TBH FOCUS THEME 6 INTRODUCTION POETRY PLAY · video of jellyfish. Let’s focus on how the jellyfish move, and how it reminds us of the poem. Show the jellyfish video for about 1

TBH FOCUS

MIND | Stretch Your Mind. Keeping intellectually engaged with new creative challenges is one of the most effective ways to take care of your brain.

THEME 6 INTRODUCTION | POETRY PLAYHello, everyone! It’s so nice to see you all. We’ve been practicing ways we can stay physical-ly healthy to help our brains stay healthy. Now, we will be moving to another way of taking care of our brains. Our Theme today is Poetry Play. We will be playing with poems and en-gaging our minds in creative and fun ways.

Engaging in mentally challenging activities -- taking a painting class, learning a new lan-guage, joining a book group — is vital to brain health. Research suggests that staying men-tally active, no matter what challenges we face, is good for our brains. Creative activities or hobbies keep our thinking skills sharper. Some studies have shown that they may slow cog-nitive decline. Finally, we often do these activities in the company of others. And we know being social is really great for our brains and our overall well-being. That’s why it’s so great that you are here today, taking this time together and for yourselves to help your brains. Let’s get started.

© TBH Brands LLC 2018, Upper Montclair, NJ. All rights reserved.

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TBH FLEX 1.0 THEME 6

Adapt to the needs of your group by offering the TBH FLEX Builders in 1 or 2 classes. See the “Start Here | It’s as Easy as 1-2-3” Guide in your online toolkit for best practices tips on adjusting class length.

THEME 6 | POETRY PLAY


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TBH FLEX 1.0

TBH LET’S GET IT STARTED! 10 MINUTES

Start each session with this upbeat workout to prime focus, boost energy and get the group ready to learn together. Use music from the suggested playlist to set a steady rhythm (see Resources). Everyone should be seated in a circle.

First, let’s warm up with our TBH Let’s Get It Started stretch! Today we can think of this as “poetry in motion!” Is everyone ready?

Okay—let’s get our feet started!• TAP IT OUT. Let’s start tapping our toes. (Begin tapping, setting a rhythm that’s upbeat an

steady, but not too fast.) Now let’s count it out from 1 to 10. Ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!• TAP IN TURN. Good—now switch feet. (Alternate left and right. When everyone is up

to speed, get the class counting again using letters.) Let’s count together using letters. Ready? A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J!

Terrific! Let’s get our legs started!• KICK IT UP. Kick along with me, one leg at a time. (Starting with either foot, kick gently from

the knee.) Let’s count it out from 1 to 10. Ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!• LIFT A LEG. Excellent! Now pick up your feet. (From the knee lift and lower one leg at a

time.) Ready? A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J! • MARCH IT OUT. Time to march. (Begin marching your feet while sitting. Offer the option to

stand if participants are physically able. Start counting when everyone is moving together.) Now repeat after me: 1 (signal group to say “1”). 2 (signal). 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. TBH! (signal for repeat). GOOD FOR ME! (signal)

Great job! Let’s get our arms started now.

• UP AND DOWN ARMS. Take it slow and gentle, like this. (Demonstrate: Hold arms straight in front at shoulder height, palms facing down. Lower hands to thighs, then lift them back up.) Ready? Count with me. Here we go: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

• CHOP WOOD! Fantastic, everyone! Now let’s add that cross-body motion to our workout. We are going to chop wood, like this. (Lift the right hand up by the left side of your face. Slowly “chop” down to the outside of your right knee. Then lift the right hand back to the right side of the face. Slowly “chop” down to the outside of your left knee. Then do the same with your left hand and right knee, repeating the movements in the opposite direction.) Got it? Let’s start chopping everyone! Counting together: 1, 2, and 3, 4. Let’s do that again. A,B and C, D. Great job!

POETRY PLAY


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TBH FLEX 1.0

• STRETCH SET. Let’s do one more for the arms. Stretch both arms out in front again. This time we’ll alternate them. Watch me and join in. (Extend both arms straight in front of you and then alternate lifting and lowering them.) Looking good! Now let’s count to five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Is everyone feeling warm yet? Terrific—let’s get our shoulders started!

• SHOULDER SHRUGS. Let’s do shoulder shrugs. Keep your hands on your thighs, take a big breath in, and lift your shoulders up toward your ears. (Demonstrate.) Let that breath out and relax yours shoulders at the same time. (Demonstrate.) Let’s do ten. Ready? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

Almost done, everyone. We’re going to finish up with our voices. Let’s get our voices warmed up by making sounds together. Ready?

