Mindful Schools curriculum introduced to 7th and 8th graders.

Our mission is to empower educators to spark change from the inside out by cultivating awareness, resilience, and compassionate action.

Mindfulness is a scientifically-based approach to developing focused attention and emotional regulation. Mindfulness means paying attention in the present moment to our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, or surrounding environment. It also includes the intentional nurturing of positive states of mind such as empathy and kindness.

Our school counselor, Jill Foley, is trained in teaching mindfulness to students through an organization called Mindful Schools. "I have found that sharing mindfulness with students helps to encourage more skillful interactions and reactions, and supports learning readiness." Jill will work with students two times a week for about 15 minutes each session.  

Studies find that learning mindfulness benefits students in terms of improved attention, emotion regulation, behavior in school, empathy and understanding of others, social skills, test anxiety, and stress. Mindfulness allows for a pause during which thoughtful responses can replace impulsive reactions.

Some examples of how students will use mindfulness in class are noticing and naming our feelings during specific exercises, using mindfulness of breathing before test taking to calm anxiety and improve focus, or pausing when feeling frustrated or impatient.