Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...
Do you care for children who struggle to control their anger? Part of an anger management plan is to help kids find effective strategies for calming themselves down. These 23 free calming strategy cards from Liz’s Early Learning Spot are a great tool: when they’re calm: talk about various options that might work for them ... Read More about Anger Management: Free Calming Strategy Cards for Kids
Download our classroom icebreakers printable and "go fishing" with your students as they ask and answer questions of one another.
Free Anger and Feelings Worksheets for Kids
Learn how to create a peaceful and effective Calm Corner to help children self-regulate in your classroom or home.
These breathing exercises for kids and mindfulness brain breaks are perfect for your classroom management and calm down corner.
I have a confession---when I see something good, I take it and use it. I don't like to recreate the wheel, and I'm really not all that creative. I also work with people that are very hard-working and creative, so when I stepped into my co-worker's office (Heather Petrusa, SLP) and saw this homemade self-regulation scale, I grabbed it (with her permission) and told her that this was worth using and sharing with all of my blogging friends! She said that our mutual friend, an autism itinerant teacher, Leah Wilson, was actually the one who created it, and she (Heather) just tweaked it. I'm sure Leah won't mind sharing, so here it is! Anyone who works with children with autism knows the difficulties in regulating emotions. Within an hour, a child can go from 'sleepy' to 'boiling' and not have strategies to get to the 'green' area. I liked this scale that Heather and Leah developed because it integrated elements from the 'How does your engine run?' program with emotional states and specific strategies (worded with 1st person statements encouraging more independence with handling regulation in the classroom.) A therapist and teacher can use this scale to first teach emotions, strategies, and self-reflection, and then teach the child to apply these in the classroom. So---thanks Heather and Leah! I'm so happy to work with you! I'm sure your kids are too! To download in Boardmaker, click here! (You can then edit to fit your child's particular needs) To download in pdf, click here! .
These effective de-escalation strategies help parents, or caregivers, defuse meltdowns & outbursts in children. These de-escalation strategies will....
Tips for staying calm, calming your child, and tools that they can use anywhere.
Students with autism and related disabilities often struggle with self-regulation. They have meltdowns and catastrophic reactions to seemingly small things. These calm down tools can help any students relax and handle changes or frustrations with social stories and visual supports. Find out more in this post.
Happy Friday! The whirlwind of the back-to-school season has almost calmed in the Petty household. We’re almost settled into our crazy weekday routine of laying out clothes the night before, setting cell phone reminders, packing backpacks and lunches, ensuring that all dance, soccer, and piano requirements are ready to go, enjoying a nighttime read, and finding ... Read More about Cell Phones in the Classroom – My Policy
All kids benefit from practicing mindfulness. Who wouldn't love the kids and young adults we work with to become more focused, calm, in control, and self-aware? Mindfulness is a technique that can help teach and strengthen those abilities over time. By practicing mindfulness, people can learn to bec
Related Bonnie LandauBonnie Landau is a licensed professional clinical counselor and educational consultant in Ventura County, California. Her goal is to help parents of neurodivergent individuals find strategies and solutions to help their children succeed in school and in life. Bonnie is also the author of Special Ed Mom Survival Guide: How to Prevail in …
A possible tool in your strategies to support behaviour. There will be lots you can add to this.
Cooperative Learning is a great strategy to use in every classroom. It doesn’t matter the age or ability of the students, cooperative learning can be…
Contingency maps are a cognitive-behavioral method for helping an individual to understand the consequences of behavioral choices. They are particularly useful for teaching individuals to use functionally equivalent behaviors as alternatives to problem behavior.
I see 600 kids between the ages of 4-12 in 30 minute intervals. Although I consider myself a competent classroom manager, there really is no way to go over every contingency in the classroom. At th…
Learn how to teach children self-control the right way with this collection of fun yet powerful self-regulation strategies and activities for kids!
Pass them on to your first grade teacher friends!
