Mindfulness (Year 5) · 2020-03-20 · 3 Remind children that mindfulness is a way to understand how your mind reacts to things that happen and practice ways to settle your mind down

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Mindfulness (Year 5)Unit Overview

Summary

Children will practice a variety of mindfulness techniques and make links between mindfulness and their emotions withstrategies that they can use in everyday life to calm themselves. They will re-visit techniques introduced in previous units suchas mindful walking, gratitude wishes and visualisation and be introduced to some new techniques such as mindful doodlingand splitting your attention. The lessons aim to deepen mindfulness practice to enable children to shift their own attention todifferent aspects of their environment and re�ect upon and feel empowered to control and change, feelings in their ownbodies and minds.

Prior learning

If children have been following the Striver plan since the beginning, they will have had 6 sessions of mindfulness in each ofthe previous years. These focused on breathing, sounds, focus objects, breathing buddies, mindfulness jars, gratitude andpositive wishes, mindful eating and visualisation. Children may have continued some aspects of mindfulness from thesesessions. If pupils have completed the Yoga units, they will recognise some features of mindfulness within yoga practice. The�rst session recaps some of the techniques introduced last year.

Teaching Tips

Timings in the lesson are based on short sessions of 15 minutes.

You might wish to incorporate these sessions into the school day. For example, a short session after break time to calmand be ready for lessons.

For most sessions, children should sit in a chair so they can place their feet �at on the �oor. Some children might be morecomfortable in a more relaxed pose such as reclining on a bean bag but a connection between their body and the Earth isimportant.

If possible, dim the lighting though it should not be completely dark.

Carry out the session in a quiet area so that children can focus on their thoughts with minimal distraction.

Lessons incorporate the use of a chime sound. This could be from a triangle or xylophone chime with a soft, reverberatingsound.

The aim of this unit is to practice mindfulness exercises introduced in previous years and introduce new mindfulnesspractices to give children tools to help them focus attention, increase self-awareness and know how to handle anxietycausing situations..

Some children will �nd it hard to focus for a full session initially, praise those children for the time that they manage andsee whether their ability to focus and pay attention increases over time. Reassure children that it is normal to loseconcentration at some points and learning to re-focus their concentration again is a valuable skill. The sessions incorporatevariety and children might �nd some easier or more attention grabbing that others.

Pick a time when children have been active and are ready to settle down.

The lessons are written as a script with some suggested actions or activities.

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Lesson 1 - Introduction (Year 5)Lesson Overview

Learning Objectives:

To recap what Mindfulness means and reacquaint themselves with some mindful techniques.

Success Criteria:

Pupils understand the aim of practising Mindfulness.Pupils explore moving their mind focus and attention to environmental aspects and then back to themselves.

Key Vocabulary:

Mindfulness, calm, noticing, emotions.

Equipment & Resources:

See Teaching Tips section for advice.

This session is slightly longer then the rest of the mindfulness session to give time to the the initial discussion. You could doboth parts separately if preferred.



Introduction (10 minutes)

1 Ask children if they remember taking part in some mindfulness sessions inprevious years.

TEACHER NOTES

If they do, you could askwhether any of the childrencontinued some of thetechniques that they practised?

2 Can children suggest how mindfulness is a useful thing to learn to do?You could create a mind-map on the board if you wish with relevantmindfulness words.

TEACHER NOTES

You might need to give someprompts:

Emotional control.Learning your own mindAbility to change yourfocus.Attention.Relaxation.Getting you ready to learn.

3 Remind children that mindfulness is a way to understand how your mindreacts to things that happen and practice ways to settle your mind down.It includes exercises to help you develop your concentration, be aware ofyourself and calm yourself.

4 Introduce the idea of a red zone and a green zone. What does it feel like to bein the red zone?Can children suggest physical and mental indications that a person is in thered zone?

TEACHER NOTES

For example:Physical: Tense, muscles aretight, jaw is clenched, bodylooks ready to run or �ght(�ght or �ight mode), lack ofeye contact, fast heartbeat.Mental: stressed,overwhelmed, angry, upset,withdrawn.

