Movement Mindfulness For Healthy Kids Classrooms Leah Kalish

Movement & Mindfulness For Healthy Kids & Classrooms Leah Kalish, MA & Wendy Piret move-with-me. com 6

Objectives • Experience the vital importance of play/movement/ embodied self-regulation for decreasing stress and increasing fitness, emotional stability, and learning readiness. • Learn 4 Adventure Skills that can be used daily to support well-being and build self-regulation. • Be inspired to drink more water and make sure children do, too. • Understand how to transform a storybook into a Story in Motion to both enjoy more active play and develop 7 social-emotional intelligence.

Pre-Activity / Post-Activity • Turn head to left. – Notice how it feels. – Notice range of peripheral vision. • Turn head to right. – Notice sensation and vision. • Fold from hips into forward bend – Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM • Snap Test – Notice ease or difficulty. 8

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* Named to Engage Kids 2 -7 years old • Adventure Skill # 1 • Adventure Skill # 2 • Adventure Skill # 3 • Adventure Skill # 4 *Ordered to coincide with PACE from the Brain Gym® Program 10

A B C D E F G l r t r l r t H I J M N l l r t O P l K L l r r Q R S T U t r l t r r V W X Y Z l t t l r 11

Post-Activity • Turn head to left. – Notice how it feels. – Notice range of peripheral vision. • Turn head to right. – Notice sensation and vision. • Fold from hips into forward bend – Notice sensation and range of motion, touch your fingers lightly on your knees or shins to mark ROM • Snap Test – Notice ease or difficulty. 12

You Shifted Your State of Mind Why? How? • When you play more, you stress less • When you stress less, you have greater access • When you have greater access, you learn from and understand more of the world around you Mindfulness is increasingly recognized as an essential educational tool. It develops attention, emotional and cognitive understanding, bodily awareness and coordination, as well as interpersonal awareness and skills. Because it diminishes stress, anxiety, and hostility, mindfulness enhances our total well-being, peacefulness, confidence, and joy. -Thich Nhat Hahn 13

Decrease Stress • Stressors limit access to EF: o Dehydration o Poor nutrition o Environmental toxicity or over-stimulation o Inability to self-soothe or regulate o Developmentally inappropriate activities / expectations o PARENT / TEACHER STRESS 14

Activities that Access Executive Function • Embodied Self-Care and Regulation • Music, Play, & Games • Slow Intentional Coordinated Movement: Brain Gym®, Yoga, Karate, Thai Chi, Dance • Movement Stories *When movement time is high energy, always use a slow intentional activity before transitioning to academics. 15

Head Start/Common Core Early Learning Framework • • • Physical Development & Health (PDH) Social & Emotional Development (SED) Approaches to Learning (At. L) Logic and Reasoning (LR) Language Development (LD) Literacy Knowledge & Skills (LKS) Mathematics Knowledge & Skills (MKS) Science Knowledge & Skills (SKS) Creative Arts Expression (CAE) Social Studies Knowledge and Skills (SSKS) English Language Development (ELD) 16

The Power of Hydration Purpose: To reinforce the principle that water is the most easily accessed and frequently needed Adventure Skill. To demonstrate that water is a powerful conductor of electricity and that the human body, consisting of between 60%-75% water, needs to remain well-hydrated in order to deliver its millions of electrochemical messages. Materials: Dehydrated green plant, energy ball*, cup of water Standards Addressed: At. L, LR, LD, SKS, PDH 17

Adventure Skill #1 Drink Water Drink water regularly to sustain feeling well, thinking clearly and being friendly. Enhances: • Electro-chemical activity in Central Nervous System • Processing speed • Stress release 18

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Adventure Skill #2 Humming Breath* Rub spots under collarbone with thumb and one finger while holding other hand over navel and tracking eyes horizontally. Deep breath and HUMMMMMMM to calm and focus. *Brain Buttons in Brain Gym® Stimulates: • Flow of oxygen to the brain • Hemispheric integration • Binocular vision - eye teaming • Reticular Activating System –filter sensory info 20

Humming Breath Chant One hand on my belly, I let it rest, I bring the other hand up to my chest, I find a pair of buttons beneath the shelf And Huuuuuummmmmm To calm myself. I move my eyes slowly From the left to the right, Heart calm, mind clear Body strong, eyes bright! Humming Breath Video http: //vimeo. com/68339890 21

Adventure Skill #3 Monkey Wisdom* March in place, alternately touching hands to opposite knees to energize body and wake up brain. Enhances: • Crossing the visual/auditory/ kinesthetic/tactile midlines • Hemispheric integration • Binocular vision • Binaural hearing • Left right coordination • Stability in the walking gait *Cross Crawl in Brain Gym® 22

Monkey Wisdom Chant I am healthy I play every day I drink lots of water I don’t float away I rest when I’m tired I breathe when I’m mad I eat fruits & veggies Monkey Wisdom Video ‘Cause they are rad http: //vimeo. com/68339892 Red, orange, yellow, green At every meal and in between! 23

Adventure Skill #4 Deep Down Wisdom* 1. Cross your ankles and wrists. Clasp hands and rest them at your sternum. 2. Breathe and think of something or someone you love. Supports: • Emotional centering • Grounding • Respiration • Self-control and boundaries *Hook ups in Brain Gym® 24

