Class Yoga

I always start my school day with a class meeting.  I love my morning meeting time, especially because of all the "good news" I get to hear.  I give my students a time where they can share one good thing or something they are excited about/looking forward to.  Everyone gets a turn if he/she wants to share.  This is an awesome time for me to get to know my students better, and for them to get to know one another a bit better.  It is also the perfect time to practice whole body listening and being polite.  I usually stop the person who is sharing and wait if there is someone who is talking.  Then apologize to the student and let them continue.  I also always choose my next "good news sharer" based on who was demonstrating wonderful whole body listening skills.  


After this, I always go over the schedule and the objectives for the day.  This gives the students an idea of what is coming up and when.  I don't know about you, but I do a whole lot better when I know what is going to happen next.  I like to know the schedule and keep track of where I am in the day.  I just helps me function a little bit better, so I think providing and discussing the schedule helps the students as well.  


I am thinking of adding something for my morning meeting in fourth grade.   I have been reading about the benefits of yoga for children.  The mental, emotional, and physical well-being of children can be positively influenced by the use of yoga.  Because of this, I am wanting to try some yoga at the beginning of each day to start us all off on a good note.  I am hoping that it will help to focus the students and get both sides of the brain connected and working.   It would be nice to have a repertoire of yoga movements/poses to pull from, while most days still having a set routine.  My plan as of now, is to start the year by teaching several poses or stretches to the kids, give it a name, and perhaps have a drawn symbol.  Then, I will use those movements to create a routine that we will use for a couple of weeks.  I will probably have to change it every few weeks so that the kids never get too bored with it.  Anyway, this is my plan for now, and I'll let you know if I come up with any better ideas or changes.  Once I get some yoga routines made or symbols for the movements, I might post them here or on my TpT store.  Also, any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!