Back-to-School Series | Episode 2: Your Start-of-Year Teaching Toolkit

As educators, we want our students to begin the school year feeling safe, connected, confident, and ready to learn. But those conditions don’t happen automatically. They’re built through intentional, consistent practice.

In Part 2 of our Breathe For Change Back-to-School Podcast Series, Dr. Ilana Nankin and Sam Levine share 13 practical, evidence-based strategies you can use from the very first day of school to help students regulate their bodies, understand and express their emotions, focus their attention, think creatively, build trusting relationships, and connect to a deeper sense of purpose.

These simple, classroom-ready practices can be integrated into morning meetings, transitions, lessons, and closing routines to strengthen student well-being, engagement, belonging, and learning throughout the school year.

Here are some of the best moments from the episode:

• Somatic Intelligence: Overview
• Practice 1: Three Collective Breaths
• Practice 2: The Body Scan
• Practice 3: Mindful Movement (Sun Breath)
• Emotional Intelligence: Overview
• Practice 4: Two-Word Check-In
• Practice 5: The Weather Report
• Practice 6: Affirmations

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