A Calmer Classroom in 2020: Here’s the Prize that Will Help

The Monkey Mind Meditation Deck provides mindfulness activities to help students chill out, tune in, open up, and learn more. And you could win it!

To enter our random drawing, post a comment to this blog to let us know which of these cards from the deck you anticipate would get the most use in your classroom:

  • Rushing River: Students focus on moving forward and not getting stuck.
  • Golden Sun: Students practice letting the sun shine through from behind the clouds.
  • Brave Butterfly: Students find the courage to try something new.

Submit your comment by Thursday, January 16, 2020, to be included in our drawing. One lucky teacher will win! Congratulations to our lucky winner Toni!

Here are some other ideas for starting 2020 on a positive note:

 

Plan to participate in The Great Kindness Challenge, set for January 27–31. Register your school and download free tools at thegreatkindnesschallenge.com

 

Let’s make 2020 the year of the good digital citizen. Download new grades K–12 lessons from Common Sense Media that include activities, slides, and videos on media balance, cyberbullying, digital footprints, online privacy, and more. It’s all at commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship.

 

Cleaning up? Changing grades? Give your old LEGO bricks a new home with the free LEGO Replay program (and let families know about it too!). Find out more and get a free shipping label at lego.com/en-us/campaigns/replay. Bricks will be cleaned and donated to Teach for America or Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston.

 

Here’s to a kinder, cleaner, calmer, safer, and very happy 2020!

Karen

PS: The new prizes are posted at LearningMagazine.com. Take a peek.


77 thoughts on “A Calmer Classroom in 2020: Here’s the Prize that Will Help

  1. Golden Sun: Students practice letting the sun shine through from behind the clouds.

    I like the sound of this activity. It sounds cheerful and energetic. I would like to try meditation in my classroom.

  2. Brave Butterfly because we’ve been talking about being brave enough to try new things or have a growth mindset that says, “I can’t…yet.”

  3. Brave Butterfly – I’m trying to build confidence and independence – I have to remind my kiddos daily they know this, they can do this…..sometimes they are so afraid to try.

  4. Brave Butterfly: Students find the courage to try something new.
    I have a few students that won’t try. They just say I can’t.

  5. Golden Sun, for sure. I think it is the most versatile of the three as well, and can be used in many situations.

  6. Rushing River; a chance to start the new year with the goal of moving forward, having the courage to try something new and if it doesn’t work out to retry or move on.

  7. Golden Sun would be good in our preschool class. I’m in there on Wednesday’s and we have several kids who have a lot of anger and we have been trying a few breathing techniques but I would love some other ways to help them and in the process it could help us as teachers too.

  8. I think my students would benefit from all 3 but especially the brave butterfly card. Learning to step out and bravely try new things and experiences.

  9. Golden sun would probably get the most use because I have a lot of moody students who need to work on the practice of letting go (of their anger, attitude, etc). Happy new year! ????

  10. Rushing River will be instrumental. We are working on efficacy training and how setting goals makes you work to achieve the goals through working on for each subject matter.

  11. Definitely Brave Butterfly! My students all have significant communication and social skills deficits as a result of ASD so it takes a lot of courage to try new things!

  12. “Brave Butterfly” ties in nicely with “The Power of Yet.” As I grow stronger in my healing journey from cancer, my students know that we all have to be “Brave Butterflies” and move forward each day with the biggest smile we can muster. They may not be able to do something yet, but they must not stop trying.

  13. Rushing River. Often, students get so worked up about one question they don’t understand, but need to let go and move on. They can always come back to it later.

  14. I have been trying to get my students to practice mindfulness but many are reluctant. I model it and know others are trying. I think these activities might be the tool to get more to get involved. Fun because I talk about the monkey mind and let them know that I too need to get out of my head and feel the calm. Calm the monkey mind!

  15. Rushing River: One of my favorite thoughts to share with students is “We can all learn something new every day.” This keeps us moving forward and growing.

