Trace your hand with any writing utensil or trace it in the air, using the hand you write with.
When you trace upwards on your finger, breath in
When you trace downwards on your finger, breath out. See how slowly you can trace your whole hand.
Breath deeply!
I have joined a new company and I'm thrilled to be working for such an empowering nonprofit organization.
"Our mission and vision reflect our deep commitment to today’s youths: empowering them to excel in the arts, academics, and social development, build higher self-esteem, and achieve success and balance in their lives."
-LTYC
I will be posting my lesson plans under "LTYC lesson plans" at the top of this web page.
If you have any questions regarding my lesson plans or Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center, feel free to contact me!
Thanks for keeping up with me.
-Bailey
It was the last meeting for the PRISM spring class on Tuesday. Robin and I discussed how important it is to practice gratitude and thankfulness. So we made it our theme for the day. First Robin read the book Thankful by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Archie Preston. Thankful combines rhymes and charming illustrations to emphasize the importance of being thankful for everyday things. Like the gardener thankful for every green sprout, and the fireman, for putting the fire out. Robin asked the kids to share something they are grateful for. Some of the kids had so many things to be grateful for, which was wonderful to hear.
Next, I had the kids set up yoga mats in a circle. First I taught them the hand gesture, "peace, love, unity, respect." I even got the boys to participate.. one of them used a star trek hand for peace which was a cute spin on it. After we all practiced peace, love, unity, respect hands, we passed around a golden "gratitude coin." Each child held the coin in their hands, pressed together into a prayer position. Everyone said someone they are grateful for. After each person shared who they are grateful for, we all bowed our head to our own hands in prayer, as a sign of respect to that person.
After using the golden "gratitude coin," we did the following yoga sequence:
breathe in and lift your arms up to the sky. say "I'm grateful for the sky!"
breathe out and lower your arms to your sides. twist, allowing your arms to sway around and say "I'm thankful for the breeze!"
breath in, lift your arms up and say "I'm thankful for the sun!"
breathe out, let your finger tips rain down to the ground (forward fold, uttanasana) and say "I'm thankful for the rain!"
breathe in, look in front of you (half lift, ardha uttanasana) and say "I'm thankful for the grass!"
(Repeat this sun salutation with words twice)
Tree pose, say "I'm thankful for the trees!"
Partner tree pose, say "I'm thankful for you!"
lie on the ground, hug your knees into your chest and say "I'm thankful to be me!"
Let your knees fall to one side,
squeeze them into the middle,
then let them fall to the other side (reclined spinal twist, supta matsyendrasana).
After savasana, they still had energy so I taught them a warrior III partner pose, where you balance in a circle and hold onto each other's shoulders for support.
Then, with some extra time still, we played yoga leap frog. One person is the log (savasana), one person is the bridge (downward facing dog) and one person is a tree (tree pose, vrksasana). The fourth person jumps over the log, crawls under the bridge, and goes around the tree, and then becomes the tree. The log gets up and jumps over the new log in front of them, under the new bridge, and around the new tree. Then you repeat. The kids seemed to enjoy letting their energy out in a constructive way, while using their imagination.
Then I took the kids outside and taught them how to do cartwheels and handstands (they have SO much great energy). Once we got back inside we did our art project. We used magazines to make a heart collage of things we are grateful for. The styrofoam hearts had a string on the back so that the kids could hang their hearts of gratitude on their wall at home.
It was great getting to know these kids and it was fulfilling seeing signs of improvement with their social skills, emotional awareness, and coping strategies. I'm looking forward to meeting the kids who sign up for summer classes!
Summer Session: June 19-July 31
Every Tuesday, 4 pm to 6 pm
For information/registration contact:
innerharborwellness@gmail.com or 443-801-0841
innerharborwellness.com
PEACE
LOVE
UNITY
RESPECT
This week at PRISM I used a monarch butterfly finger puppet to tell the story of the struggling butterfly, which goes like this...
"Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.
The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.
One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.
The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.
At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!
The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!
As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.
But neither happened!
The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly…
As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.
As you go through school, and life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly. "
I wrapped the butterfly puppet in saran wrap to represent a cocoon, then I cut a hold in the saran wrap with scissors and pulled the butterfly out. I made the butterfly appear to be struggling to fly. I asked the kids if they remember a time that they struggled to do something, such as tie their shoes or ride a bike. At the end of the story, I passed the puppet around and told the kids to try to help the butterfly fly. Finally, I asked them if they remember a time that they overcame a struggle, possibly with a little help from a friend.
The art project was butterfly kites!
As you look up,
imagine that you are the sky.
You are peaceful, blue, and infinite
You float above your worries
You are quiet and still
Your breath is the wind
You breath out, and blow wind over the sea
You press your lips together
You hear the ocean's tide
You reflect a vast turquoise ocean
Your peace is abundant and everlasting
