Kegonsa Elementary School has been promoting mindfulness in the classroom this school year.

School counselor Jake Schultz has been visiting classrooms and guiding students through exercises designed to build self-awareness and focus. One lesson, for example, helped students practice mindfulness by using the sense of taste to focus on the details that can often be overlooked.

Kegonsa has been using the MindUp curriculum as its framework for encouraging mindfulness this year.

"MindUp focuses on learning about three main parts of the brain: the amygdala (our emotion center), hippocampus (memory center) and prefrontal cortex (functioning center)," according to the school. "Students are taught about the importance of these three structures and how they impact their development. MindUp is a research-based curriculum [that] features 15 lessons that use the latest information about the brain to dramatically improve behavior and learning for all students. Each lesson offers easy strategies for helping students focus their attention, improve their self-regulation skills, build resilience to stress, and develop a positive mindset in both school and life. Some of the tools used are deep breathing along with mindful moving, smelling, tasting, seeing and hearing."

The school has also been using the Headspace app to connect with mindfulness activities.