If you’ve been following this series, you know we’re exploring simple, intentional ways to move from the First Five into the learning of the day without losing the energy you’ve built. Last time, we looked at how a guiding question can bridge that shift towards instruction. This week, we’re leaning on a built-in tool: mindfulness.
Mindfulness in the classroom can lead to some extraordinary results. Not the sit-and-meditate-for-an-hour kind, but the quick, human moment to pause, breathe, and reset. Teachers have shared that even just 20–30 seconds of guided breathing can calm their students, lower stress and anxiety, and help students regulate before attempting to learn.
An approach worth considering is to create a clear boundary between First Five time and content time by ending with the First Five’s Mindfulness activity. A final moment of intentional breathing or quiet, inward focus is like pressing the reset button: we connected… now we’re ready to learn.
Give this a try:
“Before we jump into today’s lesson, let’s take one last moment to breathe. In through the nose… out through the mouth. As you breathe, focus on one thing you want to accomplish today in class.”
This small pause settles the room, centers students, and prepares them, emotionally and cognitively, for what comes next. At first it may feel odd, awkward, or cringe, but when used consistently, it becomes a reliable signal: We’re shifting. We’re centered. We’re ready.
Give this strategy a try this week and see how it supports your transition out of the First Five. Please remember to share your go-to approach to transitioning into content with us. We’d love to highlight your ideas in future editions. When one teacher shares something good, it spreads. And that’s what this community is all about.
-Alan Krenek, COO of Edtomorrow