School Spotlight: Oak View Elementary Uses Movemindfully To Calm Classrooms
At Oak View Elementary in Maple Grove, students are getting the tools to pause and breathe. Classroom leaders say its working.
Nearly every day in Shirley Merriett’s classroom, her second-grade students stand up and stretch. They’re following instructions from Movemindfully, a Minnesota-based company that focuses on mindfulness exercises.
“It helps us recenter, refocus so we can show up our best selves in our space together,” Merriett explained.
Merriett was an early adopter of the practice. She said they do it to transition to different activities, prepare for tests or even just relax a squirrelly classroom. It is one way to help children manage big emotions. Her students now know many of the exercises by heart.
“Now, I have students volunteering to lead, and their peers are so into it! It’s such a buy-in. We really enjoy it,” Merriett said.
In the daily mindfulness exercise, Merriett encourages her students to pick a mindfulness practice they like to lead the class in. One second-grader, Lucy, walked her classmates through one of the exercises called “eagle.”
“I think it’s really fun,” Lucy said afterwards.
She said practicing mindfulness is calming for her, but it also makes a big difference for her classmates.
“For some of them, they are really over-the-top and really hyper,” Lucy said. “I feel like it makes them calm down, so.”
Students in Mrs. Merriett’s class practice a mindfulness exercise.
A School-Wide Practice
What Lucy notices is the intended effect — and it’s not just being implemented in her classroom. At Oak View throughout the school each month, students move mindfully in a big group with Principal Ryan Gibbs. The groups are split up by grade level.
“Welcome second graders!” Gibbs called as kids filed into the gym. “Nice to see you. Come on in!”
Gibbs connects with the students by asking them how they’re feeling, sharing a story and then working through a mindfulness exercise. After that, teachers recognized their students of the month in front of the class. Then, the students get to play a game.
Students learn a new mindfulness exercise with Gibbs each month. Oak View Education Support Professional Stephanie Halverson looked on for this session proudly; this grant was her brainchild. She applied for, and received funds for some Osseo Area Schools to use the Movemindfully framework. That funding comes from Hennepin Health.
As an ESP, Halverson works with some children who have more trouble regulating their emotions. She learned about Movemindfully a few years ago. First, she brought it to teachers. This year, some of the schools brought it to students. Halverson said she saw success in kids from the start.
“We’ve had many, many wins within our students in our behavior intervention rooms; our den, in our classrooms for our children who just need a little bit more to help themselves be able to stay and regulate,” Halverson said.
Halverson said she often sees kids practicing the mind-body coping skills as they transition from class to class. She believes these practices are extending beyond the classroom.
“Then they take it back to their classrooms, and then it goes into their toolbox that they can take home and share with their parents,” Halverson said.
Other Osseo Area schools that use Movemindfully within the district are Elm Creek, Garden City, Palmer Lake and Fair Oaks. Halverson hopes to extend the Hennepin Health grant into the future.
Principal Gibbs teaches kids a new movemindfully exercise.
