Settle Your Sparkles

As part of our 'Mentally Healthy Schools' initiative, we have been trying to teach students different strategies for helping them when they are feeling stress, anxiety or just the need to 'calm down'.  In our class we practice these different techniques after recess in order to help us calm our bodies and minds and prepare for the next part of our day.

We shake our sparkle bottle and breathe deeply until all the sparkles in the jar have settled.  We call this our 'Five Finger Breath' because after we inhale and exhale, we turn a finger on each of our hands  under.  If we get to five and we still don't feel 'settled'...we can always take a few more deep breaths.

We listen to slow, instrumental music to help us slow our breathing and our body movements.
We project an image on the smartboard of a calming place to help us visualize something peaceful.

We have found that taking a few minutes to calm our bodies and minds makes us better prepared to attend and focus on the next part of our day.  Ask your child to show you the Five Finger Breath!  Relax....enjoy!