Why teach this lesson?

Discussing the mind orients students to the concepts of being mindful and being mindless.

Learning Objectives

• Students will be introduced to the concept of mindfulness.
• Students will become familiar with the concept of pausing.
• Students will see and try Practice Position.

Time

20 min

Materials

N/A

Activities

pausing, practicing, breathing

TEACH

Inquire (5 min)

Today we're going to start learning a new way to use our minds. Point to the part of your body where your mind is. 

Students will likely point to their heads. Demonstrate if there is any confusion.

Who can tell me what our minds do for us?

Call on 1-3 students.

Our minds are the parts of us that experience thoughts and emotions. Our minds constantly gather information from our brains about what is happening inside and outside of our bodies. When we are having thoughts or feelings about school, our friends, our families, or anything else, we are using our minds. Raise your hand if you'd like to share a thought or feeling that is on your mind a lot.

Call on 1-3 students.

Great. Thumbs up if you have heard the word mindful or mindless.

Pause.

Raise your hand if you would like to share what you have heard about them or what you think they might mean.

Call on 1-3 students if they raise their hands. Integrate their responses into a clarification like the following.

Being mindful is the opposite of being mindless. When we are mindless, we are not aware of what we are thinking or feeling. When we are mindful, we choose to be aware of what we are thinking and feeling. We are intentionally aware.
 

Experience (5 min)

Our first mindfulness activity will focus on movement. We will spend a few minutes moving our bodies with breathing and stretching. Let's all stand up and start with stretching.

Make sure everyone is standing with a little bit of space around them.

Demonstrate and participate in the stretching.

Let's reach our arms out to the sides of our bodies, then slowly lift them up above our heads.

Pause.

Let's clasp our hands together and reach up to the sky. Let's stand on our toes and be as tall as we can be.

Pause.

Now let's see if we can reach our hands down to the ground and touch our shoes.

Reflect (5 min)

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Share (5 min)

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Going to start Me Time