21_ Dropping Your Anchor 3-5

To reach a port we must set sail – Sail, not tie at anchor. Sail, not drift. —Franklin D. RooseveltBig Ideas For This Lesson Dropping Your Anchor: Lizard-Wizard Review At Home Resources Level: Upper Elementary (3-5) Concepts: • Coping Skills • Brain Science • Thoughts, Behaviors, & EmotionsThis week, students were introduced to simple metaphor used to integrate the concepts of lizard-wiz-ard brain, emotions, and mindfulness. The basis of the dropping your anchor metaphor is this:Your brain can be thought of as a boat sailing on the ocean. The ocean represents your emotions andexperiences – sometimes calm, sometimes wavy, and sometimes at-out stormy. The boat itself rep-resents your lizard-brain – the part of your brain that is reactive and easily tossed around on the cur-rents and waves of your emotions. No good ship would be complete without a captain, however, alsoknown as your wizard- brain. It takes a wise captain to steer a ship through a storm and to know whenit is time to drop the anchor. The anchor represents mindfulness – the simple act of grounding oneselfin the present moment even in the face of stormy waters.Each of the three prongs of the anchor represents the three anchors of mindfulness - breath, body, andsound. The metaphor of the anchor can be extended to include any coping skill that helps to anchoryou in the present moment. Essential VocabularyAnchor/Boat/Captain/Clouds/Waves: An illustrative metaphor used in the 3-5 lesson to describe, respectively: copingskills & mindfulness (anchor); the lizard-brain (boat); the wizard brain (captain); thoughts (clouds); emotions (waves).Coping Skills: Any skill, strategy, or behavior used to deal with difficult emotions (also known as cool down strategies).© 2018 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 1 of 2 All rights reserved.

DROPPING YOUR ANCHOR: LIZARD-WIZARD REVIEW | GRADES 3-5 PracticeDraw a picture with your youth of the dropping your anchor metaphor. Be sure to include each part: copingskills & mindfulness (anchor); the lizard-brain (boat); the wizard brain (captain); thoughts (clouds); emotions(waves).Once the drawing is complete, create a story with your youth to describe what is happening in the drawing.Are the waves (your emotions) calm and peaceful, or are they agitated and choppy? Are there many clouds(thoughts) in your sky, or is your sky mostly open and free of thoughts? How does your anchor (your copingskills) support you? Student Resources• M aster of Mindfulness: How to Be Your Own Superhero in Times of Stress by Laurie Grossman & Mr. Musu meci’s 5th Grade Class (Grades K – 5)• Meditation Is an Open Sky: Mindfulness for Kids by Whitney Stewart (Grades K - 4)• Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee MacLean (Grades K – 3)• The Talking Earth by Jean Craighead George (Grades 5 – 8)• Vincent Shadow: Toy Inventor by Tim Kehoe (Grades 4 – 6)• 10 Mindful Minutes: Giving Our Children--and Ourselves--the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress and Anxiety for Healthier, Happy Lives (Informational Text) by Goldie Hawn and Wendy Holden• 4 Breathing Exercises for Kids to Empower, Calm, and Self Regulate (Blog Post)• A Mindful Minute: 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise for Kids (Video 3:39)• Breathe, Chill: A Handy Book of Games and Techniques Introducing Breathing, Meditation and Relaxation to Kids and Teens (Informational Text) by Lisa Roberts• Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being by Thich Nhat Hanh (Wide Age Range) Adult Resources• Bangor University (UK) Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice - Free Guided Meditations• UCSD Center on Mindfulness: Guided Audio Files to Practice Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction• The Art of Mindfulness for Children: Mindfulness exercises that will raise happier, con dent, compassionate, and calmer children (Book) by Alisa Reddy• The Feeling Brain: The Biology and Psychology of Emotions (Book) by Elizabeth Johnston, D.Phil. & Leah Olson, Ph.D. © 2018 Empowering Education, Inc. PAGE 2 of 2 All rights reserved.