  16. A goal for our class is to empower children to help themselves! Provide them with tools to use and the skills to recognize when to use them! Mindfulness benefits ALL in our class. It would be great to have more resources to use and share.

  17. They all sound great! Rushing river sounds the best! It is so important to know that each day is new. We have another chance to figure things out and keep moving forward. Don’t let anything hold you back!

  18. I think a combination of the Brave Butterfly and Rushing River would help a majority of my students. They seem to get stuck in areas such as reaching because they are afraid to move forward and fear pushing through. They are unable to see what moving ahead may look like in their situation.

  19. Rushing river. My current class has some relationship issues. They need to put things that have happened in the past and move forward.

  20. Golden Sun: it is important for my first grade students to learn techniques to process with a “glass half full” mindset. Many have experienced trauma and resilience takes practice. Learning to be positive will help calm individuals as well as the class.

  21. Brave Butterfly without a doubt! Several of my littles (kdg.) are dealing with social and emotional challenges stemming from brain development that is 2-3 years behind their peers. They struggle with moving forward and not making “big deals out of little deals”. Trying new things is a challenge for them as well, because they are stuck on what “could” happen or what “did happen before”. This would be great to use with them!

  22. Rushing River! I have too many students who focus on what they think they can’t do and are afraid to take the plunge and try something new

  23. I teach second grade and The Monkey Mind sounds perfect and fun
    to introduce my class to things we can practice when we are off task or
    a bit wild!

  24. The brave butterfly. We seem to have a lot of children who aren’t wanting to try new things. We encourage but this might help to give them more courage.

  25. I would practice Golden Sun with students who get down on themselves when they make mistakes. We already talk a lot about “everyone makes mistakes” but it would be a good way to refocus!

  26. Would love to use all the mindfulness activities of The Monkey Mind in my classroom to help the children try to achieve new horizons with the confidence of thinking “if I try I can”!!
    Thank you.

  27. I think “Rushing River” would be best for my 5th graders to focus on as we make the most of our second semester which prepares them for middle school. I want them to keep moving toward their goals.

  28. Rushing River: Students focus on moving forward and not getting stuck.

    I think my students would love this one!

  29. The rushing river would be a great activity for my class. Some children have difficulties transitioning from activity to the next. These could make the transition smoothier for a child that want to continue play. Love it

  30. Rushing River would probably be the one most used in my classroom. I have several students that tend to get stuck and have trouble moving forward and getting past the rut. They just stop and clam up because they don’t know how to move ahead when they are uncertain of where to go or how to get there. They need to be reminded that moving forward toward the unknown can open your eyes and give you that “aha” you’ve been searching for.

  31. The monkey mind would benefit my class the most. They have had several different teachers in the last year and the class as a whole exhibits nervous anxious behaviour.

  32. Golden Sun! Just attended two sessions on trauma and mindfulness in the classroom and this looks like a great resource to use. Thanks!

  33. I think all three would fit best with my group this year and go well with the mindfulness practices and yoga we have been trying. If I had to choose one it would be Rushing River. They seem to not want to move on from past mistakes, and keep saying how math is hard.

  34. Rushing River is a terrific one for my students because they often don’t see how to move on if they get “stuck” with something. Rushing River gives them the tool to push forward and once they have had success with it it becomes automatic or routine in their thinking.

  35. Brave Butterfly! Seems my little caterpillars need a bit of blossoming this year for some reason and they need any amount of encouragement they can get to be brave little butterflies.

  36. Rushing River: Our students need help overcoming obstacles when they get stuck rather than just giving up.

    Our school is starting a new program called Growth Mindset Monday’s to encourage our students to develop a growth mindset and these cards would be a great addition to our curriculum!

  37. Rushing River ~ Our students need supports to help them move on when they are stuck, and often, it is an emotional roadblock. These mindful activities and supports would certainly be a big help in our classroom in teaching the children ways to get through and overcome roadblocks! Thank you for offering them!

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