1) Popsicle Game

"Here is a quick tip for teachers who are working with young children: I noticed when teaching how to be a S.T.A.R. (Stop, Take a deep breath, And Relax), they really did not understand what "relax" meant. Now we play the "Popsicle Game" to help them experience and understand what it means to relax. We pretend that we are Popsicles right out of the freezer (very hard and stiff). Then we are packed up and taken to the beach. Oops! Someone lays us down in the sand and the warm sun is out… we begin to melt! Our bodies get softer and softer. Pretty soon we are just a floppy, runny puddle inside our wrappers. The visualizations help these little guys understand what their bodies feel like when they are relaxed. I hope this is useful!"
-Barbara Formichella

2) "Pass Some Love"
"I work with three-year-olds right before lunchtime. I am not their primary teacher and this isn't an ideal time of day, so it can be a challenge. I start each session playing a game of caring. Sometimes we play "Pass Some Love." I station myself amongst the group, hold up a paper heart and say, "I love Sam because…" Then I pass the heart to Sam. Sam does the same for the child next to him, and so on, until every child has said something caring about the others. This game sets the tone for cooperation and other teachers are noticing that with positive intent such as this, good things happen!"
-Chris Landon

3) Be A Tree!
"Hello! I wanted to share an idea that one of my pre-k students came up with. We have implemented many of Dr. Bailey's techniques in our class - being a STAR, ballooning, pretzeling, and the like have made a significant impact on the peacefulness of our days. An exceptional education student in my class came up with a new breathing technique: being a tree in the wind! As you slowly raise your arms up to be branches, you take a deep breath; then you gently sway your branches in the wind, and blow out your breath."
-Deborah DAnnunzio

4)Start Your Year...

"Start the year off building connections and literacy! I use the positive nursery rhymes in "I Love You Rituals" to create connections and strengthen language arts skills including writing, phonics, comprehension and fluency. I write the words from favorite Rituals onto chart paper and sentence strips. As a class, we create books, story walls, plays and murals. The possibilities are endless, but here are my students’ favorites:    Click on them to see pictures.

Jack and Jill : Rewrite "Jack and Jill" as a group. Our rewritten song featured our school family going up the hill to fetch ice cream, and then helping each other after falling down. It made for a great discussion about what is “helpful!” We acted it out and created a story mural to illustrate our new song. <a href="/image

Little Miss Muffet : Substitute students’ names in "Little Miss Muffet" to create an interactive class book. Ask students to draw themselves sitting on tuffets, bind the drawings together and attach a plastic spider to the binding with yarn. Use the spider as a prop when reading the ritual.

Humpty Dumpty : Read Humpty Dumpty together, then rewrite it with your school family putting Humpty Dumpty back together.  Cut out a big posterboard egg, tear up white paper and distribute the papers to class members. Then re-enact the “putting together” of Humpty Dumpty by gluing the papers to the posterboard egg."

-Tiffany Taylor

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