Welcome to the #mindfulAISD newsletter for the week of March 6th. This will serve as a way to highlight the awesome mindfulness work being done across the district as well as offer resources. Have suggestions for material you'd like to see on here? Please email the SEL Mindfulness Specialist: james.butler@austinisd.org

Send James Butler an email with a brief story and/or photo (if you have photo releases for your students). Or if you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #mindfulAISD and I'll post a link to your tweet on the newsletter.

Check out the FREE mindfulness programs (web & app) from Smiling Mind out of Australia. All you have to do is create an account and you'll have access to over 200 lessons & breathing activities.

"The Smiling Mind Education Programs are mapped to the curriculum and designed to support educators to bring mindfulness into the classroom. All our lesson plans are tailored to each age level across primary and secondary school levels."

Their individualized classroom programs include:

• 7-9 year olds
• 10-12 year olds
• 13-15 year olds
• 16-18 year olds

Thanks to the amazing Refugee Family Support Team, we have even more multilingual mindfulness resources available. Using the link below, you'll find the following resources...

• Mindfulness Letter to Families (Arabic, Burmese & Spanish)
• Mindfulness at Home Activities (Arabic, Burmese, Farsi/Dari, Kinyarwanda, Spanish & Swahili)

If you're using Mindful Classrooms: The Educator Guide, I recommend using Week 26 this week. It's a very loose recommendation though. Please do what's best for you and your students. If you'd like the free electronic copy for AISD staff, please feel out the Google Form at the bottom of this page.

Photos/stories of Mindful Classrooms being used in class are always welcome and would be great for the newsletter! Email James Butler.

Links to all the previous newsletters with a highlight or two from each edition.

Week of February 27 (Teacher Testimonial & 7 Tips for those who say they can't meditate)

Week of February 20 (Multi-lingual Mindfulness & Zen Den YouTube Videos)

Week of February 13 (Mindful Brain Poster & CE credit video w/ Jon Kabat-Zinn)

Week of February 6 (GoNoodle Mindfulness Document & Mindfulness Research Newsletter)

Week of January 30 (Rodriguez ES Mindfulness Studio & Mindful Coloring pages)

Week of January 23 (3 Simple Remedies for Stressed-Out Mind & Kindfulness article)

Week of January 17 (Science of mindfulness & Breathing Sticks activity)

Week of January 9 (SEL in Austin Family Magazine & Link to De-Escalation Strategies Poster)

Week of January 3 (List of mindfulness sites & mindfulness is good for teachers article)

Week of December 12 (List of mindfulness apps & Mindfulness Challenge recap)

Week of December 5 (Scientifically proven song for relaxation & Mindfulness Tour recap)

Week of November 28 (#mindfulAISD YouTube Playlist link)

Week of November 14 (GIFs for deep breathing & Breathing script for HS--Palm the Present Moment by Donald Altman from "The Mindfulness Toolbox")

Week of November 7 (AISD e-Wellness spotlight)

Week of October 31 (Mindfulness Challenge update)

Week of October 24 (Progressive Muscle Relaxation script)

Week of October 17 ("Just Breathe" mindfulness video)

Week of October 10 (Stop Breathe Think App/Site & Curious Not Furious article)

Week of October 3 (Pokemon poses & Mindfulness and the Brain article)

Week of September 26 (Replacing Detention w/ Meditation article & Guided Breathing tracks in Spanish & English)

Week of September 19 (Teacher Self-Care & Connecting Mindfulness w/ SEL: Mind Yeti)

Week of September 12 (KEYE News feature & Helping Teens Destress)

If you haven't filled out the #mindfulAISD Google Form (below) and want to highlight your work and/or receive mindfulness support, please check it out. It only takes about 1 minute to complete. Know someone in AISD interested in mindfulness? Send them this newsletter for them to fill out the Google Form.

James Butler

SEL Mindfulness Specialist

james.butler@austinisd.org