• VOICE VOCALS

Say “OHHHHHHHHHH” (hold sound for a few seconds)

Say “EHHHHHHHHHHH” (hold for a few seconds)

Say “AHHHHHHHHHHHH” (hold for a few seconds)

One more time! Say “OHHHHHHHHHH” (hold sound for a few seconds)

Say “EHHHHHHHHHHH” (hold for a few seconds)

Say “AHHHHHHHHHHHH” (hold for a few seconds)

Now all 3 sounds together! Say “OH - EH - AH” (Hold each sound for several seconds; repeat three times.)Awesome, everyone! Let’s end with one more big breath in through the nose… (inhale deeply through your nose) and out (exhale, this time through your mouth). Give yourselves a great big FLEX hug (hug yourself to demonstrate) and send some TBH love to your brain.Now open your arms wide in support of one another. And, give yourselves a round of applause for being here today. That was a fantastic warm-up. Is everyone ready to play with poetry?

THEME 6

TBH FLEX BUILDER 1 | POETRY IN MOTION 15 MINUTES

This FLEX Builder uses a fun, multi-sensory approach to intellectually engaging through poetry.

SBBT All Together

BRAIN SKILLS WORKED Sensory Perception, Coordination, Attention, Verbal Skills, Executive Control

YOU WILL NEED • TBH Poetry in Motion worksheets• Recording of poems (see Resources)• Jellyfish video (see Resources) • Devices for playing poem and video recordings• If doing harder variation: Jellyfish Facts Handout (see Resources)

LEARN THE TBH SCIENCE This TBH FLEX Builder is called “Poetry in Motion.”

There are all kinds of poems. Odes, sonnets, limericks, haiku, free verse – all kinds! Poems can be intellectually challenging. We need to figure out what is being said. They can make us feel things too. Sometimes they’re funny and make us laugh. There are poems that are uplifting and make us feel happy and optimistic. Some poems can make us feel a little sen-timental, or sad.

Here’s another great thing about poems. We can enjoy them in ways besides reading them. One of those is with movement. Many poems sound like songs when you read or listen to them out loud. They have a rhythm that we can move to. There are poems that describe images and activities that also can inspire us to move. And moving, as we know, is good for our bodies and our brains. But moving to poetry has an added creative twist, don’t you think?


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NOW DO ITLet’s try putting “poetry in motion” together. We’re going listen to a poem and put some of our own creative movements to the poem. This poem is called “A Jelly-Fish.” It was written by a poet named Marianne Moore. Let’s start by first just listening to this poem.

Either read the poem aloud or play a recording of it. You may choose to do both if time allows.

Would anyone like to hear the poem again before we talk about it? Repeat reading aloud or playing recording of poem if requested.

Did you notice that the poet describes different movements? She calls the jellyfish a “fluc-tuating charm,” for example. What do you think of when you hear the word “fluctuating?” (Allow discussion.) Let’s look at other movements in the poem. We can go line by line, start-ing at the beginning. (Read the poem aloud, stopping where the poem describes movement. Encourage class to discuss that movement. Continue until you reach the end of the poem, discussing together the movements in the poem.)

That was a great discussion about movement in the poem. Next, we are going to watch a video of jellyfish. Let’s focus on how the jellyfish move, and how it reminds us of the poem. Show the jellyfish video for about 1 minute. Lead discussion as you watch the video together.

Now it’s our turn to move. I’m going to play the video and we are going to move together, along with the jellyfish. You can move in any way you wish. You can stand up or stay in your chair. This is probably new for all of us! So, let’s be creative and go with the flow together!

Here we go!

Play jellyfish video again for about a minute or two. Start demonstrating free movements in-spired by the video and music. After a few minutes, add reading poem aloud.

Wonderful! Now I’m going to read the poem again, and we can move together along with the words and images. Ready? Continue until you have completed the poem.

That was so creative, everyone. I think the poet Marianne Moore would have been very proud of the way we interpreted her poem! Great job!

VARIATIONS• Make It Harder: Ask participants to describe the jellyfish as they watch the video. Ask if any-

one has ever seen or encountered a jellyfish; invite them to talk about the experience. Share information from “Jellyfish Facts” (see Resources).

• Make It Easier: Demonstrate moving to the poem; have participants copy the movements.

TBH FLEX BUILDER 2 | POETRY CLASS 15 MINUTES

Engage your class in the creative joy of poetry writing by working together to create their own class poem.

