Nonfiction Monday: Yoga

Welcome to Nonfiction Monday! My name is Anastasia Suen. I'm the author of 106 books (with 4 more due in September!) Since 1977, I've taught kindergarten to college. I'm a presenter for Staff Development for Educators, a children's literature consultant for several children's book publishers and an online writing instructor. (I teach adults how to write for kids.)

An active blogger, I created Nonfiction Monday in January 2008 because I wanted to have one day of the week when bloggers would read and talk about nonfiction books for kids. And now I'm bringing that day to Scholastic.

Let's begin....

Facts First
The Kids' Yoga Book of Feelings
by Mary Humphrey (Author) and Michael Frost (Photographer)

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's Books

Yoga teacher and school librarian Mary Humphrey also teaches yoga to teachers. In this book, twenty yoga poses for kids are photographed and explained, as are emotions these poses can generate. The book follows a common yoga practice of beginning with the seated position of Lotus Blossom "Feeling: Peaceful" and ending with the quiet reflection of Opossum "Feeling: Satisfaction."

Pair With . . .

Twist: Yoga Poems
by Janet S. Wong (Author) and Julie Paschkis (Illustrator)

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry

Poetry is words and feelings while yoga is breath and movement. The sixteen poems in this collection explore how breath and movement feel...

CHILD'S POSE

The chick-child curls up and breathes full.

Her body remembers the inside of the eggshell,
the firm roundness of her first home.

Activities

Try this Yoga Warm Up for kids.

For the multi-lingual classroom, Susan Kramer's Radiant Yoga for Kids in 6 languages: English, Dutch, French, Germans, Greek and Spanish.

To see yoga in action, view this Morning Yoga Sequence video.

Capital Yoga has 2 yoga pose coloring pages created by kids! Use them as a model to create your own class book about yoga. Each child can illustrate a different pose.

For Poetry Friday I blogged about Twist and created two new six trait writing activities for it.

For more information about using yoga with children, visit these resources:

See how Mrs. Yoga uses the yoga "as a springboard for exploration of many other areas—animal adaptations and behavior, music and playing instruments, storytelling, drawing."

Yoga teacher and therapist Lisa Orkin uses yoga to help kids "find balance in their lives."

If you're blogging about nonfiction books on this Nonfiction Monday, go to Picture Book of the Day and add your blog to this week's Round-up. (Classroom blogs welcome!)

Comments

[Yoga schools]

Hi,
I think yoga good at all the times.It improves our mental strength.

[Jone]

Congrats on your new blog site for Mondays. Will pass the word on to my colleagues.