5 Can children suggest physical and mental indications that a person is in thegreen zone?



6 How can a person use mindfulness to move from the red zone to the greenzone?

TEACHER NOTES

See whether children canidentify that mindfulness givesyou a chance to pause, calm,re�ect, use your breath. Spenda moment to notice where youare and distract yourself fromdestructive thoughts.You might want to givechildren reminders of the typesof activities that they havedone in past mindfulnesssessions such as breathing,bubble blowing, moving theirattention to differentenvironmental aspects such assounds and smells, mindfulwalks, visualisation, mind jarsand sending good wishes.



Main (7 minutes)

1 Can they remember what position they sat in when doing mindfulness sitting?Can they get ready for mindfulness now?

TEACHER NOTES

See the next step for theguidance that children weregiven last year.

2 Find a comfortable sitting position in a chair with your feet �at on the�oor*.Shut your eyes if you are comfortable to do so.Some children will feel more focused if they shut their eyes, others will notfeel comfortable doing this. If they do not feel comfortable with eyes shut,they should gaze gently towards the ground, not at other people.Rest your hands gently on your legs.Focus your awareness on the feeling of your feet touching the �oor, thestrong Earth is supporting you.Try to straighten your back but don’t strain upright. Imagine a stringcoming out of the top of your head with a �oating balloon attached to it.The balloon is stretching you gently upright.Relax your shoulders. Bring them up towards your ears then roll themback to relax the muscles.Focus on your mouth and your tongue. You tongue should be lyingrelaxed in your mouth, not pushing anywhere. You mouth should not feeltight and tense, think about how you have your mouth when you aregoing to sleep; relaxed and not clenched tightly shut.

VARIATION

*As noted in the teacher'snotes, make adaptions forchildren who cannot sit still inan upright position butencourage contact betweenthe feet and the ground ifpossible.

3 Breathe quietly, inhale through your nose, feel your lungs �ll and then exhalethrough your mouth quietly. Sit quietly just concentrating on your breathing fora while.Clean air coming in to your lungs, feel your lungs expanding like balloons andthen silently let the air out again and feel your lungs contracting.Think about how your body feels when your lungs �ll, do they pull your spineup straighter? Does the breath relax your muscles?Breathe silently for a few moments.

VARIATION

If children have a blocked nose,they should breathe inwhichever way is mostcomfortable. Breathing shouldbe quiet.

4 If your mind wanders and you start to think of other things, try to bring yourmind back to just focusing on your breathing.

5 Let's try square breathing which is something that you have done before.1. Imagine a big square shape �oating in front of you.2. You trace the edge of the shape with your �nger, begin in the bottom left

corner.3. Go up slowly to the corner.4. Across.5. Down.6. and left, back to the start position.



6 You are going to trace the square again, this time just with your mind's eye.1. Begin in the bottom left and take a breath in while you trace the side up.2. Hold the breath in while you trace the top of the square.3. Breathe out while you trace the side down.4. Hold your breath while you trace the bottom back to the start.

7 Repeat this process a couple of times.

8 Now, try to lengthen your breath so that you count to 4 in your head while youtrace each side.This is called square breathing.If you feel uncomfortable at any time, just return to normal breathing.

9 As you get better at this, your counting will become slower.As your lung capacity increases over time, you could count higher than 4.

10 Take your breathing back to normal and think about when you think a breathstarts, when does it stop?

11 We are going to try one more breathing technique, this is called breathingthrough your spine.Imagine your spine in your back. It is made up of 33 small bones calledVertebrae that go from your bottom up to your brain.

12 Visualise your spine in your body. I want you to imagine that when you breathein you are breathing all the way up from the bottom of your spine to the top.You could imagine a lift inside your body travelling upwards, each bone is a�oor of the building.

13 As your lungs �ll with the clean air, imagine the oxygen going to each part inturn, soothing any aches and straightening the bones, stretching your body upto the sky.

14 As the breath reaches the top of your head, tilt your head up towards the sun.

15 As you exhale, tilt your head forward to its natural position again and feel thevertebrae settling down into a new, calm, unstressed position.

16 Repeat this process a few times, each time untangling and straightening thespine. Imagine it getting stronger with your clean breaths.

17 I am going to play a chime in a moment, listen to the sound until you can nolonger hear it then gently open your eyes and bring your attention back to theroom.



