The week ended with a first taste of mindfulness during morning meeting. "Find Your Stone" is a cooperative game from Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness With Children. While seated in a circle, everyone was handed a small stone behind their back so they couldn't see it. For a few moments, we discussed texture, weight, shape and size while they focused their awareness on their stones. The stones were collected, then placed in the middle of the circle to see for the first time. By turn, each student found their stone and explained (with amazing certainty) how they recognized it.
I read about the stone game Thursday night, and decided Friday would be the right time to introduce mindfulness into our morning routine. Friday after school, another third grade teacher reminded me that Monday we'll begin a unit on rocks and minerals, which begins with comparing and contrasting the physical characteristics of rocks. It's funny how some things happen at just the right time.
The stones we explored Friday morning came from a North Georgia mountain stream. Click here to see more.
whas it fun makeing it?
ReplyDeleteFocussing all of my attention on balancing stones in a cool stream was one of the best things I did over the summer. How would you stack stones, Japheth?
ReplyDeleteMr. Brooks