#mindfulAISD (10/31)

Mindfulness in the Austin Independent School District

#mindfulAISD (10/31)Mindfulness in the Austin Independent School District

Week of October 31st

Welcome to the #mindfulAISD newsletter for the week of October 24. This will serve as a way to highlight the awesome mindfulness work being done across the district as well as offer resources. Have suggestions for material you'd like to see on here? Please email the SEL Mindfulness Specialist: james.butler@austinisd.org

#mindfulAISD HAPPENINGS

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Reagan ECHS

A photo from the mindfulness sessions that all the Seniors at Reagan Early College High School participated in during PSAT day. Kudos to Joe Dunlap, Reagan teacher, and Hilary Simon, SEL Specialist, for being instrumental in bringing mindfulness to Reagan.
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Mills ES

A tad late on this, but here's an awesome photo of kindergarteners at Mills Elementary School laid out on yoga mats in a peace sign on International Peace Day.
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Blackshear ES

Students showing @BlackshearArts what mindful listening looks like during our SEL assembly this morning! @AustinISDSEL @mrbutler629

--Ms. Bowden ‏@msbowden105 Oct 28


This tweet is a video of 1st graders doing Mindful Listening at their SEL assembly. HIGHLY recommended.

Want to Showcase Your Mindfulness Work?

Send James Butler an email with a brief story and/or photo (if you have photo releases for your students). Or if you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #mindfulAISD and I'll post a link to your tweet on the newsletter.

RESOURCES

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Mindfulness Challenge UPDATE

UPDATE: Dr. Cruz has agreed to highlight the campus with the most staff members who meet their mindfulness goals during the month of November. You can register for the challenge and set your goal below. The cut-off for highlighting a campus is Friday, November 4th.


November is a crazy time of the year for teachers with all the grading and holiday craze, so we're going to have a district-wide Mindfulness Challenge. The idea is to help us be intentional about taking care of ourselves. In this instance, through meditation and/or yoga. You can do this is any way that works for you (i.e. Calm app, yoga class or at home, etc.).


This is completely optional, but if you'd like to participate, fill out the Google Form below to set your goal (it will take 1 minute to complete). At the end of the month, I'll send a follow up email so you can check in about your goal. Participants who meet their goal will be eligible for the raffling of a $25 Visa gift card.


SIGN UP ON THE GOOGLE FORM BELOW...

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Mindful Classrooms--Week 11

If you're using Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide, I recommend using Week 11 this week. It's a very loose recommendation though. Please do what's best for you and your students. If you'd like the free electronic copy of the book, please feel out the Google Form at the bottom of this page.


Photos/stories of Mindful Classrooms being used in class are always welcome and would be great for the newsletter! Email James Butler.

FREE FOR TEACHERS!

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Calm

FREE Calm.com Lifetime Subscription for Teachers (PreK-12)


If you haven't done this yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Click on the above link and fill out the quick form for a FREE lifetime subscription. It's a $300 value and they are giving it away for free to teachers!


Calm also has an app for phones.


**There are free sections on calm.com and the app, so feel free to share with your students' families.

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Mind Yeti

Connecting Mindfulness w/ Explicit SEL Lessons


Mindyeti.com is a great resource that connects mindfulness with Second Step lessons. Visit the site and sign up for a FREE account!


There is also an informational page that explains the connection between Mind Yeti and Second Step.


**Parents/guardians can also sign up for a free account. Share with your students' families!
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GoNoodle

GoNoodle For the Body and the Mind


Go to the CATEGORIES tab at the top of the page and look for "calming" and "stretching." They have a bunch of great videos to use for daily mindfulness time and/or mindfulness breaks. GoNoodle can be found in the AISD cloud and then you have access to GoNoodle Plus with ALL of the videos.


**Share gonoodle.com with your students' families so they can sign up for a FREE account to use at home.

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Pokemon Poses (created by AISD 3rd graders)

List of Pokemon Poses created by AISD Students


Mrs. Garcia's 3rd graders at Cunningham created Pokemon Yoga Poses for Market Day last week and they wanted to share their creativity and hard work with y'all. Creating poses and incorporating mindful breathing with the poses is such a great way to make mindfulness fun and easily practiced by all. Nicely done!

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Mindful Life Project

Guided Mindfulness Activities in English & Spanish--Great for Secondary


Mindful Life Project is an incredible organization based out of Richmond, CA. They teach mindfulness, yoga, expressive arts, and hip-hop/performing arts to elementary and middle school students in underserved communities.


They also have a free app titled "Mindful Life Project."

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Stop, Breathe & Think

Stop Breathe & Think is a website and app that provides guided meditations based on how you are feeling at that moment. There are a great number of FREE meditations starting at just a couple minutes long.

Sign Up for Mindfulness Support

If you haven't filled out the #mindfulAISD Google Form (below) and want to highlight your work and/or receive mindfulness support, please check it out. It only takes about 1 minute to complete. Know someone in AISD interested in mindfulness? Send them this newsletter for them to fill out the Google Form.
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Contact

James Butler

SEL Mindfulness Specialist


james.butler@austinisd.org