Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Healthier Happier Kids Classrooms
Healthier Happier Kids Classrooms
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* Named to Engage Kids 2-7 years old
• Adventure Skill # 1
• Adventure Skill # 2
• Adventure Skill # 3
• Adventure Skill # 4
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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.
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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
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Activities that
Access Executive Function
• Embodied Self-Care and Regulation
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
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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 15
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
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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®
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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!
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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
*Hook ups in Brain Gym®
• Self-control and boundaries
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Deep Down Wisdom Video
http://vimeo.com/68339891
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Story in Motion
Purpose: To inspire early literacy, movement,
creativity, and a love of learning. To integrate self-
care/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.
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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 24
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?
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Self-Care Review
Drink Water every 20-30 min throughout the day
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• Over-rides the body’s physiological response to stress
•Activate episodic memory and light up the whole brain for learning
(Dr. John Medina, Brain Rules, 2010)
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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
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
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