Missoula Community School

Taking Care of Your Anger

  January 31^st Mindful Friday lesson was all about how to make safe choices and sit with your anger.  We read the story Ahn’s Anger, by Gail Silver and discussed what we could do when we felt this big and sometimes scary emotion.  In the story, Ahn is asked to “sit with his anger” in his bedroom by his grandfather after Ahn acts unkindly.  In his bedroom Ahn meets his anger personified as a scary, red monster.  His anger tries to persuade Ahn to go back downstairs and make unsafe choices, but Ahn suggests they stay upstairs—remembering his grandfather’s words.  Upstairs they dance, make howling noises, pound the floor, and spin wide circles together.  When they feel exhausted they sit together and take big, slow breaths.  Ahn notices that his anger begins to get smaller and less scary as they breathe together.  By the time grandfather goes upstairs to check on Ahn, his anger has disappeared altogether.  Feeling calm, Ahn apologizes to his grandfather and gives him a big hug.

  After the story we practiced how to take care of anger!  I brought out two balloons with angry faces drawn on them representing my anger.  The first balloon I did nothing to acknowledge or take care of my anger.  I blew it bigger, and bigger until it popped!  We all agreed that sometimes when our anger gets out of control and we “blow up” (hit, kick, yell in anger) it can feel scary!  The second balloon I filled with air and then took some big breaths with the balloon, letting a little bit of air out of the balloon with each breath until the balloon was small again.  That felt safe taking care of our anger, and not scary at all!

  I gave the kids their own “little anger” and we practiced a short sitting meditation holding our angers very still, and taking big breaths.  The red poof ball anger was a gift to the children this mindfulness lesson as a reminder that they can take space and big calming breaths with their anger whenever needed.

Mindfulness at Home

  What are some safe choices you can make when you feel angry?  Is there a special place in your own home that you can go when you need space to sit with your anger?  Having these discussions at home with your children helps set up a plan on what they can do when their anger shows face.  To help affirm these thoughts into action you could set up a special zone for the kids to go when they feel angry, (bedroom, closet, play tent) make it fun!  Role play a situation something that makes you feel angry, and then act out the safe choices.  When you are done with the big body playful side of taking care of your anger, practice resting and taking big breaths to put your anger to rest.  You could also journal/ draw with your child what your anger might look like, and safe choices you can make to take care of your anger when it arises.  It’s okay to feel angry!  We just need to remember to make safe, kind choices when feeling that big emotion!

Yoga on the Farm

  With the chilly weather outside we’ve all been craving more big body movement!  For Mindful Friday on January 24^th we went upstairs for a special yoga day!  We read the story On the Farm, by David Elliot and incorporated a different yoga pose for each animal!  We arched our backs and crowed like roosters, wagged our tails and woofed in downward dog for the playful farm dog, twisted our bodies like a curly pigs tail, bucked and whinnied like ponies, took some restful breaths in turtle pose, and much more!  At the end of yoga we stretched out, said thank you to our bodies, and imagined the warm farm sunshine on our skin!

Mindfulness at Home

  What’s your favorite animal?  Kids love acting and pretending to be animals.  You can make up your own yoga, movement, or stretch pose to go with any kind of animal.  Let your kids make up their own yoga poses!  You might be surprised what they come up with. 🙂

Hello friends!

 Last week’s Mindful Friday fell after Halloween!  Since there are usually more tricks than treats at school the day after Halloween, we decided to keep things low key with tea!  The history of drinking tea dates back to ancient China, almost 5,000 years ago! According to legend, in 2732 B.C. Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea when leaves from a wild tree blew into his pot of boiling water. He was immediately interested in the pleasant scent of the resulting brew, and drank some. Legend says the Emperor described a warm feeling as he drank the intriguing brew, as if the liquid was investigating every part of his body.

