[currentuser role=”instructor_level”]
Instructor: Blanca Raniolo
Community: Preschool and Kindergarten Ages, School Setting, 35 minutes
Plan Creation Date: January 21, 2015
Yoga Calm Principle/Lesson Goal: Strength
Lesson Plan:
Intro
- Review Rules and Expectations – This class is completely Spanish immersed so that the students will learn new vocabulary about their body and mind. This class also provides the opportunity for the students to express their feelings, develop sensitivity, self- control and self- regulation. Before the start of the class, the teacher will review the ground rules as well as the positive self-talk posters. All the students will repeat “I am Strong, I am in control, I can do it and I can be responsible”. Following this, we discuss how these statements pertain to our lives as well as how they make us feel after saying them.
Calm
- Hoberman Sphere Belly Breathing – I have the students begin with some calm breathing after which, I turn on soothing music and dim the lights. The instructor demonstrates how to breathe in and out properly using the hoberman sphere. The sphere is then passed along to all the students, so that everyone has the opportunity to breathe in and out, in unison with the sphere.
Activate
- Strength Intro – Before the activation, I will tell them “I am going to introduce one of the principles of Yoga Calm Strength, and after which I will play the drum.
We use in this class the following poses/activities: boat, cat/cow, cobra, volcano, chair, warrior, eagle, and tree. - Treasure Box Yoga – In order to help students to develop imagination and practice together the yoga poses, I will show them a box which we refer to as the “treasure box”. The box contains many toy animals such as a cobra, dog, cow, cat, eagle, camel and things that represent, warriors, volcanos, chairs, etc. Thus, every figure represents one of the yoga calm poses (strength) we have learned in the class. A leader chosen from the group will take one thing from the box, show it to the group and make the yoga pose of whatever he or she picked out. For instance, the leader picks a dog figure in which case everyone performs the “downward dog” pose and the teacher will play the drum 10 times. Following this, the teacher gives positive feedback to the leader and the rest of the group. At the end, the group gives the leader positive feedback as well, in the form of a large applause.
- Archetype Game – Students spread out around the big carpet, each in a squatting position. We review together the rules: It is not okay to touch anyone else, and you can’t scream, talk or run. Any student who breaks the rules must sit out for one archetype before rejoining the game. For example I tell them when I count 5, “you are going to grow into an angry statue”. Then, when I play the drum, we are going to let our angry selves out to share with one another. When I say “Freeze”, all of the students stop and squat again. Start over with a different archetype.
Calm
- Relaxation – I ask the students to lie on their carpet ready to receive a little rock. Turning on relaxing music, I ask them to relax their body with the rock. We practice breathing in and out. We use the rock by placing it on their belly and imagine that the rock is an eagle and their belly is a mountain. I ask them to move their eagle on the mountain up and down and relax. During this exercise I have them imagine a beautiful place on the top of the mountain with eagles, birds and a lake. After 3 minutes relaxing the students are asked to sit quietly while the instructor plays a drum 10 times indicating that everybody needs to be ready and make a big circle in the middle of the carpet.
- Reflection – Finally, we reflect on the exercises we did today and acknowledge the accomplishments we made during the lesson. At the end of the lesson the instructor presents each student with a sticker and gives them positive feedback for their efforts.