Lesson Plan: Learning to Relax

Grade Level: 2 - 5

Purpose: To learn techniques for unwinding and relaxing to get ready for sleep at night. To consider how routines or rituals may differ for different individuals and for different ages.

Introduction: Sleep is important for your health. People who don't get enough sleep risk getting sick more often and being grumpy. Getting a full nights' sleep will increase your energy level the next day. When trying to fall asleep, it helps to feel calm and relaxed.

Brainstorm: Ask the children if any of them have something that they do regularly that helps them "wind down" to get to sleep at night. Do they either read to themselves or does someone else read to them a bedtime story? Does someone sing them a lullaby? How did they fall asleep when they were little? Is it different now than it was 2 years ago?

Create a chart on the blackboard with two columns: one for techniques or routines they do now before going to bed, the other for rituals they did when two years before. Let the children know that this is an optional sharing, that no one is "forced" to share about their personal lives if they prefer not. One student can act as the "recorder" for each list of routines.

Discuss: After you have a few items in each column, have the children compare the columns. If it is an older age group, you may wish to have them raise their hands for each of the items listed to tally how many people practice (or practiced) the listed bedtime ritual. Which is most common? Were the most common rituals the same or different as was the case from their memory of their habits two years previously?

Learn a Song; Creative Choreography (simple motions to accompany the song); (3rd-5th)Decide with whom the class will share what they have learned : This song may be fun for them to sing and learn about hibernation at the same time. It is a song that encourages the young child to feel secure and protected, as the animals who hibernate protect themselves through the winter, the child is protected by his or her parent throughout the night. For third-fifth graders, the children may wish to learn the song in order to then share what they've learned with a class of "kindergarten or 1st grade buddies or with an adopted class in your school.

The song is sung to the tune, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." However, the way this is sung is with one surprising variation. After the third line in each verse, the singer(s) stop and take a deliberate deep breath. The children may also be encouraged to invent their own motions to accompany the words of the song.(1)

Woody Woodchuck goes to sleep,
In his burrow dark and deep
Stretch out to relax ; breathe deep [Pause: SINGERS TAKE Exaggerated DEEP BREATH]
As you sleep, a watch I'll keep
Now, curl up, your body's warm
Safe and sound from any harm.

Sandy Ground Squirrel stows away
Acorns for a snowy day
Plans to sleep the winter through. [Pause: SINGERS TAKE Exaggerated DEEP BREATH]
One night's good enough for you.
So, cuddle on my shoulder, dear;
Feel my heartbeat; Mother's near.

Betty Bat hangs down to sleep
In the cave so dark and deep
Let us now turn out your light [Pause: SINGERS TAKE Exaggerated DEEP BREATH]
Rest your eyes all through the night
Baby human on your back
Now, I, too, will hit the sack.

Beginning Activity: Explain to the students that it is important to be relaxed for bedtime. If your brain is sending messages to your muscles telling them to be tight, it is harder for your brain to be able to fall asleep. Have them do the following activity to understand the difference between contracted (tight) and relaxed muscles. The students pick partners. You can either give the instructions ahead of time, give a handout with both the song lyrics and the instructions, or read the instructions as they go through this activity.

Caution: If any of your students has fibromyalgia (like Emilie, TQ team member, does, so we are aware of this "invisible" problem) or any physical disability or problem with either muscle control or with tensing their muscles, they will only want to observe or to try the "relaxed" version. Any student with Fibromyalgia would already know the pain and stiffness of tight/cramping/ tense muscles, for example, and should just be encouraged to try to emphasize the relaxing positions / exercises, unless done under medical supervision.

Instructions: One student of each pair lies down on the [hopefully carpeted] floor.) To student on the floor: Stiffen your body by tightening your muscles. While you keep your muscles contracted/ tight, have your partner lift your arm or leg off of the floor and let it drop down on its own. Both partners, take a deep breath. To the person on the floor again: Now, relax your body and all of your muscles. Have your partner lift and drop the same limb again. How did this feel? How was this different? Was it harder or easier for your partner to lift your limb while you were relaxed as opposed to stiff? Switch places and try again, then share your observations. Your muscles need to be relaxed in order to sleep.

Following Activities: Have the students try some of the following relaxation techniques. Which you do may depend on the size and age of the group, and the size of the room.

