(above) Franklin Elementary School’s wellness space
Mindful, Not Mind Full: Creating A Wellness Space
Submitted by Linda Lospinoso Lampert
Franklin Elementary School in Rahway was recently the recipient of a fully funded donorschoose.org project. The project proposal was written and submitted by a teacher at the school, Mrs. Rebecca Rose-Wood, with the hopes of creating a wellness space for the school’s staff and students to practice mindfulness. A space like this promotes balance, moment to moment awareness, and positive thinking. Learning and practicing mindfulness strategies also allows individuals to continue to grow and reach their highest potential while also internalizing essential character development practices effectively.
This Mindfulness Project coincides nicely with a school-wide initiative that has been recently implemented that revolves around William Covey’s, Leader in Me program, which teaches the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The premise of the program is on teaching strong character development skills at a young age, which in turn will lead to empathetic, confident, and successful learners. This program lends itself to the practice of mindfulness. Countless studies and statistics have shown that teaching mindfulness at a young age has a monumentally positive effect on students physically, emotionally, and academically. Many of our students would benefit from this type of self-assessment, stability, and discipline. For our students and faculty to truly internalize the 7 Habits, along with strategies for achieving mindfulness, we need a space where we can effectively learn, practice, and model these behaviors.
Franklin School services students from PreK to grade 6. The students come from a wide range of ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, and they vary academically and culturally. There are many demands and requirements put upon the students, faculty, and staff alike. This project will help them to continue working together to adopt the characteristics and habits necessary to be the best that we can be.
Photo by Rahway Public Schools