Conclusion (3 minutes)

1 Ask children to re�ect brie�y upon how they feel now. Firstly, how does theirbody feel? Then how does their mind feel?.

2 Did they �nd it dif�cult to concentrate on their breathing? Did their mindwander to other things?

TEACHER NOTES

Reassure them that this is anormal part of mindfulness.The skill when you begin is tobe able to bring your attentionback to your breathing whenyour mind gets distracted.

3 Did it help to visualise the breath travelling around a square and through theirspine?

4 Do they feel more calm or ready to concentrate on school work now than theyusually do at this time?

TEACHER NOTES

You are likely to get a variety ofpositive and negativeresponses. The hope is that byencouraging children to re�ect,they are also supporting peersin recognising and sharing theiropinions and similarities. Givingthose children who could notget into the experience,through self-consciousness orpreoccupations, guidance andcon�dence in giving it a goanother time.



Lesson 2 - Mindful doodling (Year 5)Lesson Overview


To try a cooperative mindful doodling exercise and re�ect upon how it helps with being mindful.

Success Criteria:

Children have tried mindful doodling and re�ected upon the impact of doing this cooperatively.

Key Vocabulary:

concentration, silence, cooperation, consideration, compromise.


See Teaching Tips section for advice.The timings for this session are not �xed, if you wish the children to have a longer doodling time then use whatever timethat you have.Large poster sized or bigger, sheets of paper. Children will be drawing with each other. You could use a roll of wallbacking paper that the whole class could use at once or large poster sheets for groups of children.Pens/markers (not pencils - there are no mistakes therefore you don't want children to be rubbing things out).Space on the �oor for children to draw. Tables could be used but this limits the ability of children to share the drawingspace as well.Doodling examples (See resource 1) to show the class.




1 Ask children whether they remember doing mindful colouring last year? Didthey enjoy the experience? Has anyone continued to do this?

2 Explain that today they are doing something similar called mindful doodling.What is doodling? How does it differ from drawing pictures?

TEACHER NOTES

Show the *****Doodlingexamples*****. You can also�nd video examples of peoplemindful doodling online.Colours aren't important.The doodling often uses linesand shapes and repeatedpatters as this is soothing tothe mindThere are no mistakes; if thingsaren't looking how you wanted,then adapt and change thedoodle into something else orkeep it different than youimagined.

3 They are also going to be doing this cooperatively but without any talking.



4 They will be sharing the drawing space and can join their doodle with anotherperson's doodle. Are there any rules that we should make so that argumentsdon't start?

TEACHER NOTES

Children are going to be tryingto do this task silently so rulesneed to take account of this.For example, if someone joinstheir doodle to yours, you mustlet them and then adapt yourplans to make the best of thejoined doodle.You might have an idea in yourmind of where your doodle isgoing but you need to keep inmind that this might changeand that will be okay.Don't start drawing on top ofanother persons doodle, makethe doodling cooperative bydoodling a join between oneperson's doodle and another's.This will be quite dif�cult forsome children. If you foreseeproblems, you could agree aclass sign that someone cangive the teacher if they areupset by something and a classsign that means a child shouldchange what they are doing.Children will need tocompromise, take otherchildren's perspective and beconsiderate and this will beparticularly hard for somechildren.Recognise this openly with theclass before starting. Let themknow that some children will�nd it hard and that you willsupport them. This will helpthem to feel supported ratherthan admonished if you needto take action.We are all different and somechildren �nd this type of thingvery hard. Lets try it and seehow it makes us feel as a class.Notice your feelings while youare doodling.



Main (7 minutes)

1 Begin the doodling and let children continue in silence for as long as you haveavailable. Be aware of any children who look upset or are struggling andsupport them. You could start a doodle for a child to continue if they don'tknow how to start.




1 Spend some time re�ecting on the doodling. Did children enjoy it?

2 Did it feel mindful?

3 Did it feel different to the usual mindfulness sessions that we do? In whatways?

4 How did they �nd the cooperative aspects; did they have to calm themselvesor compromise at any point? Hos did they do this?



Lesson 3 - Mindful Walk Outdoors (Year 5)Lesson Overview



To practice mindfulness outdoors.

Success Criteria:

Pupils are developing the ability to control their attention from the overview to the detail and from the external to the internal.

