Calm, Focused Minds

🎯 Year Level

Year 5 (can be adapted to a Year 4/5 composite)

⏰ Duration:

100 minutes

📚 Curriculum Links

Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (F–10)
Strand: Personal, Social and Community Health
Content Descriptor – ACPPS040:
Practice strategies they can use when they feel uncomfortable, unsafe or need help with a task, problem or situation.

General Capability Focus:

• Personal and Social Capability
• ICT Capability
• Critical and Creative Thinking

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🧠 WALT (We Are Learning To...)

We are learning to:

• Understand what mindfulness is.
• Practise mindfulness activities that help us feel calm, present, and focused.
• Reflect on how mindfulness affects our state of mind and body.

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✅ Success Criteria

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Explain mindfulness in their own words.
• Participate in at least three different mindfulness activities.
• Describe how they feel before and after each activity.
• Reflect on which mindfulness strategies work best for them.

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🧍‍♀️🧍 Lesson Overview (Summary for the Teacher)

This 100-minute Physical Education lesson introduces Year 5 students to the concept of mindfulness as a key component of personal wellbeing. Students will experience a variety of physical and mindful activities—ranging from attention training exercises, breathwork, music-guided movement, and digital mindfulness tools. Through active participation and reflection, students will explore how mindfulness connects the body and brain to help them become more emotionally aware and focused.

The lesson includes movement, seated and quiet time, reflection journals, digital mindfulness tools and brain breaks to cater for neurodiverse learners and maintain student engagement.

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📋 Lesson Breakdown

⏳ Introduction (10 minutes)

Activity: “Mindfulness Detective” Brainstorm (Class Discussion – Circle Time)

• Ask: “What do you think mindfulness is?”
• Display and record student responses on the whiteboard.
• Introduce working definition:

  "Mindfulness is paying close attention to what you’re doing, how you're feeling, and what's happening around you—right now, without judgement."

• Compare mindfulness to a “mental fitness” skill, like exercising your brain to be calmer and more focused.

🟡 Differentiation:
Use visuals for key words (e.g., calm, focus, present, aware) and provide a printed dyslexia-friendly version of the definition with visual icons.

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🧘‍♂️ Activity 1: Body Scan & Rainbow Breathing (15 minutes)

Focus: Body awareness and deep breathing

1. Seated Body Scan (~5 min): Guide students through a teacher-led progressive body scan (start at feet, work up to head), noticing tension or tingling. Lights dimmed if possible.
2. Rainbow Breathing (~10 min): A seated “shape breathing” activity using coloured visuals projected on the board.
   • Students follow a path of a rainbow with their fingers while taking deep, slow breaths (inhale on red, exhale on orange, etc.).

🟢 Differentiation:

• Offer options to sit or lie flat.
• Display breathing visuals on screen for visual learners.
• Pre-record audio guide via teacher device for students who prefer audio input.

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🕺 Activity 2: Movement-Based Mindfulness – “Slow-Mo Relay” (20 minutes)

Focus: Moving the body with intention and awareness

Set-up:

• Outdoor or indoor open space
• Students in groups of 5 (6 teams total)
• Provide each team with a list of movements (e.g., tiptoe, walk like jelly, smooth robot arms).

Instructions:

• One at a time, students complete a short 10m relay using slow, focused, mindful movement.
• Each movement should be done with full attention and control—no rushing!
• After all students complete the relay, reflect on how it felt to move slowly.

🔥 Extension:
Have advanced students create new mindful movements, teach to their group.

🔵 Differentiation:

• Add visual instruction cards showing each movement.
• Allow opt-out of certain movements for students with mobility concerns.

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🎧 Activity 3: Mindful Listening & Sound Mapping (15 minutes)

Focus: Focused auditory attention and environmental awareness

Instructions:

1. Students find their own space and close their eyes.
2. They listen carefully to nearby and distant sounds for 2 minutes.
3. Then, they open their eyes and complete a Sound Map exercise by marking sounds they heard on a simple outline of the playground or room.

📍 Use ambient nature soundtracks (e.g., Australian bush or beach) digitally in-class if outdoor setting is unavailable.

🟡 Differentiation:

• Printed dyslexia-friendly Sound Map with symbols for birds, wind, footsteps etc.
• Allow verbal dictation instead of writing.

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🎮 Activity 4: Digital Mindfulness Challenge (15 minutes)

Focus: Tech-integrated breathing and focus apps

Technology Tool:
Use class iPads, Chromebooks or teacher’s screen to demonstrate:

• “Smiling Mind” – Australian mindfulness app for kids. Run one 5-minute module together.
• Follow up with a “Mindful Minutes” tracker where students rate their focus on a scale of 1-10 before and after.

🔥 Extension:
Pair students and have them design their own “mindfulness app” layout using template paper or digital drawing software.

🔵 Differentiation:

• Students may record responses via voice note instead of writing.
• Provide step-by-step guide to using tabs or apps with visuals.

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📓 Activity 5: Cool Down & Reflection Journaling (15 minutes)

Instructions:

• Students return to desks.
• Use a reflection prompt sheet (printed in dyslexia-friendly font such as OpenDyslexic or Lexend).
• Questions:
  1. What was your favourite mindfulness activity today and why?
  2. How did your body and mind feel before we started? How do you feel now?
  3. How might you use mindfulness at school or home?

🟢 Differentiation:

• Use Think-Pair-Share before writing to support EAL or hesitant writers.
• Provide sticker-based mood charts instead of open-ended writing if needed.

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💡 Plenary (Wrap-Up: 10 minutes)

Class Gives Feedback in ‘Mindful Waves’

• Each student passes a “Mindful Wave” (silent gesture of thanks: smile plus wave) to the next person around the circle to close the lesson.
• Teacher gathers student ideas for ways to use mindfulness tools before tests, after lunch, or during stressful times.

✏️ Optional: Create a class “Mindfulness Toolbox” poster as a record of strategies practised.

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🔄 Assessment for Learning (AFL)

• Anecdotal Notes: Observe students during participation for engagement and comprehension.
• Student Reflections: Review journals as formative assessment of understanding.
• Peer Sharing: Listen in on peer feedback for depth of understanding.

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🎓 Differentiation Summary

For Diverse Learners:

• Use of visuals, simplified text, and physical supports.
• Audio and visual instructions accompany written text.
• Flexible grouping and movement options.
• Dyslexia-friendly fonts available in reflection materials.

For Extension:

• Student-led mindful movement creation.
• Digital design challenge: create an app or guided session.
• Journaling using similes or metaphors to describe mindfulness feeling.

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🧰 Materials & Equipment Checklist

• Projector/screen for visuals and breathing graphics
• Access to Smiling Mind or mindfulness audio clips
• iPads/laptops (1 per pair or teacher-demo)
• Reflection journals or printed sheets with dyslexia-friendly fonts
• A3 “Sound Maps” and movement cards
• Class poster materials (butcher paper, markers, stickers)

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🧭 Teacher Tips

• Be comfortable with calm and low-noise activities—model being centred and relaxed.
• Use soft chime or bell between activities as a mindful auditory anchor.
• Encourage students not to judge their attention levels—just notice.

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This lesson plan was thoughtfully created to integrate movement, calm, attention and digital elements in a balanced and deeply mindful way—for both students and teachers.

Let your students co-own their learning by discovering which strategies work for them, and why.