[currentuser role=”instructor_level”]
Instructor: Mina Leierwood
Community: Grades 2-3, School Setting, 30 minutes
Plan Creation Date: January 1, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Listening
Title: Pinwheel
Art Standards: Shapes, forms, 2D and 3D
Works of Art/Art Forms: Origami
Lesson Plan:
Calm
- Stretch – “Welcome. Come in and sit down in the shapes of the LETTER L. REACH UP UP UP! Now let it out, curl over like the letter C. Touch your toes. Say hello to your toes. ‘Hi Toes, how ya doin?'” Now hide your feet under you like this.” (Sitting criss-cross.)
- Intro – Today we will be making pin wheels and practicing deep breathing. It takes deep breathing to make them spin. Watch this. (Demo)
- Pinwheel Breathing – Hand out pinwheels. “Here is the pin wheel. How long can we go? The deeper breath, the longer I can blow. Maybe you can go longer than me! In the end, we will come back to the circle and see who has the longest breath. But first, we will fold the Pinwheel with origami paper.
- Belly Breathing – Two children are selected (“Who is the quietest and calmest?) to be the leaders in the first breathing activity. They each get to hold a breathing ball. Everyone else demonstrates with hands together. Teacher: Breathe in! (Hands stretch out) Breathe out (Hands come together.) “How many times?” The student leader decides.
Activate
- Volcano Breath – Teacher: “Breathe in…! (Hands slowly move up as if pressure is building…) And Let it out like a Volcano!” (Children make sound: HAAAH! Arms are high/wide, then return down together) “No one should have to touch anyone else. Thank you. Did they do a good job?
- Feather Breathing – “Notice how the breath is invisible, but we couldn’t live without it. Now, everyone gets one small feather, try blowing this tiny feather. How far can you blow it? Can you blow it into the air?
Calm
- Art Activity – Everyone moves to the tables. Helpers distribute origami paper. Overhead: Pinwheel Powerpoint Teacher guides origami instruction. Use shape names, 2D and 3D. “Fold a square in half, into a rectangle. Unfold. See this crease in the middle? That is the center line. “Fold two rectangles to the center line. It looks like double doors.” ….Complete project as in diagram. Attach to card stock paper, using small brass fastener. “Does it spin when you blow?”
- Reflection/Closure – “Now that your pinwheels are completed, come back to the circle. How long can you blow? See how long you can make the pinwheel spin.” “Who can blow the longest?”
- Evidence – Relaxed, happy students leave my classroom with their pinwheels.