Key Vocabulary:

attention, noticing, details, focus.


See Teaching Tips section for advice.

The activity for this session will depend upon your school facilities and upon the weather. Ideally the session will takeplace outdoors and children will be able to take a short walk. This could be through the school grounds or outside theschool if this is possible. If you have �elds and trees then take a route through them. An alternative is given for an indoorsession.The indoor session takes place barefoot, ensure that there is space for this and no potential safety issues.

1 Prepare for your walk and explain to the children that they are going to betaking a mindful walk. If you are staying indoors, children should remove theirshoes and socks.

2 Ask children to �nd a space to start in and stand up in their space.

3 Spread their toes on the ground and feel their strong body balancing and theEarth supporting them.



Main (10 minutes)

1 Outdoor Plan (if you are indoors go to step 15)Ask children to be quiet when walking and to keep a space aroundthemselves free - not to walk closely in groups or pairs.Precise timings are not given, decide for yourself when to move throughthe stages of the walk depending upon the route and the time avaiavble.Re-order the foci if your route suits it.Begin the walk and ask children to focus on the feeling of their feet whenwalking, how does the ground feel beneath their feet; hard, soft, crunchy*

VARIATION

*This will vary depending uponthe ground cover, try to takethe children over grass ifpossible and even twigs andfallen leaves.

2 Stop walking, and listen.Bring your gaze down to the ground or close your eyes.What can you hear around you?

3 Take your attention to the loudest sounds around; cars, other people,machinery etc

4 Now shift your attention to quieter sounds; can you hear birds or distantplanes?

5 Now shift your attention again, can you hear yourself breathing? Listen toyour breathing for a few moments. Can you manage to block out the othersounds and turn your attention fully to your breathing.

6 Now let's continue the walk. This time try to focus your attention on anysmells around you. Breathe deeply through your nose, what can yousmell?

7 Now, look around.Can you notice things that you wouldn't normally take notice of?*

TEACHER NOTES

Use your environment tosuggest features, this couldinclude street furniture or signs,water pipe covers, noticing theindividual plants and shrubsaround, noticing the differenttypes of trees.Encourage children to takenotice of things that they woldordinarily miss walking thisroute in a non-mindful way.

8 Look up to the sky, watch the sky for a few moments. What do you notice?Colour, movement, birds, planes, images in the clouds.

9 Explain that they are going to be walking back to the school now, try to walksilently,paying attention to things that they wouldn't normally notice whetherthat is visual, sounds or smells. On return to the classroom they should staysilent and �nd a place to stand or sit.



10 Finish the walk back to the classroom. TEACHER NOTES

As well as walking mindfully,you are trying to increasechildren's heart rates in thispart of the walk so it does nothave to be slow and meditativewalking.

11 When you return to the classroom, ask children to close their eyes if they canand focus once again on their breath.

12 Notice whether the walk has changed their breathing rate?

13 Can they focus on their breathing taking breaths that in�ate their chest andtummy, holding for a moment and then breathing out once again, quietlythrough their mouth.

14 Continue like this until you feel that your breath is calm. I will ring the chime tosignal it is time to return your attention to the room.

15 Indoor Plan (skip to the lesson conclusion if you spent the session outdoors;the indoor session could be followed at a future opportunity)Ask children to walk slowly around the area focusing on the way the groundfeels beneath their feet. Gravity pushing them down and the Earth supportingthem.Do this for a minute.

16 Now concentrate on the way their feet move when they walk. Focus on theway the heel touches the �oor and the rest of the foot rolls onto the �oor.Walk like this for a minute.

17 Can children spread their toes when they touch the �oor and stretch out everytoe.Continue to walk mindfully for a while.

18 When you walk, think now about how your spine is stretching or curving. Pullin your tummy muscles if you can and feel these muscles helping to hold yourspine up straight.

19 Continue to walk with your tummy muscles supporting your spine. Now rollyour shoulders back so the top of your spine is straight and tall and your chestis opened up, how does it feel? Stop and take some breaths like this, yourspine supported by your tummy muscles and straightened by your shoulders.Take some deep breaths, full of energy.

