Giulia Abbiati – ‘Breathing Boards’ in Go Kids Teacher’s Book, Pearson 2020

Breathing boards’ are an effective way to introduce the idea of focusing your attention on the breath and using your breath as an anchor. This can help students to find calm in a stressful situation. Breathing boards are tools which add an element of fun to mindful breathing and are visual and tactile. Students follow the shape of the breathing board as they breathe in and as they breath out. You can use the triangle breathing board or the star shaped breathing board. Student breath in counting up to three and trace the shape with their pointer finger, then hold counting up to three, then breath out counting up to three. They let their breath guide their movement around the shape.

You can download more examples of breathing boards on www.kidscando.it and examples of pin wheels, which can be a great tool to help students focus on their breath.

In her guide Mindfulness Activities to help children cope with stress – available in the Pearson Primary Academy Resources – Amy Malloy offers ideas to introduce Breathing activities in the primary classroom: ‘by helping children to focus on their breathing, we can teach them that even if things feel wobbly around them, their breath is always there. The act of focusing on the breath also helps settle the fight or flight branch of their nervous system into a calmer, more balanced state’.
Here's another example of breathing activities taken from Mindfulness Activities to help children cope with stress by Amy Malloy.

Breath activity: counting breaths

1 Invite your child to sit with you.
2 Invite them to place their hands on their tummy and breathe in slowly so they push in their hands, counting slowly up to four.
3 As they breathe out, invite them to count up to six, as they slowly empty the belly and their hands lower back down.
4 Continue until they feel calmer. You can do this every morning or evening to help sustain balance. With younger children they might like a teddy on their tummy to push up and down!
Amy Malloy, Pearson Primary Academy 2020 – these activities first appeared in the article Pearson English Blog 15 April 2020

Guided breathing activities with audio recordings to use in class

Simple meditation activities can help young learners practise bringing a gentle, accepting attitude to the present moment and to develop compassion, focus, curiosity and empathy. On the Pearson Experiences website you can find some meditation listening activities recorded by Amy Malloy to use in the primary classroom with instructions on how to use them. Remember it is important that students have the right posture and are sitting upright with their back straight and with their feet on the floor so they can feel the floor beneath their feet.
The audio recordings are:

  • Listen to the body Scan
  • Listen to counting your breaths
  • Listen to acceptance and meditation
  • Listen to thoughts meditation
  • Listen to sounds meditation

To download the recordings >>

Helping students to notice and raise attention or concentration levels

If you would like to try some activities for mindful moments with your students, you can use the Mindful Moment Cards by Amy Malloy. These are a set of cut-out printables to keep with you in class as on-the-go prompts for the mindfulness exercises. The Mindful Moment Cards include observation without judgment, concentration, acceptance and curiosity.

For example, getting students to notice and be more mindful about what is around them and then reflect on what they have found. Here’s one of the activities that you can try with your children.

Breath activity: counting breaths

1 Invite your child to sit with you.
2 Invite them to place their hands on their tummy and breathe in slowly so they push in their hands, counting slowly up to four.
3 As they breathe out, invite them to count up to six, as they slowly empty the belly and their hands lower back down.
4 Continue until they feel calmer. You can do this every morning or evening to help sustain balance. With younger children they might like a teddy on their tummy to push up and down!
Amy Malloy, Pearson Primary Academy 2020 – these activities first appeared in the article Pearson English Blog 15 April 2020

Guided breathing activities with audio recordings to use in class

Simple meditation activities can help young learners practise bringing a gentle, accepting attitude to the present moment and to develop compassion, focus, curiosity and empathy. On the Pearson Experiences website you can find some meditation listening activities recorded by Amy Malloy to use in the primary classroom with instructions on how to use them. Remember it is important that students have the right posture and are sitting upright with their back straight and with their feet on the floor so they can feel the floor beneath their feet.

The audio recordings are:

• Listen to the body Scan
• Listen to counting your breaths
• Listen to acceptance and meditation
• Listen to thoughts meditation
• Listen to sounds meditation

To download the recordings >>

Helping students to notice and raise attention or concentration levels

If you would like to try some activities for mindful moments with your students, you can use the Mindful Moment Cards by Amy Malloy. These are a set of cut-out printables to keep with you in class as on-the-go prompts for the mindfulness exercises. The Mindful Moment Cards include observation without judgment, concentration, acceptance and curiosity.

For example, getting students to notice and be more mindful about what is around them and then reflect on what they have found. Here’s one of the activities that you can try with your children.

Curiosity: I have never seen this before

Look around the classroom and choose an object that looks interesting.

