Moving around the Medicine Wheel below, another important element to finding balance and remaining healthy is to take care of your brain or cognitive health. Even though you are not in school full time right now, it is important to take care of and exercise your brain every day so that when we do return to school your brain will be in good shape. Think of it like another muscle, if you were fit when the school closed, and you didn't exercise while away from school, then you will be less fit when you return. Crazily enough, it is the same as your brain! There are some good recommendations in the above medicine wheel including, reading a book, or learning something new. But if you are looking for other things to do in order to flex your brain muscles, try the following: Roblox- Build Your Own GamesThere are countless opportunities to learn code and if you are in to Roblox here is a link that can help you learn more about programming: https://developer.roblox.com/en-us/resources/learn-and-explore/index.html Mental up is easy to access and there is no need to download games, you can just play and excercise your brain muscles. Here is the link: https://www.mentalup.co/brain-games Playing ChessChess can be played with a family member at home or with anyone online. If you do not have a chess board, then there is countless online chess games. One site that I like is Spark Chess, there is no need to sign up, you can play a friend or anyone online. Here is the link: https://www.sparkchess.com/
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Using the Medicine Wheel pictured below, consider how you can take care of your physical health in order to stay balanced and healthy. fAs you can see doing some of the basic such as washing your hands, and practicing social distancing will prevent you from getting sick. But also keep in mind how you can move your body. If you find you are lacking energy then moving your body will give you energy. Weird hey?! Trust me this is scientific fact, using energy will give you more energy. What things can you do? One fun thing you can do is try today's challenge video that was posted on our main page. Mr. Martin challenged you to build an obstacle course in your back yard. Here are some other ideas: Try a Tik Tok Challenge!Just Dance!Soccer Drill IndoorsNike Training ClubThis free app offers many diverse and free workouts here is the link for more information: https://www.nike.com/ntc-app
One way to look at remaining healthy during this pandemic is to remain balanced. A helpful way of remaining balanced to is to ensure you are taking care of yourself emotional, physically, spiritually, and mentally. One way that can be helpful to understand balance is to understand the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel is an aboriginal symbol of health. The medicine wheel is like a life compass that shows us the four directions, seasons and cycles of life: Taking Care of Our Emotional HealthThe Medicine Wheel shows us that it is important to hold space for your feelings. Holding space means allowing yourself to feel your feelings. If we avoid feeling our feelings it can affect our health in so many ways. Below is a helpful diagram that answers the question "how do I know what I am feeling, and what my feelings are saying about me?
Learning to breath is so important when feeling stressed out. Breathing techniques help to calm our amygdala down and can feed our brains and our lungs with healing oxygen. When we are feeling stressed out, anxious, scared or angry, our amygdala takes over. Here is a helpful video that explains more:
So what helps with managing our emotions? Deep belly breathing is the simplest and best way to manage. Here are some helpful activities to try:
Box or Square BreathingBelly Breathing
Belly breathing helps to give our bodies more oxygen. When we practice, think about filling your belly with air when you breathe in through your nose, like you would fill a balloon. And when you blow out, let the air out of your belly and out of your mouth. Here is a video that you will not forget!:
4-7-8 Breathing
This style of breathing takes belly breathing one step further. Watch the video and follow along:
Check out the "Good Advice Cupcake" and play three games that can help reduce your stress and take your mind off of things. In the game you have a choice of playing the "Bubble Popper" game, the "Cupcake Meditation" and "Calming Colours". I especially enjoyed the Bubble Popper game. Here is the link: https://eko.com/buzzfeed-x-eko/calming-zen-activities-with-cupcake?autoplay=true Sushi Cat!Some of my students may remember us playing a few fun spacial reasoning games when we were learning about executive functioning. Sushi cat was my favorite. This free game challenges you to pick the best path for your cat to fall while feeding him yummy sushi! Here is the link: http://sushicat.top/ WaterfallsWaterfalls is a relaxing game where you have to fill the containers by redirecting the coloured water flow. Use the mouse to bring the forces in the right position. While you play, you have the option of listening to some calming music. Here is the link, Enjoy!
http://mypuzzle.org/waterfalls-3 The feedback I am getting from some students is that they are feeling overwhelmed with the work they have to do. It is especially stressful for grade 8 students because they have so many different teachers. The message we want to send you is to do what you can. If you are feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work you are getting, I am happy to help you talk with your teacher, or help you focus on what is important. I am here for you!! Helpful School Work ToolsEven though I want you to take it easy on yourself, it is important to still keep on top of your academic progress. Here are some helpful digital apps that can allow you to work from your computer and hand in work digitally to Google Classroom without having to use paper and pencil. This is handy for those that don't like to write, but would rather type. Here are a few apps that can help: Notes Scan Using the notes app on your phone follow the instructions on the link provided to scan your work into a PDF: https://www.imore.com/how-use-document-scanner-iphone-and-ipad Typing Directly onto a PDFhere is the link for Dochub: https://dochub.com/. Once you have a document saved as a PDF, you can then use a great app called Dochub to type, draw and highlight your document and then submit to your teacher in Google Classroom. Here is a tutorial on how to access Dochub from your Google drive: https://helpdesk.dochub.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019036393-Open-a-file-with-DocHub-from-within-Google-Drive. I use this feature all of the time when I do distance learning and it is very easy to use and helpful. To learn more watch the video below: If you are still not sure how to use Dochub I am happy to walk you through it. Just contact me on Google Hangouts, e-mail or use my contact form on the next page.
Happy April 6th everyone! I hope that you are all coping and ready to start another week of virtual learning. I know that this is a really tough time for all of you. And I want to thank you all for doing your part, even though you can't hang out with your friends and see all of your loved ones right now. You are doing your part to protect so many people. Here is a lovely message from LEGO Trudeau Times are tough, time to rememberThis is a very unique time for all of you. This is a time that you will never forget. Moving forward, this is a time where you can share with your future loved ones, your experience during this momentous time in our history. Here are some links to Covid-19 activities that you can create: Click on the following link for your free copy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MaM2RBrqyDeyKFCG8impDgfuZ8a2tIZ-/view?fbclid=IwAR3Jb8C0AYTJDsPqEd9AkoDxFrWG6mgzxNLmUdPwmaLBDIIXleqasUcMcUk Lockdown DiaryHere is another fun way to document your time at home by Stephen McCarthy. Follow the link to download, and if you can, donate money to his page: https://www.mylockdowndiary.com/?fbclid=IwAR0_6xrtkePM87kZ1g-JFOTkZ2JCBBmewuTpw56--Ck74qU2AAigJb-1NRY
A lot of our favorite memories are attached to the music that we listened to during that time. Think about your past year in school. What songs come to mind for you? Is it a song that makes you want to dance? To sing? Or just to sit and close your eyes and smile. Here is a song that I have playing in my mind today: Executive Functioning FunIt is important to keep yourself healthy during your time at home. There are many physical and self-care resources that are available to you. But what about your brain health? In order to perform academically it is important to flex your brain muscles now and then. I will be posting some fun daily executive functioning activities for you to try. But first here is some information about how to keep your brain functioning and healthy: Some of you have been home for part of, or a whole week. Some of you are adjusting to a new normal and being home is kind of overwhelming. Today, I am going to post a few links to things that can help you today and for however long you are at home. Please also scroll down to see a daily mental wellness calendar challenge that may be helpful. Stay strong and stay safe!! <3 Free at-home workouts from YMCAMindful Art Lesson From Counsellor KeriFree Museum Colouring Books |
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