20 Now, standing on the spot, children should alternate bringing their body-weight onto their heels with toes raised and then onto their toes with toesspread, then raise heels to tip-toe and reverse and repeat.Concentrate on how this feels.



21 Explain that you are going to ask them to move more quickly in a moment.When they hear the chime they should do this.When they hear the chime for the second time, they should stop and standstill.

VARIATION

Depending upon the spaceavailable, this might berunning, jogging, fast walkingor dancing. Instruct children asto the best method.VARIATION

You can use music as analternative to the chime if youwish. When the music stops,they should stop.

22 When they stop, ask the children to bring their focus to the breathing andnotice if it has changed due to the faster activity?

23 Can they try to bring their breathing back to the slow deep breathing andnotice how this makes their body and mind feel. Having eyes closed may helpwith this.

24 Give children time to calm their breathing before proceeding.




1 Were children able to control their attention to bring their focus onto thevarious external and internal objects/sounds/smells?

2 Did their mind wander at times and were they able to regain their focus?

3 Does it feel good to be able to be in control of your attention and focus?



Lesson 4 - Gratitude (Year 5)Lesson Overview


To focus on sending thoughts and gratitude as part of mindfulness.

Success Criteria:

Pupils can make attempts to empathise with others' feelings and take on another person's perspective.

Key Vocabulary:

positive thoughts, caring, gratitude.


See Teaching Tips section for advice.Children did a mindfulness gratitude lesson 3 years ago, they might remember some aspects of it.




1 Find a comfortable sitting position in a chair with your feet �at on the �oor*. VARIATION

*As noted in the teacher'snotes, make adaptions forchildren who cannot sit still inan upright position butencourage contact betweenthe feet and the ground ifpossible.

2 Shut your eyes if you are comfortable to do so. TEACHER NOTES

Some children will feel morefocused if they shut their eyes,others will not feel comfortabledoing this. If they do not feelcomfortable with eyes shut,they should gaze gentlytowards the ground, not atother people.They can close their eyes atany time if they feelcomfortable to do so.

3 Rest your hands gently on your legs.

4 Focus your awareness on the feeling of your feet touching the �oor, the strongEarth is supporting you.

5 Try to straighten your back but don’t strain upright. Imagine a string comingout of the top of your head with a �oating balloon attached to it. The balloon isstretching you gently upright.

6 Relax your shoulders. If they feel curved inwards, try to roll them back andrelax the muscles.

7 Focus on your mouth and your tongue. You tongue should be lying relaxed inyour mouth, not pushing anywhere. You mouth should not feel tight and tense,think about how you have your mouth when you are going to sleep; relaxedand not clenched tightly shut.



Main (10 minutes)

1 Breathe quietly through your nose, feel your lungs �ll and empty. Sit quietlyjust concentrating on your breathing for a while.Clean air coming in to your lungs, feel your lungs expanding like balloons andthen silently let the air out again and feel your lungs contracting.Think about how your body feels when your lungs �ll, do they pull your spineup straighter? Does the breath relax your muscles?Breathe silently for a few moments, in through the nose and out through themouth.

VARIATION

If children have a blocked nose,they should breathe inwhichever way is mostcomfortable. Breathing shouldbe quiet.

2 If your mind wanders and you start to think of other things, try to bring yourmind back to just focusing on your breathing.

3 We are currently �lling our bodies with nourishing air that helps our wellbeing. We can also �ll our minds with good and uplifting thoughts. Focusingon good things will make you feel good.

4 Think of something that has made you happy recently. It could be somethingthat happened or something that someone said to you.

5 Can you remember the feeling that it gave you?

6 Did you feel grateful for the thing that happened, can you remember thefeeling of gratitude? If it was something nice that a person did for you, how didit make you feel towards them? Take some breaths while you try to imaginethe feeling.

7 Think of three things in your life that you are grateful for. I will give you a fewmoments to quietly think of these things.

TEACHER NOTES

You might want to give someof your own examples to helpchildren e.g. "I'm grateful forthis lovely sunny weather", "I'mgrateful for the love and hugthat my own child gave me thismorning when they told me tohave a nice day".

8 Now try to think of a time that someone said something nice to you aboutyourself, maybe about something that you did such as helping them orperhaps they told you that you were good at something. Maybe you did somegood work and your effort was recognised.

