1st Edition

Teaching Mindfulness in Schools Stories and Exercises for All Ages and Abilities

By Penny Moon Copyright 2016

    Teaching Mindfulness in Schools is a practical teaching toolkit for educators and all professionals concerned with the social and emotional wellbeing of children. The book offers clear introductions to the many aspects and benefits of mindfulness for young people, as well as a wealth of practical guidance and tools to support the teaching of mindfulness in the classroom.

    Key features include:

    • a range of stimulus materials including artwork and poems to read one-on-one with a child or for whole-class teaching;
    • lesson plans, worksheets and colouring sheets to support a huge range of activity types including physical, creative and sensory exercises so that there is material to suit all the children you work with;
    • audio recordings of guided mindfulness exercises for use in the classroom, narrated by the author and available online.

    Penny Moon is the founder of A Quiet Place, with nearly three decades of experience in workshop facilitation, teaching, emotional and behaviour development, psychotherapy, complimentary medicine, educational therapeutics and child, parent and family support.

    1. A children's story  2. Script-gathering awareness  3. What is Mindfulness?   4. Meditation   5. Self-knowledge   6. Well-being  7. The brain   8. Mindful thinking   9. Multi-sensory   10. Mindfulness- visual  11. Mindfulness- auditory  12. Mindfulness- kinaesthetic  13. Mindful tasting and smelling   14. Emotions   15. Emotional intelligence  16. Breathing  17. Mindful exercise  18. Teaching activities for Mindfulness  19. Appendices   20. Mindfulness sessions  21. Mindfulness poem

    Biography

    Penny Moon

    "'Teaching Mindfulness in Schools' is a concise, beautifully illustrated and extremely clear introduction to this topic. Intended for teachers who are new to mindfulness, the aims is to enable them to pass on mindfulness skills on to their students, regardless of age or ability.

    Everything is kept simple and easy to understand to make the book as accessible to busy teachers as possible. The style of the book, with its simplicity of vocabulary, conveys a sense of peace and tranquillity and the large illustrations help enormously in conveying a sense of calm. The focus on mental health in schools mean that the chapters on Well-being, Self-knowledge, Emotional Intelligence and Mindful Thinking are particularly useful. The chapter on teaching activities on mindfulness gives a whole range of excellent ideas for teachers to use. The appendices and additional online resources contain further images and ideas. This is an accessible and enjoyable book which can be recommended as a starting point for the mindfulness journey." — Sarah Heyworth (Primary SENCO), for nasen connect

    "'Teaching Mindfulness in Schools' is a must-have resource for teachers and other professionals concerned with the social and emotional wellbeing of children... The pack includes a storybook to read one on one with a child or for whole class teaching (an electronic version is provided for use on whiteboards), worksheets, sample lesson plans and colouring sheets. Audio for a range of guided mindfulness exercises is also available via the website, narrated by the author." — Mindfulness Foundation

    "A really useful publication with lots of things to do in the classroom. Also lots of useful explanations and signposting to relevant websites and other resources. The author, Penny Moon, is a great pioneer and practitioner in this area. Through 'A Quiet Place' she has rolled out quiet spaces in schools and programmes of emotional intelligence and well-being." — Peaceful Schools