1. While lying down, try to tighten just your toes. Keep your legs and the rest of your body relaxed. Now relax your toes. Tighten them again. This time tighten your calves as well. Make sure the other muscles in your body are not tight. Relax the calf muscles and then the toes. Progress through the rest of your body, tightening the toes, then the calves, then the thighs, then your buttocks, then your stomach and back, then your shoulders, then your arms, then your hands, then your neck, then your face. Tighten each part of the body one by one, then progressively adding the next muscle group, then try to relax them one by one. Do you feel more relaxed by the end of this exercise?

2. Lie down and close your eyes. Try to push all your thoughts out of your head. Focus on nothing but your breathing.

One way the students might achieve this is to imagine that they slow down enough to see any intruding thought written on a blackboard. They must take the time to mentally visualize erasing the idea, before letting their mind go on to any new thought. The goal is to clear their personal "chalkboard" of their mind completely, so it will be emptied out without feeling pressured. They can imagine the chalk staying "resting" on the tray at the bottom of the imaginary chalkboard. They should literally stretch out the fingers of their hands, (perhaps even let them crack their knucles without complaint or annoyance) if need be, and consciously try to relax their hands and fingers.

Take a deep breath and say "In" as you breathe in. Say "out" as you exhale. Do this FIVE times. If your mind again starts to"wander," count your breaths instead of saying "in, out." Think, "In" as you inhale. Count, saying "One" (or the number of each breath) as you exhale & focus on breathing out. Make your breaths are slow and steady.

3. Sometimes it is helpful to write down out all your thoughts to clear your mind, knowing any concerns will not be "lost" if you take them out of your active mind's attention.. After you get what you are thinking down on paper, it may be easier to put these thoughts aside. Try writing for five minutes about any worries or stresses that come to mind. If possible, repeat activity 2 again. Was it easier to clear your mind?

4. Bring in a ticking clock (perhaps out of sight, or in an inconspicuous location near your desk). Set up the clock in the room, ticking, at the beginning of the day, before the students have arrived. For this part of the relaxation lesson, have the students put their heads on their desks. Close the door and turn off the lights. Tell the students to close their eyes, and not to open them again until you say so, but that it will be less than five minutes. (or less if appropriate) Ask them to listen carefully to the noises of the room. Are there any crickets? Air conditioning or heater? Tell them to think about the many noises they hear as they sit in silence for a few minutes.

After about 2-3 minutes have lapsed, smother the noise of the ticking with a very thick towel or stop the clock, so that it no longer makes its rhythmic ticking noise. Take note of how many children lifted their heads or reacted to the absence of the noise. After about 1 or 2 more minutes, turn the lights back on, and let the students lift up their heads from the desks. Tell them that you stopped the clock and how many you saw react to it. Ask if any others noticed the change. It is good to be able to block out these noises when falling asleep because any slight irregularity can be disturbing. What other noises did they hear? Did they feel more aware of their hearing as they were not using their vision at the same time?

Did anyone fall asleep or almost fall asleep in that short of a time? If so, without embarrassing them, it might be helpful to talk with the class further about sleep deprivation and "sleep latency," the time it takes someone to fall asleep. Those indivduals who fall asleep in the middle of the lesson just because the room is suddenly very quiet may need further attention to see if they are sleep-deprived or have some medical cause for falling asleep in the brief quiet time.

5. Ask each student to close their eyes and to imagine or to remember, to try to visualize a calm, relaxing nature scene, perhaps imaginary or perhaps some peaceful place to which they've been before. Ask them to try to have all senses participate as they try to take an imaginary walk in that place and feel a very gentle (fresh, unpolluted air) breeze on their face and blowing through their hair.

Conclusion: Ask the students: Why do we need sleep? Remind them of the importance of relaxation and sleep, as explained and/or discussed in the introduction to the lesson. Request that the students try one of the activities at home before bed that night . The next day take time either to have them write in personal journals or to discuss which or whether they felt any of the relaxation techniques tried in class or at home were helpful.

(1) Lyrics by Edith Sutterlin by request to accompany the lesson plans. Her idea to add the "surprise" deep breath at the end of the third line is to have the students consciously recognize that many of us breathe very shallowly. By making an exaggerated break in the middle of a very familiar nursery rhyme tune, the students can be asked to take this as an interruption to feel what a really deep breath feels like, and to see this as a metaphor for the way we need to take a rest break in the middle of our busy lives. Permission to use: Augus 11, 1999. c. Edith Sutterlin.