9 Imagine them whispering it into your ear now. Imagine your heart warming upwith happiness and pride.

10 Now think of someone that you know who you think could do with some helpand support. Maybe they are struggling in school and having a hard time,perhaps they are someone who is not feeling well.



11 Think of something nice that you could say to them that might help them.Imagine your good thoughts travelling up into the sky and appearing as awhisper in the persons's ear. Take a few breaths while you imagine your goodthoughts going to your person.

TEACHER NOTES

Give some example goodthoughts e.g. "I want you tohave a lovely day.", "I want youto have lots of friends", "Youare special to me", "You are alovely person".

12 Imagine their heart warming up as your thoughts reach them.

13 Try to grasp the good feeling again. Imagine some that you love whisperingsomething nice to you and you returning their nice wishes to them. Take a fewcalm breath to enjoy this feeling.

14 When you hear the chime, it is the sign to open your eyes and bring yourattention back to the classroom.

15 Ring the chime.




1 Think of the person who needed help, how would the help that you gave themmake them feel. Is it possible to be having a hard time but also to feel thankfulfor something?

TEACHER NOTES

The thought pattern you aretrying to encourage is thatwhen children are faced withchallenges, disappointmentand negative feelings, they dostill feel these feelings but canalso balance them with thepositive.The idea isn't to banish badfeelings but to bring them intoproportion and manage them.It is possible to feel twofeelings at once.

2 How did it make you feel to think of the things that you are grateful for? PUPIL TALK

Children could give theirexamples if they wish.

3 Do you think that the person in need of help would �nd this harder? Do youthink they could �nd something to be grateful for? Even when you are notfeeling great, it can help your mind to spend some time thinking of things to begrateful for. If you are really struggling with this then that is a sign to seeksome help for someone. Who could you speak to?



Lesson 5 - Dividing Attention (Year 5)Lesson Overview



To investigate dividing attention between more than one input at a time and relate this to developing their brains.

Success Criteria:

Children have an understanding of how attempting to focus on more than one thing at a time can affect the outcome.

Children understand that they can train their brains to be able to do new things through repeated practice.

Key Vocabulary:

attention, focus, neurons, connections, interference.


It would be worth spending a little more time on the session today so that children have the opportunity to try all of theactivities. Otherwise select one activity to focus on and re�ect on this activity.

Making Connections in the brain (See resource 2) to display on the whiteboard.Poems or story books for Activity 2.For Activity 3, each group will need a small ball and a pointer (a stick).

Required Downloads

Attention Test �le for Activity 3. Clicking the link will download a pdf with multiple pages. Each group will need a print out ofthese. Cut the pages in half so only one word appears on each page.

1 Today we are going to do some investigations into how our brains work ratherthan the usual mindfulness session.

2 We are going to do some brain exercises. Have any of you done brainexercises before?

3 Answer: You all have because you are constantly exercising your brain andtraining it every time you think.

4 You brain is pattern-based. It contains more brain cells (neurons) than thereare starts in the Milky Way. Around 100 billion!

5 Between these neurons are billions of connections. Each time you think, youare creating a path connecting neurons and the more you make the sameconnections between different neurons, the easier and quicker the signalstravel along the same path.

6 Show the children the image *****Making Connections in the brain***** todemonstrate what this means.

https://gostriver.com/documents/45/Attention_Test.pdf



Main (10 minutes)

1 We are going to try a few activities* that will hopefully make some newconnections in your brains. They all require you to divide your attention.

VARIATION

If you need a shorter session,select one of the followingactivities instead of all of tryingto do all of them.

2 Some children will �nd dividing attention a lot harder than others. Remind theclass that this is not a competition, you are not interested in how well peopledo compared to other but just want to give every one the opportunity to try.

TEACHER NOTES

Children with ADHD are morelikely to �nd this particularlyhard.

3 Activity 1 - Head and tummy clappingMany children might have tried this before. The aim is to rub your tummy andpat your head at the same time. Get children to practice in pairs so that onepartner can watch the other and see whether they are managing not to rubtheir head and pat their tummy.Can they do this rotating the hand on their tummy in the opposite direction?