 To nurture our curiosity, and decompress from the fast paced night before we had some mindful tea drinking time.  We started by holding our cups with two hands, and just noticing how it felt to hold our tea cups. The kids noticed it was warm on our hands.  We continued to move through our senses; smelling out tea, looking at the color and how the light reflected on the water, noticing if we could see our reflection, listening to hear if our tea made a noise, putting our faces above the cups to feel the heat on our face, noticing how the steamy air felt in our nostrils, blowing gently on the tea to feel how it changed the temperature and made ripples on the water.  We did all this and more before the tea even touched our lips!

 When our tea was cool enough to drink we started just by taking the smallest sip, and noticing how it felt on our lips and the taste that entered our mouth.  This batch of peppermint tea had a fair amount of honey in it, so the kids instantly noticed the tea’s sweetness at the tip of their tongue! They also noted that they could feel the tea on the insides of their cheeks, the roof of their mouth, and other places of the tongue.  As we swallowed we noticed the path the tea took down the back of our throats. Many of the kids said it made their throat feel warm and smooth. Others also noticed they could feel a warm, full feeling in their stomach.

 As a class we talked briefly about how drinking tea has been around as a practice for thousands of years, and how it connects us to the people of the past and our friends in the present.  We also acknowledged the work that the farmers, the bees, the tea packaging facility workers, and market put into making the tea available for me to buy at the store. We made sure to give a special thanks to all beings involved in making our tea time possible.

 A friendly bat visited our classroom to teach the kids how to do a “bat breath”.  We started with our “wings” down by our sides. Breathing in we gently raised both our hands up, breathing out we slowly flapped our wings back down again.  Just like a bat flies softly through the night, we took as many calm bat breaths as we needed. Lifting our arms up gently on the inhale, lowering them back down on the exhale.

Mindfulness at Home

Be a detective and have your own tea time at home!  See how many things you can notice about your tea in a scientific way.  All the sensory experience of tea without any of the judgement. It is also fun to try a variety of teas and see how they are different or similar!

Hello friends!

 Last week in mindfulness we talked about the importance of having “a quiet place”, and being able to go somewhere comfortable and calming when you feel overwhelmed or like you are needing some space.

 We started circle by reading the story A Quiet Place, by Douglas Wood.  In the story a boy describes when the world feels too loud he retreats to some quiet spots, and uses his imagination to take himself to calming spaces.  A bush turns into an island where he is a pirate digging for treasure, the forest he imagines himself as a gray wolf in the calm woods, the library a portal to many worlds at his fingertips with a good book, and many other magical places in his mind.  Lastly, but maybe the most important, his own bedroom an oasis for him to think his own thoughts, and feel his own feelings. At the end of the story we brainstormed all the places on our playground, our school, at parks, or in our homes that could be our quiet space. 

 After the story I offered the children some journaling time to draw where their quiet place might be.

 A friendly spider named Charlotte came out of hiding from one of her many quiet places to talk about how easy it is to find a quiet space.  In the classroom she climbed into a plant, hid behind a pumpkin, climbed up into her web, and even crawled under a kid to find a quiet place to relax.  Charlotte is a mother of many baby spiders, and she brought them to share with the children! The baby spiders were so tiny and fragile; the kids were asked to have very still bodies, and to hold them very gently.  Then everyone was invited to close their eyes, and imagine what their quiet place looked and felt like. This activity is a shortened version of a peaceful place meditation that promotes relaxation, and a sense of well-being while visiting that special, safe place in your mind.  After the meditation the kids shared what their quiet place was with their friends.

Hello friends!

 Today we went outside for mindfulness and engaged in some autumn games and exploration!  I had four mindful games set up in the front lawn that helped foster gross motor development and attention focus.  The first game was leafy hide and seek. In two baskets I had some paint swatches and it was our job to find leaves of the same color.  When we looked closely and compared the leaves to the paint swatches we realized that they were more than just one color of orange, reds, or yellows.  The leaves were a wide range of maroons, tangerine, tan, peach, crimsons, and so much more.