SBBT All Together

BRAIN SKILLS WORKED Attention, Processing Speed, Verbal Skills, Visual Skills, Memory, Reasoning, Executive Control

YOU WILL NEED • White board or flip chart • Markers• If doing easier variation: Recordings of poems and something to play them on (see Resources)

LEARN THE SCIENCEOur next TBH FLEX Builder is called “Poetry Class.” Writing poems is another way we can use poetry to help keep our brains healthy. When we use our brains to create something, we are exercising it, just like we would a muscle in our body.

Today we’re going to create a new poem together. By working as a group and sharing our ideas we give our brains an extra boost because we have to pay attention and listen care-fully to each other. It also makes it easier, since we get to help each other come up with ideas. And we get to give each other support. All of that is good for our brains and for our creative souls!


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NOW DO ITLet’s get started with our group poem. Are you ready?

The poem we will create will be free verse. That means we aren’t going to try to make the words rhyme or stick to any special rhythm. We can just focus on coming up with words for our poem together.

Here’s how we’ll do it. I’m going to start with the beginning of the first line of the poem. Anyone who wants to can share what comes to mind to add to the line. And then we can take turns adding more lines to our poem. I’ll write our poem here on this (white board/flip chart) as we create it together. There are no wrong answers. It is all about being creative together! So don’t be shy about sharing your ideas.

Ready to start? Here’s our first line.

Choose from one of the poem prompts below. Write it on the white board/flip chart. Then write down the lines shared by class participants as the class “writes” the rest of the poem together. When it feels like the poem has come to a natural end, stop and read the poem together. Repeat with additional poetry prompts from the list as time allows.

Poetry Prompts

1. Out of the water rose …

2. Dripping like …

3. I once traveled along the …

4. In this room I see …

What a beautiful poem we’ve written, everyone. I’m really proud of it. How about you? And what a lovely way to work together and exercise our brains. Great job!

VARIATIONS• Make It Harder: Pair up. Break class into pairs. Have pairs work together using the

prompts to create their own poems to share with the class. • Make It Easier: Have class members offer one word or movement each to build the poem.

Listen to other poems (see Resources).

TBH THEME 6 TAKEAWAYI hope you all enjoyed playing with poetry. We learned so much today about different ways reading and listening to poetry can help us keep our brains healthy. We also discovered that we can write our own poetry. And that creative activities like this are more fun together. Try to find time in your day for some creative play, whether it is reading or writing poetry, painting, or some other way of expressing yourself. Continuing the practice of being cre-ative is great for your mind and spirit, no matter what memory challenges you may have.

TBH TAKE A BREATH 10 MINUTES

End class with this signature TBH relaxation exercise. Slow your delivery pace to create a calming environment for this final exercise.

Wow, another terrific class is nearly over. Let’s end with our “TBH Take a Breath” exercise. This is the perfect time to think about what we learned today. To start, get comfortable in your chair. Put both feet flat on the floor. Rest your hands in your lap or on top of your thighs. Gently close your eyes and begin to pay attention to your breathing. Demonstrate.

Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose until you feel your chest and belly expand like a balloon. Breathe in as deeply as you can, then exhale slowly through your mouth or your nose. Keep breathing in and out at your own pace with your eyes closed. Focus your mind on the air flowing in and out.

Let class focus on breathing for a few minutes, and then offer the following affirmations calm-ly and slowly.

As you breathe, take in these positve thoughts. You can listen to my voice or repeat these sentences to yourself.

I’m feeling calm and relaxed.

I am grateful for my creative brain.

I am grateful for my fellow poets.

I am grateful for my family and friends.

I am grateful for myself.

Let class continue to breathe for a few minutes. End with these words:

Now slowly open your eyes. Look around the room at your classmates. It’s wonderful that there are such simple ways to take care of our brains and our bodies and that we can do that with other people.


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TBH FLEX 1.0

TBH TAKE THIS HOMEPass out TBH FLEX Theme 6 cards (1 per participant) while saying the following:Here’s your TBH FLEX Take This Home card for this class. It gives you some ways to make creative play part of your day each and every day.

WHAT’S NEXT | TBH THEME 7: GET YOUR ZZZsAfter passing out cards, “dismiss” class with a sneak peak of the theme for the next session.

As always, you folks did an amazing job today. Next week we’ll be learning why getting enough sleep is so important to brain health. I promise it won’t be a snooze, though, so be prepared to have some fun. Thanks for coming everyone. See you next time!

THEME 6

Documents

TBH FOCUS THEME 6 INTRODUCTION POETRY PLAY · video of jellyfish. Let’s focus on how the jellyfish move, and how it reminds us of the poem. Show the jellyfish video for about 1