4 Activity 2 - Listening to two things at once.Children need to be in groups of three, they will take turns at each role.Child 1 (the listener): Their job is to listen to the reader and the communicatorand talk to the communicator.Child 2 (the reader): They need to select a piece of text that the listeners is notfamiliar with and whisper the text into the listeners ear so that thecommunicator cannot hear it.Child 3 (the communicator): They have to pick a topic of conversation e.g.what you did on hoiday, you favourite meals etc and try to have a conversationwith child 2.Children should take turns to try the different roles and spend a few minuteson each turn.In the report back session: In the communicator's opinion did they have anormal conversation with the listener, in the listener's opinion was it hard tocarry on a conversation when they were also having their ear whispered into?Did they understand anything of the book that was read to them?

5 Activity 3 - Words and ballChildren need to be in groups of three, they will take turns at each role.Child 1: Their job is to hold the ball and move it to different positions oppositechild 3.Child 2: Their job is to hold up the word cards one after the other so that child3 can see them.Child 3: They must follow child 1's ball with the pointer as well as being awareof the words on the cards. When the word in the middle of the screen is thesame as the colour in which it's written, they should clap.Continue the test for 30-60 seconds then swap rolesIn the report back session: This activity requires you to use visual and motorskills at the same time, was this dif�cult to do? Which task was hardest;pointing, reading, matching or clapping?

TEACHER NOTES

Children with colour blindnesswill �nd this hard, suggest thatthey do not worry to muchabout whether they are correct;scores aren't being collectedand no one will be watching tosee if they are correct.




1 Depending upon the activities selected, ask children to report back on theirexperience. Does trying to do more than one thing at a time make it slower orharder to do the individual things? This is called interference.

VARIATION

Have you ever tried to brushyour teeth while doingsomething else and thenrealised that you were justbrushing the same tooth overand over while your attentionwas elsewhere?

2 Being able to divide your attention is important in allowing you to be ef�cientin your life.For example, you need to be able to look at and read the whiteboard and stillunderstand what the teacher is saying.

3 Ask children to imagine that one of the things trying to grab their attentionwere all sorts of worries about a situation - even imagine someone whisperingin your ear, "you are going to fail, you are stupid, you haven't worked hardenough", all the way through a test. It makes it even harder to succeed.So as well as training ourselves to attend to more than one thing at a time,mindfulness also helps you to train your brain to tune out some thoughts andideas in order to improve well being.All these thing are part of training your brain in a health way.



Lesson 6 - Guided visualisation (Year 5)Lesson Overview


To try guided visualisation.

Success Criteria:

Pupils have experienced how their own imagination can take them to a relaxing place and make them feel better.

Key Vocabulary:

Visualisation.


See Teaching Tips section for advice.Children might enjoy this session lying down, ideally outdoors on grass.You could use a lavender spray as part of the visualisation exercise; it should be a silent spray rather than an aerosol. Youcan make a lavender spray by mixing some water with a little lavender essential oil in a spray bottle.




1 Ask children to think back to the mindful activities that they have done overthe past weeks.

2 Make a list of the aspects of mindfulness that they have explored. They canadd things that they have tried outside the sessions as well.

Breathing and types of breathing.DoodlingGratitude and kind wishesA mindful walk

3 If you have chosen to do the activity lying down, then direct children as towhere to lie down.If children are to be seated, then direct them to get into a position formindfulness as in previous weeks and move to the main section.

VARIATION

If seated:Find a comfortable sittingposition in a chair withyour feet �at on the �oor.Shut your eyes or gazegently towards theground, not at otherpeople.Rest your hands gently onyour legs.Focus your awareness onthe feeling of your feettouching the �oor, thestrong Earth is supportingyou.Try to straighten your backbut don’t strain upright.Relax your shoulders. Ifthey feel curved inwards,try to roll them up andback to relax the muscles.Focus on your mouth andyour tongue. You tongueshould be lying relaxed inyour mouth, not pushinganywhere. You mouthshould not feel tight andtense, think about howyou have your mouthwhen you are going tosleep; relaxed and notclenched tightly shut.

4 Notice your body lying down. Everything should be relaxed. If you havefollowed the yoga lesson you will recognise this as Savasana pose. Their bodyrelaxed, feet �oppy.

