Dance along with a few of these videos or dance to three of your favorite songs.

Don't Sit Down A Very Simply Dance MILK A Moose-Ta-Cha Pop See Ko Poppin' Bubbles

• • Video Demonstration

  • Students will need

    • Inflated Balloons

    • Plastic Mini Cones (Dollar Tree)

  • Directions

    • Inflate a balloon just enough to rest in the cone.

    • You hold a traffic cone like an ice cream cone (bottom side up), and rest a balloon on it.

    • Toss the balloon towards another player!

    • The other player must try to catch the balloon. If they don’t, that’s okay! They can pick up the balloon and rest it on their cone, and toss it to you.

    • One person can also just catch the balloon with their hands and toss it back to the person with the cone.

Can students keep a balloon, small beach ball, zip-loc bag full of air, or a sock ball in the air?

Video Demonstration

1. Student strikes the balloon straight up with his or her palm.

2. How many strikes can the student make without the balloon hitting the floor?

Can students keep a balloon, small beach ball, zip-loc bag full of air, or a sock ball in the air with a partner?

Video Demonstration

1. Work with your partner to keep the balloon in the air as long as you can.

2. If the ball hits the floor, pick it up and start again.

Can students keep a balloon, small beach ball, zip-loc bag full of air, or a sock ball in the air with a paddle, magazine, or book?

Video Demonstration

1. Use a paddle to keep the balloon in the air.

2. How many hits can you make without letting the balloon hit the ground?

• • Click here to see the November calendar.

  • These are ideas to get you and your family moving.

  • How many can you check off before the end of the month?

Materials:

• Sponge and a bowl of water

• Optional Yoga Practice Video

Focus Step:

Show students a dry sponge and ask students how sponges are useful? Drop some water on the table or on the board and soak it up with the sponge demonstrating the sponge is working as it was designed to work.

Explain that you are going to demonstrate how stress can affect our bodies with this sponge.

Ask students what things they think might cause stress. As students offer responses or the parent gives examples of stressors, dip a dry sponge into a bowl of water. After multiple examples and dips in the bowl, the sponge will be full of water. Ask the students if this very wet sponge will soak up water on the table or the board again? Try to soak up or clean up water on the table or the board and show students that it will not work. The sponge is not useful because it is full. This is very similar to how our bodies respond to stress. If we experience stress and don’t manage it or release it, it can hurt our bodies and our bodies are not as useful or effective as they could be. Ask students if they have heard people talk about how to release stress and after each example is offered from students or the teacher – squeeze a little water from the sponge until the sponge is nearly empty. Now ask students if the sponge can be useful again.

Explain to students that our bodies will experience stress as we get older and we have to learn how to recognize stress and manage it so that we can keep our bodies healthy and strong.

By the end of this lesson, your child will be able to identify stressors and describe how stress affects your body. You will also be able to describe strategies that you can use to help you deal with stress.

Parental Input:

Ask the child if they have ever heard someone say, “I am stressed or I am stressed out.” Ask the child if they know what this means. Stress is a situation or a thought that makes someone feel worried or afraid and affects your body. People might worry about a test at school, starting a new camp, playing a new sport for the first time, or riding a new bus; however, you don’t have to be afraid of these things. It is normal for everyone to feel a little worried sometimes, especially

when they are facing something new or different. Sometimes worries in your mind can make your body feel different. Experiencing stress might make your heart beat a little faster, make you feel hot, make you breath faster, or make you feel like you have little butterflies in your stomach. Sometimes this can be a good thing because it helps us focus or get things done.

However, sometimes stress can make our bodies feel badly for example stress can cause a headache or a stomachache. When some people are stressed, they might not feel like eating or might have trouble sleeping. This kind of stress is not helpful and can actually make us sick. We can work to manage our stress by planning ahead, making good choices, and taking care of ourselves. If you realize you are feeling stress and it is making your body feel badly, you can use strategies to relax like taking a walk, taking a slow, deep breath, or talking to a friend or adult about what is worrying or bothering us. Some people go to the park, exercise or practice yoga, listen to music, sing, or draw to feel better when they feel stressed. These strategies can help our bodies calm down and avoid letting the worries or stress make us fearful or sick.

Ask your child to brainstorm examples of causes of stress:

Your child riding a new bus for the first time, playing in your first soccer game, and attending a new school.

Ask the child to describe how stress might make them feel : fast heartbeat, worried, hot or sweaty, stomachache, or headache.

Optional - Practice some yoga techniques with students.

Cosmic Kids Yoga’s YouTube channel is a great video for leading yoga for your kindergarten child.

Closure:

Today we learned what causes stress, how our bodies respond to stress, and how we can manage stress in healthy ways.