Learning Brain Resource

Five Strategies to Access your Student’s Learning Brain
Students come to school with many outside stressors in their lives. The more
you can do as an educator to help students in your classroom feel safe and
connected, the better the outcomes for your students. The Wildewood
Learning framework allows you to cultivate safety and connection in your
classroom, cultivating a W.I.L.D. learning environment that supports the
growth and success of youth.
A WILD Learning Environment is:
Whole person-focused
In community, working together
Learns what is right with self
Develop the skills of resilience
I am excited to share five of my favorite strategies in the classroom to

help learners self-regulate, creating calm bodies and brains. I do these
strategies with the students so that I co-regulate with them. Co-regulation
is lending my calm nervous system to support them in calming and
connecting to their nervous systems.
Kathryn Magnusson, M. Ed. (218) 242-5318 www.wildewoodlearning.com kathy@wildewoodlearning.com

Listen for the Chime
Cue for starting the morning meeting time, practicing several mindful
strategies, or having students focus on a sound.
Invite students to either put their heads down on the desk, close their eyes,
or just soften their gaze to the floor. Ring a chime and then have students
see how long they hear the chime. Put a thumb up when they hear the
chime stop. Move around the room, striking the chime and waiting for them
to listen to the chime stop.
You can purchase a single note chime on Amazon.
Tune into the Senses
A common strategy to decrease anxiety is to use the five senses to tune

into the present moment and slow down your thinking. Inviting all the
students to connect with their five senses by first sitting upright, taking a
slow deep breath in, and slowly letting the breath out.
Look around the classroom for five things they can see, silently naming the
items in their heads.
Slowly breathe in and let the breath out.
Four things within arm’s length that they can touch.
Three sounds they can hear.
Two orders they can smell.
Slowly breathe in and let the breath out
One thing they would love to taste.
Finger Breathing
Easy to use practice that students enjoy doing together. Spread your left
hand, so there is space between the fingers and thumb. Then take the index
finger of your right hand and start at the base of the left hand, lightly tracing
the outside edge of the thumb as you breathe in. When you reach the top of
the thumb, slowly trace downward with your finger and breathe out.
Continue tracing the fingers on the left hand, breathing in, and you go up
and breathe out as you go down. Tracing the hand slowly is the key to this
strategy.
A demonstration of this strategy by clicking HERE
S.T.O.P
This strategy is a mindfulness practice from the book, The Mindful Teen by
Dzung X. Vo. Mindfulness is simply approaching daily activities by being
present, curious, and caring. Use this strategy before taking a test, starting
on a project, or simply walking to the next class.
S = Stop what you are doing and pause before heading into the next activity.
T = Take three slow breaths.
O = Observe what is happening in the present moment
P = Proceed mindfully into the next activity

Focus on Strengths
Supporting students in acknowledging their strengths can be a positive

force of good. When you focus on the positive in your students, this
strategy will help them feel more competent, motivated, and willing to
expend effort towards a goal.
Invite students to think of someone that they admire. It can be someone

they are close to or maybe someone they read about or watch, or even a
character in a story. Then give them a few minutes to write down all the
characteristics of that person or character they admire.
Then have the students cross off the name of the person they admire and
put their own. Share the characteristics they wrote down and create a list of
all the positive traits. These are strengths that they can aspire towards for
themselves.
There are many other ways to use the list of characteristics that can help
students identify their strengths or the strengths of other classmates.
You can find a demonstration of each of these five strategies by clicking HERE.
Subscribe to the Wildewood Learning YouTube channel for more ideas on

bringing trauma-sensitive strength-based practices into your classroom.

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Five Strategies to Access your Student’s Learning Brain

A WILD Learning Environment is:

I am excited to share five of my favorite strategies in the classroom to

Kathryn Magnusson, M. Ed. (218) 242-5318 www.wildewoodlearning.com kathy@wildewoodlearning.com

Tune into the Senses

A common strategy to decrease anxiety is to use the five senses to tune

A demonstration of this strategy by clicking HERE

Kathryn Magnusson, M. Ed. (218) 242-5318 www.wildewoodlearning.com kathy@wildewoodlearning.com

Supporting students in acknowledging their strengths can be a positive

Invite students to think of someone that they admire. It can be someone

Subscribe to the Wildewood Learning YouTube channel for more ideas on

Kathryn Magnusson, M. Ed. (218) 242-5318 www.wildewoodlearning.com kathy@wildewoodlearning.com

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