5 Rest your arms by your sides.



6 Scan your body from your feet to your head, making sure that the muscles arerelaxed.

7 Stretch your shoulders away from your ears to relax your shoulders.

8 Check that your face muscles are relaxed and your jaw is not clenched.



Main (10 minutes)

1 Breathe quietly through your nose, feel your lungs �ll and empty.Clean air coming in to your lungs, feel your lungs expanding like balloons andthen silently let the air out again and feel your lungs contracting.Think about your body relaxing more as you exhale.Breathe silently for a few moments

2 Feel yourself lying on some soft grass. There is a gentle breeze and theweather is warm.

3 You can feel the sun gently warming your body.

4 Watch the sky, notice the colours and any clouds, what direction are the cloudsmoving in?

5 Can you see shapes in the clouds?

6 Listen for any sounds around you, you are in a quiet place. Can you hear birds?Maybe you hear the trees or the sea? Think about a relaxing place that youwould want to be.

7 You stand up and look around you, you are in a �eld of grass and �owers. Toyour left is the sea.Listen to the waves gently lapping the shore, watch the waves come in ... andout ... and in, over and over.You are breathing in time with the rhythm of the sea.

8 Look along the coast, you can see a smooth stone path up ahead, it leads ashort way up a hill. You can't see what is over the hill.You walk onto the path.Feel the smooth, cool stones beneath your feet. As you walk, you spread yourtoes and the stones massage your feet.

9 Walk to the top of the hill and gaze at the scenery around you.The path leads to a castle a little distance ahead.Look back towards the sea and the �eld. Stop and listen to the sounds aroundyou; the sea, the calls of birds, the breeze through the grass, even the quietbuzz of insects in the �eld.

10 You walk towards the castle. It looks like a welcoming place.What details can you see? Can you see turrets and towers? Perhaps there is amoat and drawbridge. Any gates are open and welcoming.

11 You reach the big wooden door of the castle, you knock using the big doorknocker and the door swings open. You know that no one is there, you arealone in this adventure.

12 You walk into the castle. You notice that it is cooler inside than out in the sun.Look around, imagine what you see.



13 Ahead of you are some wide marble stairs with carpet on them. You walk upthe stairs, feel the carpet beneath your feet. As you walk up the stairs, yourealise that you feel quite tired. You become aware of a bag that you have beencarrying on your back, it is heavy.

14 At the top of the stairs are several rooms, their doors are open and the roomsare all empty.

15 You walk on the carpet and come to a stone spiral staircase, light is shiningdown from the room above. You feel the warmth on your face and realise thatyou are feeling cold from the shade of the castle. You walk carefully up thespiral stairs, holding onto a rope that is �xed along the wall.

16 You bag feels very heavy now. You really want to remove it.

17 You reach a small room at the top of the staircase. You are at the top of one ofthe castle towers. You look around. The �oor is carpeted, there are bigwindows which are open and face the sea. Facing the window is the com�estchair that you have ever seen.

18 You remove your heavy bag and immediately feel lighter.

19 You go and sit in the chair and sink in to it, the chair is like a hug, comfortingyou and refreshing you.

20 You look out to the sea, you can see the sun re�ecting and twinkling on thewaves. You feel very relaxed.

21 You are aware of the distant calls of sea birds. Listen to the rhythm of thewaves again, in ..... and out..... in ....and out.Sit for a while, breathe with the rhythm of the sea. Inhale the fresh sea airthrough your nose and exhale quietly through your mouth.Sit for a while and enjoy the relaxing feeling of sitting and breathing.

22 Imagine a distant chime calling you back as you slowly bring your attentionback to the class.

23 Breathe quietly until you hear the chime again. TEACHER NOTES

Ring the chime.




1 Ask children how they are feeling. Did they enjoy the visualisation? Did theymanage to get absorbed into it and keep other thoughts out of their mind?

2 Re�ect upon how powerful their minds are; they can take adventures like thiswhenever they wish just by taking a mindful journey.

3 Could they use visualisation on their own to relax themselves? Has anyonetried this to get to sleep?





Documents

Mindfulness (Year 5) · 2020-03-20 · 3 Remind children that mindfulness is a way to understand how your mind reacts to things that happen and practice ways to settle your mind down