As you return from a well-deserved summer break, remember that your health and wellbeing are vital to having a successful school year. Taking care of yourself daily alleviates stress, avoids burnout, and will have you feeling rejuvenated.

What’s more, by modeling healthy behaviors, students see your efforts and learn by example. When you feel good, your students do too!

Here are some ways to incorporate wellness into your school day:

• Meditation—Dedicate the first five minutes of the school day to meditation. Dim the lights, create a quiet space, and have students close their eyes. These practices will foster self-awareness, better focus, less stress, and improved sleep. Free apps such as Smiling Mind or UCLA Mindful offer a range of meditations in different languages.
• Journaling—Introduce journaling into daily classroom routines. It only takes five minutes and allows students to document what they have learned, express their thoughts, wishes, and affirmations. Journaling promotes emotional processing, self-discovery, and helps ward off negativity. Canva provides free templates, and standard notebooks work just as well.
• Walking and Physical Movement—Take weekly outdoor walks with your students, exploring the school grounds or nearby park. Integrate walking into lessons on history, science, or health. Physical movement helps clear the mind, reduce stress, and improve sleep. Be creative in including movement into daily classroom routines.
• Gratitude List—Create a classroom gratitude board, listing things you and your students are thankful for in and outside of school. Consider using gratitude jars for anonymous participation, where students contribute daily gratitudes and read them together at the end of the week or during challenging times.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to making a gratitude jar for your classroom.

Incorporating wellness activities into your daily classroom routines equips students with lifelong skills—What a gift!

Take care, teachers.