We are highlighting our amazing model school Garden City Elementary this week!
We’ve had the honor of supporting staff and students over the past two years through two grants – from Hennepin County Statewide Health Improvement Project (SHIP) and PrairieCare. Thanks to these funders, Garden City has truly become a movemindfully model school!
As with many schools, our collaboration with Garden City Elementary located in Brooklyn Center, MN started with staff workshops, where educators experienced mind-body practices for their own stress-management/self-care. Staff continued to explore how these simple, accessible mind-body practices could be integrated into their classrooms to support student social-emotional learning (SEL) and self-regulation skills. The workshops were followed up by classroom demos and consultations with K-5 teachers and specialists. Next year, Garden City plans to expand consultations and demos into Special Education, ELL, PreK, and recess/lunch.
The most impressive part of this collaboration is the work Garden City has done in between the workshops, demos, and consulting sessions. The student support team has made implementation a priority for Garden City. They continue to support teachers in innovative and creative ways to help them incorporate mind-body strategies into their work throughout the school year. At a recent consultation session, I got to witness the student support team working with classroom teachers to use finger labyrinths and Pokemon breathing visuals to create more student buy-in for these strategies!
Kayla Hartman shares, “Some of the things our team has offered to support teachers and the implementation is modeling, peer observations, and resource creation. Teachers have found value in watching how their peers are implementing it. As a support team, we provide coverage for them to go observe so they don’t have to miss any of their prep time.” She goes on to explain, “I also think we have a deeper level of implementation because we have a principal who understands the importance of mindfulness. Mr. Branch has provided teachers permission to take time for mindfulness throughout the day. He has made it known that taking time for mental health and mindfulness is part of who we are at Garden City.”
Here are some keys to their success:
- Sprinkling Mindfulness in throughout the day—especially after transitions and between subjects
- Knowing that coregulation is happening—even if a student is not actively participating
But don’t take our word for it:
What teachers are saying:
- “I like movemindfully because it teaches kids easy ways to self-regulate. After regularly practicing, I noticed my kids using the strategies on their own throughout the day!” — Kindergarten teacher
- “I love that by implementing movemindfully, I get to take a minute to slow down and not only help my students regulate but also regulate myself!” — 4th grade teacher
- “My favorite thing about movemindfully is the way that it brings more calm and focus into my classroom. It is the perfect routine and reset to teach my students strategies for regulating and to help me regulate as the teacher!” — 3rd grade teacher
What students are saying:
- “I like it because it’s fun and we get to do it every day!”— 1st grade student
- “I love doing the eagle because it helps me focus and practice my balance.” — 4th grade student
- “My favorite is to just rest. We work so hard in school and it’s nice to relax and lay down to take a few minutes to do nothing.” — 4th grade student