Instructor: Alexis Dodge
Community: Grade 5, School Setting, 35-40 minutes
Plan Creation Date: March 3, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Mindful Listening (sound a gong) – Ask students to raise their hand when they hear the silence at the end of the sound.
- Arm Swings – Practice arm swings together. See if the class can lift and lower their arms together while the teacher gives the commands. Encourage students to listen to each others’ breathing as they lift and lower their arms. Invite students to close their eyes and imagine that they are birds flying together. Ask students, “Can you be like a flock of birds, listening and flying together?”
Active
- Yoga Calm Mat 20 – Teacher will verbally lead the group in Mat 20, giving step by step instructions. Then stand in stillness and notice the sounds around you.
Next, choose a student to verbally lead the teacher and students in Mat 20. - Tree Circle – Animals in the Forest at Night (students for a circle) – Ask students to think of sounds that animals might make in a forest at night. Call on students to share out and make a list of animals on the board. Select a couple of students to come into the circle to be the night animals. The students on the outside of the circle will be trees blowing in the forest breeze (eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the night animals).
Calm
- Compliment Circle – (sitting in a circle) – Give each student an opportunity to be in the center of the circle to receive one compliment from each person. Ask the students in the center of the circle to make eye contact and listen to the person as they give a compliment.
- Personalized Relaxation – Ask each student to name something that makes a soft sound (maybe the wind or a purring cat). Write all the words down. Lead them on a listening journey, listening to the different things that he students suggested.