Nurturing Mindfulness

Today I'm excited because my post on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) SMART goals went live at Free Spirit this morning. Click the image below to go there and check it out.

This assignment really challenged me because I haven't actually thought too much about goal-setting for our SEL piece. In fact, I kind of wanted them to tell me what goal to use. They didn't have a specific goal in mind, so after cooking on it for a while and then finally writing my reflections, I decided to write some SEL goals, for real. You can see why I'm so grateful for this opportunity to write for them.

Click {here} for a template from teacher Paul Solarz, author of Learn Like A Pirate, and his students to help make those SMART goals even SMAARTER.

Today we're home from school because of a wintry ice storm. Tomorrow school will be closed, too, so I'm taking advantage of the gift of time and doing some meditative coloring. We'll be completing this one on Friday when I meet with the Pearland ISD counselors to lead a Motivation & Mindfulness Learning Session.

This beauty comes from Barb over at Grade Onederful Designs.

It's part of a 12-page Valentine Mandalas coloring book that I know my students are going to love. I predict yours will, too.

The Mandalas with the animals in the middle are especially adorable and will totally complement this precious new Mindfulness title:

Travel with these three friends as they learn the art of

sitting, listening, relaxing, breathing, and being.

Take a body scan, use some calming strategies, and

tap into the senses to breathe, listen, see, and feel.

Check it out on YouTube.

Couple it with some Mindful Breathing at Stop, Breathe, Think.

Practice Mindful Movement with JusTme.

Then, grab some gel pens, markers, colored pencils or crayons and do some meditative coloring of your own.

Meditate With Me addresses mindfulness and brings it to life in a simply powerful way for our younger learners, so I've added it to my recommended list of Mindfulness resources.