 A plus side to this season’s early chill in the air is frost!  The ground was covered in a beautiful, delicate frost this morning.  The kids were armed with magnifying glasses so they could get a closer look at the crystalline frost on the leaves and grass.

 Another game available for the kids was pumpkin road!  There was an assortment of pumpkins in the front lawn for the kids to carry carefully while balancing on a rope laid on the ground.  This game is a variation of a walking meditation. The challenge is to walk slowly, and carefully attempting to touch both heels and toes of your feet on the rope.

 With the abundance of apples left over from apple day we incorporated them in a mindful balancing game!  Only using a large spoon, the kids had to scoop up the apples and carry them across the lawn from one basket to another.  If you were really good with one, you could try carrying two at a time!

 We learned a new way to take a breath that helps strengthen our torso muscles and diaphragm… a hot chocolate breath!  We all pretended that we had hot chocolate with the most delicious goodies inside. The hot chocolate is too hot to drink though, so we smell our hot chocolate and then say “It’s ha-ha-ha-ha- hot!” letting out our breath in small controlled bursts with each ha.  After doing that several times we take in a big slow breath, then blow on our hot chocolate slowly to cool it off. Now it’s ready to sip!

Mindfulness at Home
 Fall walks are a wonderful way to soak in the changing of the season.  Make it a game and see how many signs of fall you can find!  Maybe you see a squirrel gathering things to munch on, or newly fallen leaves on the ground.  Even the change of our wardrobe to warmer clothes is a clue that fall is here!

Mindful Eating: The Story of the Carrot

 Last week for mindfulness we read the story The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss, and talked about how carrots start of as a tiny little seed, and then end up in our lunchboxes, dinner plates, and stomachs!  The kids all held and “planted” a tiny carrot seed and then recognized the necessary things that it needs to grow!  Water, sun, dirt, and pulling weeds around the carrots were all vital for them to grow strong and healthy. There is a lot of waiting involved, the little seeds don’t turn into carrots over night.  The sun rises and sets many days before the carrot’s green tops start to pop out of the ground.  The story doesn’t stop there though!  Once the carrots are full grown, a farmer has to harvest the carrots and send them on a truck to the grocery store or farmer’s market.  Families hungry for carrots take a trip to the store and pick out the carrots that they like best!  “Now can we eat the carrots?”  many kids asked eagerly.  Now that we knew the story of the carrot we turned on our senses to appreciate what the carrot has to offer us.  The kids described what they noticed about how the carrot looked, smelled and felt.  When it was time to eat the carrot slices we chewed them slowly, paying attention to the texture, taste, and any other sensations (where the carrot was traveling in our mouth, how the carrot crumbled in our teeth).  After all the talk of carrots a friendly rabbit hopped by to talk to the kids about bunny breaths!  Bunnies sit very still and listen intently with their long ears.  We practiced sitting still like a rabbit and listening to the sounds in our school.  When we were ready we took three energizing sniffs, and then exhaled nice and slow.

  Mindfulness at Home  Talk about your food!  Where did it come from?  You can help your child fill in the blanks of the story.  If you are eating applesauce you could discuss how the seeds in the apple could be planted to grow into a tree.  Once the tree is old enough to produce apples someone has to pick them.  The apples are picked and then sent to a factory where they are cooked and squashed into applesauce.  Then they are canned, ready to go to the store where they are bought by you!  Even better buy apples and make applesauce with your kiddos so they can see the magic happen.
  Having a hard time getting your kiddo to eat green bean or any other tricky foods?  Invite your child to be a scientist at the dinner table by noticing the attributes of your food (before you eat it!)  What color is it?  How does it smell?  What does it feel like between your fingers?  Did you know that your carrot makes a noise?!  Show your child that when you chew food and listen intently you hear the noise that it makes!  Eating food is an amazing, sensory tickling experience that we can turn into a fun family discussion!