Weekly Inspiration: Stress and Relaxation

I am excited about my giveaway and my new followers. For those of you that are new, I thought I would summarize one of weekly posting traditions.  Each week (usually on Monday), I post my "Weekly Inspiration."  This was something I did in classroom.  I had a Weekly Inspiration wall where each week I posted a picture, poem, and quote.  We would discuss these and the students used them as inspiration for their writing.  (You can see where I posted my "Weekly Inspiration" in the corner.)

I did this to foster creativity and critical thinking.  I believe it is important for students to be able to respond to different sources of inspiration and not just always use writing prompts or a summary of their day. We used the inspiration for our daily journal writing.  We still also completed larger writing projects throughout the year.  Here was my original post on my Weekly Writing Inspiration.

Here on my blog I have continued the tradition.  Each week I post a quote, a picture, and a poem (often around a central theme) I hope some of you will use in your classrooms.  I offer different things you could discuss with your class for each one.  Part of the reason I also feel passionate about my weekly writing inspiration is that I think it is important for students to be exposed to poetry.  I think often we have students write poetry, but do not spend enough time reading poetry.  Part of the difficulty is finding poems that are appropriate for children.  Poetry is a wonderful tool to teach imagery, visualization, fluency, and figurative language.  One of my goals is to start making more handouts, activities, and questions to accompany the poems I share each week.

For this week since many of you are out of school or finishing up, I chose the theme of stress and relaxation.  Make sure you take some time to take a deep breath and unwind before conquering all those summer projects.  I have been keeping a gratitude journal lately (most of the time) and it has really helped me let go of so much stress.  (For tips on joy and gratitude, I follow Ann Voskamp's blog: www.aholyexperience.com).

Weekly Inspiration: Stress and Relaxation

Quote: I found this little collection of quotes on stress and relaxation and liked them all, so I have decided to share all of them.  You can download a copy here.

Poem: "I Left My Head" by Lillian Moore
This is a super cute poem.  I would definitely have my students draw what they visualize with this poem.  It could definitely prompt some great discussion on what the poet meant "when she left her head."  When have we all felt this way?  (FYI: I provide links to the poems, but don't copy the text because I don't want to violate copyright laws.)

Picture: I love the idea of just going for a bike ride and enjoying the day and the sunshine.  Just let go, breathe, and enjoy. (Source: Pinterest)

For the rest of the summer, I may not exactly post the writing inspiration for students each week.  I might try to focus on sharing inspiration for teachers.  I will still probably include some quotes and pictures, but I want to share some great ideas and inspiration for planning for next year.

I think another great source of inspiration this summer is going to be the "Monday Made It" linkies at 4th Grade Frolics.  Check it out for some great ideas!  I know I am looking forward to scoping them all out.

Don't forget about my giveaway and my linky party for teaching with themes.  I really would love to hear how others are using themes in their classrooms.