Look at the object. Imagine you’ve never seen it before. Is it interesting? What colour is it? Does the colour change in the light? Close your eyes or look at the ceiling. Feel the object. What does it feel like in your hands? Shake the object. What does it sound like when it moves? Look at the object again. Can you see anything different? Put the object away. Think about how you feel now. What did you learn?

This activity could also be done in Didattica a Distanza by children at home finding an object in their house.
The Mindful Moment Cards by Amy Malloy can be downloaded here >> 

Storytelling

Storytelling is an effective way to introduce students to strategies to pay attention, focus and listen carefully and be more mindful. Through the story experience you can make children more aware of what is around them. Reading and listening to stories more mindfully and not being distracted, thinking about posture and the way they are sitting, thinking about the story itself, listening carefully and if their mind wanders not worrying but coming back to listen to the story again, helping the children to stop and draw their attention on things or aspects of the story so they are less distracted.

Go Kids, Pearson 2020 has Story Strip posters for each year which can be used to help tell stories.

Festivities

Practicing Gratitude and Random Acts of Kindness

Il sentirsi accettati genera un senso di sicurezza e la sicurezza è un bisogno essenziale per muoversi con libertà nell’ambiente… Pensare che l’altro è sempre e comunque portatore di valore aiuta a costruire cornici ermeneutiche capaci di rispetto dell’essere dell’altro.
L. Mortari, la ricerca dei bambini in Coltivare il benessere a Scuola: Laura Papetti - Guida dell’Insegnante Go Kids, Pearson 2020

Thanksgiving and Christmas Time can be a way of introducing the idea of ‘practising gratitude’ and Random Acts of Kindness. Telling the students the story of the Pilgrim fathers or Dickens’ Christmas Carol can be ways of introducing the themes of kindness and gratitude. These are effective ways to help children feel happier and be more satisfied with their lives. One way to practise gratitude is to start ourselves as teachers to think of things we are grateful for, say them to ourselves and then write them down. Gratitude, just like mindfulness, is something we need to practise. And the more we practise the more spontaneously grateful we may become. Gratitude as a keystone habit can help children in times of difficulty and to overcome hurt and disappointment. Ask the children to think of one thing they are thankful for or grateful for. You can also ask the children to look around the classroom and find something there they probably take for granted. You can help the children by telling them about things you are grateful for. This activity can be done in Italian and then the children can think of vocabulary in English.

Keep a gratitude Jar at home
Ask the children to get a jar or a box and write ‘I AM THANKFUL FOR…’ on it. Every day they can write on a piece of paper something they are thankful for. Help the children in class with ideas. Encourage children to look around the classroom and write down or think about things they are thankful for. Older children can also create a thankful diary where at the end of the day they write down things they are thankful for in Italian and find some words in English. E.g. my lunch, my friends, my family. My toys… My teacher! You can keep a gratitude jar and show them what you have written on cards in it

Other activities related to the same theme can be:
Ask children to write down what they are thankful for on a piece of paper and then hold it up and call it out loud all together.

Make a thank you card for someone in their family.
Write a letter in English to a family member.
Just say thank you.

A Gratitude mini book
Create a Gratitude mini book. Ask the children to make a mini book with 8 pages (see diagram below). On the cover write My Gratitude Book by______
On each page write or draw something they are thankful for
I am thankful for …
You make one too and show it to the children!

Random Acts of Kindness
Research shows that happiness, compassion and kindness are the products of skills that can be learned and enhanced through training, thanks to the neuroplasticity of our brains. Happiness can help us perform better. We can also introduce the idea of Acts of Kindness and training children to show unexpected kindness to their classmates or other people they know. We can find time to introduce the idea of Random Acts of Kindness and how this can help students cultivate relationships with their classmates.

Ask the children to think of something they have done to help someone or to think of something they can do to help someone.
Pay someone a compliment.
Ask if they can help at home or help someone in the class that needs help.
Smile!

You can download more ideas and posters from:

Citizenship and well-being
United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goal N.3 is Good Health and Well-being.

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. Well-being is essential for learning. With mindfulness, studies have shown that students are more focused and more engaged learners (smilingmind.com.au).

We can use the opportunity in the primary classroom citizenship lessons to introduce the ideas of well-being, respect and kindness.

Practising mindfulness can help us as teachers and our children learn to focus, manage stress, regulate emotions, and develop a positive outlook.

Jon Kabat Zin says: ‘You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf

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Donatella Fitzgerald is an ELT Sales Manager in Pearson, a teacher, teacher trainer and trained to teach paws b, .breathe and .b - Mindfulness in Schools project. Her specialist interest areas are CLIL, Young Learners, Mindfulness, Debate, Assessment, SEN and Extensive Reading.

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