Mindful Arts in the Classroom: Stories and Creative Activities for Social and Emotional Learning

by Andrew Jordan Nance

Overview

Written especially for the teacher or camp director who wants to bring mindfulness, social and emotional learning (SEL), and the arts into their busy day through storytelling and fun games, this book offers a complete course that helps kids identify and talk about their feelings, self-regulate and self-soothe when stressed, and learn from easy mindfulness practices.

Educator and theater director Andrew Nance is the author of the popular children's book Puppy Mind, which brought a new dimension of cuteness to the practice of mindfulness in the form of a rambunctious, playful puppy. In this book, Nance brings the puppy and a host of other friendly characters into the classroom to animate a 21-lesson curriculum centered around lively stories and easy-to-lead exercises for young students from kindergarten to third grade. Nance offers a teacher's guide to arts-based mindfulness exercises utilizing story-telling, theater games, and drawing to spark students' self-expression, self-awareness, and social and emotional well-being.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781946764133
Publisher:	Parallax Press
Publication date:	08/14/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Jordan Nance has been an educator for more than twenty-five years. He is the founder of Mindful Arts San Francisco, whose mission is to provide volunteer mindful educators to teach at underserved San Francisco schools. Nance is also an award-winning actor and director. For almost thirty years he taught performing arts to students from diverse backgrounds, and for eighteen years he was the Conservatory Director at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center. He is on the board of directors of several educational nonprofit organizations including the Mindful Life Project in Richmond, California; San Francisco's New Conservatory Theater Center; and Arts Ed Matters, a California-based arts-integration organization. Andrew Jordan Nance lives in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Preface 3

Introduction: The Mindful Classroom 9

Lesson 1 Introductions and Breathing 23

Getting to Know Your Students and Teaching Them How to Breathe Mindfully

Levels 2 My Puppy Mind 35

How to Train the Mind to Heel to the Present Moment

Lesson 3 Mindful Poem and Puppy Mind Game 45

Two Ways to Focus the Mind and Body to Stay in the Present Moment

Lesson 4 What Is Your Superpower? 53

How to Develop Our Five Senses of Sound, Sight, Smell, Touch, and Taste

Lesson 5 Just Stop and Breathe 63

How We Can Notice Our Feelings, Then Peacefully Proceed

Lesson 6 The Lion in Me 73

How to Name and Tame Anger, Our Inner Beast

Lesson 7 Finding the Pleasant in the Present 83

Noticing the Beauty Right in Front of You

Lesson 8 Bunny Flips His Lid 91

How to Drop Out of Flight, Fight, or Freeze

Lesson 9 The Wise Man and the Two Wolves 101

The Care and Feeding of Kindness

Lesson 10 What Size Is Kindness? 109

The Cultivation of Kindness and Heartfulness

Lesson 11 Mindful Midterm 119

A Review of All We Have Learned So Far

Lesson 12 Fearing the Wind 125

A Folktale that Teaches Compassion for Our Past and Present

Lesson 13 The Great Silver Deer King 135

A Folktale that Teaches Compassion, Courage, and Forgiveness

Lesson 14 Alli-Gator, the Investigator 145

How to Dial Up Our Curiosity to Explore Everything!

Lesson 15 Rainbow Walk (or Ride) and Scientists on Safari 151

Practice of Mindful Seeing I

Lesson 16 Nervous Nessie 159

Noticing Shyness and the Practice of Mindful Speech

Lesson 17 My Butterfly Belly 169

How to Keep Calm When Cocooning in Your Room Is Not an Option

Lesson 18 Mindful Museum 179

Mindful Movement

Lesson 19 Mindful Eating 187

Slowing Down to Notice the Pleasures of Eating

Lesson 20 Emotional Musical Chairs 193

Empathy Practices for Yourself and Others

Lesson 21 Now You See It, Now You Don't 201

Mindful Seeing II

Lesson 22 Mindful Moments Review and Mindfulness Award Ceremony 209

Appendix A Mindful Extras 217

Appendix B Mindful Breathing Options 235

Appendix C A Meditation for Difficult Times for Students and Teachers 242

Appendix D Guidelines for Additional Facilitator(s) in the Classroom 244

Appendix E Mindfulness Lesson Roster/Activity Log 246

Appendix F Materials for Additional Activities and Resources 248

Resources 260

Acknowledgments 261

About the Author 262

Editorial Reviews

A treasury of creative advice, games, practices, stories, and scripts from one of my favorite and fun mindfulness teachers working today. I don’t know whether you’ll have more fun teaching or the kids will have more fun practicing!”
—Chris Willard, PsyD, author of Growing Up Mindful and Raising Resilience

“As an elementary school principal, I’ve noticed how many students struggle to simply take a deep breath. There is nothing more important than recognizing and being able to name how we are feeling, and the stories in this book teach students this art.
"Through the humor and joy of storytelling, students learn to name their feelings and notice their surroundings.  Our teachers love it as much as our students and we continue to see kids more in tune with their feelings and better able to self-regulate.”
—Jeremy Hilinski, principal of Bret Harte Elementary, Bayview District, San Francisco

“Using games, poetry, body movement, and other learning portals, Nance offers ways to engage young learners in practices designed to teach them to become aware of their emotional state in order to make good choices about how to respond to the world around them. With step-by-step instructions for teachers, he provides a scientific basis for introducing young students to mindful practices.”
—Michele Lilyanna, author of Awakening Joy for Kids

“Andrew’s inspired and engaging curriculum helps make mindfulness concepts and practices accessible for children.… This experiential, kid-friendly approach is sure to help plant the seeds of the beneficial life skills of mindfulness.”
—Christina Costelo, program manager at Mindful Schools

 “This curriculum teaches skills that will save children’s lives.”
—Stacey Gonzalez, transitional kindergarten classroom teacher, San Francisco

“Andrew is one of the key leaders in bringing mindfulness to students in innovative, creative, and engaging ways. He displays his pioneering spirit once again in this phenomenal book.”
—from the foreword by J. G. Larochette, founder and executive director of the Mindful Life Project, Richmond, California

From the Publisher