Deep Down Wisdom Video http: //vimeo. com/68339891 25

Story in Motion Purpose: To inspire early literacy, movement, creativity, and a love of learning. To integrate selfcare/self-regulation skills with characters from the story. Reading supports a wide range of positive outcomes, from phonological awareness to social emotional learning and self-awareness. Materials: The recommended lesson book or a book of your choice Standards: PDH, SED, ATL, LD, LKS, CAE, SSKS, ELD Procedure: Read each book at least twice in the course of the week 26

When Sofie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry • • • Integrate movement with social-emotional learning. Read one page at a time and invite a re-enactment. Acknowledge and encourage creative movement. Follow up with reflection & discussion: Empower Me! Practice/Reinforce use of adventure or any other mind-body tools that empower kids to experience shifting their “state” through-out the day. 27

Story in Motion Options • Make up your own story – tell as you demo movement • Choose storybook – Kids act out the story as you read – Read a section, then invite creative movement: • Can you be a worm, mouse, cat? How do you move? • If you were a turtle/beetle, stuck on your back, show what would you do to get unstuck? • How does _______ move when happy? Angry? Sad? Scared? – Choreograph poses and movements first • Integrate with social-emotional learning /SR Tools • Choose yoga cards/poses – let kids create a story – Yoga Pretzel/Planet Decks – Yoga Kit for Kids (Imaginazium)

Books for Stories in Motion • • • • Any Book by Eric Carle The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman My Daddy is a Pretzel by Baron Baptiste Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak My Friends by Taro Gomi Cool Down & Work Through Anger by Cheri J. Meiners Whistle for Willie By Ezra Jack Keats Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young Here’s Bojangles –Think of That! by Leo & Diane Dillon Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback 29

Sample Empower Me! Questions • • What was the problem in our story today? How did Sophie feel? What emotion? What did she do to express that emotion? What did she do to comfort & shift herself? Have you ever felt really, really angry? How did you express yourself? Other options? How did you comfort & shift yourself? What tools have we learned that might help you next time you are angry? 30

Self-Care Review Drink Water every 20 -30 min throughout the day Humming Breath – to calm and focus at circle time, after outside time, before or after transitions Monkey Wisdom – to energize as well as prepare for gross and fine motor skill activities and reading Deep Down Wisdom – to ground and center when upset, angry, frightened *Ordered to coincide with PACE from the Brain Gym® Program 31

More Movement Games Nature Kids – embody & express various aspects of nature found in weather such as rain, wind, storms, snow, sun, rainbows – as a way to move, play, energize, and integrate body and mind. Be a Rainbow – embody the colors and qualities of a rainbow in order to connect with “coherence” = feeling balanced, alert, clear, kind, caring, open, and creative. (“Incoherence”= stressed, out of sorts, angry, sad, shut down, scattered, tired, etc. ) 32

Rainbow Poem Red – I’m powerful Orange – I’m joyful Yellow – I know I can Green – I’m caring Blue – I tell the truth Indigo – I’m smart Violet – Understanding and loving of …. All my parts! Rainbow Body Video https: //vimeo. com/33815681 How to make an origami rainbow http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=fz. F 8 jqik 8 FE 33

Research Highlights • Decrease off-task behavior in preschool age children (Dr. Jennifer Dustow, Autism Project, 2009) • Improve creative problem solving, language skills, and memory (Gwen Dewar, Ph. D. , The Cognitive Benefits of Play: Effects on the Learning Brain, 2008) • Increases attention span and ability to ignore distractions and concentrate effectively • Enhances behavioral regulation, metacognition, and overall global executive function (Flook, Smalley, Kitil, Galla, Kaiser. Greenland, Locke, Ishijima, Kasari, 2010, Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005) 34

• Unifies and integrates mind/body experience (Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 2009) • Organizes whole-brain function for optimal learning (Dennison and Hannaford, 1999) • Improves executive functions (Science 2011) • Concentrates BDNF in the hippocampus, enhances long term memory retention (Ratey, 2008) 35

• Over-rides the body’s physiological response to stress • Stimulates the release of BDNF, which grows the brain (Ratey, 2008) • Improves the cognitive control of attention • Enhances academic performance (Hillman, CH, Pontifex, MB, Raine, LB, Castelli, DM, Hall, EE, Kramer, AF, 2009) • Focus attention and engage participant in an empathic response, creating a significant physiological effect on the body and on behavioral choices. (Paul Zak, 2013) • Activate episodic memory and light up the whole brain for learning (Dr. John Medina, Brain Rules, 2010) 36

Bibliography Paul Dennison, Ph. D. & Gail Dennison. Brain Gym® 101: Balance for Daily Life, Brain Gym® and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. Ventura, CA: Edu-Kinesthetics, Inc, 2007. Paul Dennison, Ph. D. & Gail Dennison. Teacher’s Edition Revised. Ventura, CA: Edu. Kinesthetics, Inc, 2010 www. braingym. com Healy, Jane. The Growing Mind. http: //education. jhu. edu/newhorizons/future/creating_the_future/crfut_healy. cfm Goldberg, Elkhonon. The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2001. Hannaford, Carla. The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand & Foot Can Improve Your Learning. Salt Lake City, Utah: Great River Books, 1997, Pearce, Joseph C. Evolution’s End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992. http: //ttfuture. org/jcp/front Sally Goddard Blythe - http: //www. sallygoddardblythe. co. uk/index. php Dr. John Medina - http: //www. brainrules. net/ 37