Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Watch the episode

25 minutes

Find Out: Nature walk for mindfulness

15 minutes

Take Action: Building vocabulary and gratitude

5 minutes

Reflection

Teacher preparation

Learning intentions:

Students will...

explore the natural world around them
practice grounding themselves as a way of being present in the moment.

Success criteria:

Students can...

use their senses to discover and engage with the world around them
use colourful adjectives to describe what they see, hear and feel
use mindful breathing techniques to engage with a calm state of mind.

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1.

Share the Bluey episode Piggyback with your students.

Bluey 'Piggyback' - ClickView (https://clickv.ie/w/tnTw)

Piggyback synopsis: The Heelers take a long riverside walk but Bingo’s legs are tired and she wants a piggyback. To distract her, Mum and Dad invent fun games and get her little legs moving again!

Step 2.

Facilitate a class discussion about the episode using the following prompts:

What activities make your legs tired?
What activities make you have a lot of energy to run around?

Step 3.

You might also display this prompt wall to inspire some observations.

Listening	Being nice to other people	Figuring things out	Sharing with other people
Looking after other people	Waiting quietly	Asking questions	Working together
Being friendly	Trying again and again	Following the rules	Doing the right thing

Prompt your students to finish the sentence stem:

In this episode, I saw someone...
I saw this when...

Find Out: Nature walk for mindfulness

Step 1.

Take your class outside for a meandering walk. Don't forget to wear your hats! As you go, make an observation out loud of things you can see, both big and small. For example: "I can see a cement truck" or "I can see an ant."

Encourage students to make their own observations.

Step 2.

As students offer suggestions, encourage them to expand upon their observations with more detailed descriptive adjectives.

For example:

"I can see a bird."
"What colour is it? What shape and size is it? What do you think it feels like, soft or smooth? Does its beak look sharp?"

Some tips for asking Quality Questions
Position yourself as curious about the world but also about the child’s thoughts. Ask genuine questions (those that you don’t know the answer to). Try to avoid judging answers as right or wrong (posing questions such as “I wonder…” questions helps to take the wrong and right out of the answer, and allows students to explore and test their own ideas without fear of being wrong). Work to invite a genuine response, rather than expect a specific response. Continue questioning after the child has answered, asking, “Why do you say that?” This further reveals a child’s thinking.

For more evidence-based advice on developing oral language in students click here.

Step 3.

When students have elaborated sufficiently, summarise their observations in a single complete sentence to reinforce the vocabulary. For example: "I can see a small, shiny, soft, red bird."

Step 4.

Encourage students to engage their other senses. For example: "I can hear a rumbling car engine."

Step 5.

Find a nice place to sit, perhaps under the trees or on the grassy oval.

Ask students to describe the feeling of the ground beneath them. Is it soft? Is it smooth?

Step 6.

Ask students to breath in through their nose, for a count of five seconds, and back out through their mouth, for another count of five seconds. Repeat this breathing sequence a few times.

Step 7.

Ask students how being out in nature makes them feel?

You might like to use the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart to help students with the vocabulary around feelings.

Displaying the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart is helpful for students to visualise their feelings and lead them to build their emotional vocabulary, shifting them away from rote responses like “good” to more nuanced responses like “curious”, “excited”, or “worried”.
Find out more about teaching emotional intelligence here.

Take Action: Building vocabulary and gratitude

Step 1.

When you head back inside, ask students to repeat their observations. Add any new or tricky vocabulary to a word list on the whiteboard to help students with spelling.

Strong oral language skills help children to communicate effectively and become successful learners. Oral language interventions emphasise the importance of spoken language and verbal interaction in the classroom, explicitly extending students’ spoken vocabulary through the use of purposeful, curriculum-focused dialogue and interaction. Oral language interventions aim to support learners’ articulation of ideas and spoken expression. Find out more about oral language interventions here.

Step 2.

Independently, students write a sentence from the stem "On our nature walk, I saw..."

Students can add a drawing to their work.

Step 3.

Practise gratitude by inviting each student to complete the phrase

"I am grateful for... because..."

You could demonstrate to start the reflection. For example, "I am grateful for my cat because she gives me cuddles when I am sad."

Gratitude is about taking a moment to notice and appreciate the good things in our lives, things that we often take for granted. Making a habit of gratitude has a range of benefits, for both our mental and physical health.

Positive emotions open us up to more possibilities, as we’re always noticing opportunities. They also balance out negative emotions, making us less stressed and depressed because we’re focusing on the happier moments. When we feel grateful for someone's kindness toward us, or the good things in our lives, we are more likely to do a kindness in return to bring that same feeling to others. When we feel and express gratitude to people in our lives, it creates more loving relationships. Find out more about practising gratitude here.

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on the activity they took part in. You could pose the following questions to students:

What do you think we were practising today?
What is mindfulness?

By slowing down and paying attention to what they’re experiencing in the present moment - including feelings, thoughts and bodily sensations - kids develop self-management techniques for calming themselves.

Mindfulness - Mindful Nature Walk

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