The best way to learn world history and explore new civilizations is by studying GRAPES. Whenever my students begin studying a new civilization, I distribute GRAPES charts to students to fil…
BREATHING EXERCISES for YOUR TRAUMA SENSITIVE CLASSROOM, CALM CORNER, DISTANCE LEARNING or HOME The Breathing Exercises for Kids Book, Task Cards, Mindfulness Brain Breaks and Posters is now also in Google Slides™ for distance learning social emotional learning support. These exercises will help bring mindfulness, focus and calm into your classroom or home. This resource teaches 15 different fun and effective mindful breathing techniques, reinforced with (adorable) illustrations that provide detailed visual support for all learners. Perfect for your Trauma Informed Classroom and Take a Break or Calm Corner space. For More Distance Learning Ready Breathing Exercises, check out: Digital Mindfulness Breathing Exercises & Video SEL Lesson for Distance Learning Self-Regulation Breaks & Mindfulness Breathing Videos for SEL Distance Learning WHY TEACH MINDFUL BREATHING EXERCISES? Mindful breathing helps us to feel calmer, more focused, and better able to make thoughtful decisions about what to do next. Mindful breathing also improves self-control, problem-solving skills, self-awareness, attention, memory, and even sleep (which we know is critical for child development and learning). Mindful breathing is a great routine educators can implement in their classrooms. It hardly takes much time, is a quiet activity, can work wonders with transitions, and helps to shift chaos energy into peaceful energy. When we pay attention to our breathing, and "breathe on purpose," the oxygen that we take in literally sends a message to the brain that everything is okay. In other words, mindful breathing helps us to move out of a reactive state into a receptive state, which also means we are more ready to learn and can make better decisions in whatever context we find ourselves in. How many times have we told young people, "Just take a deep breath" without really showing them different ways they can do this? This resource is a concrete guide to do such! WHAT'S INCLUDED: in digital format: ✔ Google Slides™ with and without Interactive Feelings Check-In ✔ PowerPoint File of each Breathing Exercise in printable format: ✔ Breathing Exercise Interactive Book (with and without tabs) ✔ Task Cards: Square and Circle Frames ✔ Posters and Checklists ✔ Reminder Breathing Bracelets and Bookmarks ✔ Breathing Exercise Guide Take Home Handouts ✔ Breathing BINGO Challenge ✔ Detailed Instructions ✔ Color and Black/White Printing Options IDEAS FOR USE: -Incorporate into morning meeting and transition routines. -Use as Mindfulness Brain Breaks -Use book, poster and/or task cards in your Calm Corner or Take a Break Spot -Hang 18"X24" poster up for easy visual reminder -Kids can wear their favorite breathing exercise on their wrist as a visual cue to help them self-regulate or focus when needed -Invite students and their families to practice breathing exercises at home...send home copies of the Breathing Exercise Guide and Breathing BINGO Challenge for homework -Use them yourself....when feeling stressed or overwhelmed (my personal go-to is the Ocean Waves; I use it all the time with my own very loud kids :) You May Also Enjoy: ⭐ Trauma Sensitive Classroom Rules, Values & Expectations: Editable Banner Decor ⭐ Our Classroom Calm Corner Toolbox ⭐ Feelings Check-In and Calming Strategies Choice Board ⭐ Self-Regulation Coping Tools Desk Reference Name Tags ⭐ Self-Regulation Coping Strategies Spinner Craft
Stop taking away recess and using other punishments to control your students. Find success with 10 powerful classroom management strategies!
Winter break is almost over and that means your little learners are about to come back to school rested, refreshed, calm, and ready to take ...
This simple brain worksheet PDF is designed to be an easily approachable visual teaching aid for all ages.
21 books about feelings that can help children learn to identify emotions, their causes and coping strategies for managing big feelings.
Student anxiety is at an all time high. With grade level standards becoming more rigorous, and state tests looming, teachers are feeling more pressure than ever to prepare students. That pressure is also felt by
1) “Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.” – Louis L’Amour 2) “Do every act of your life as though it were the last act of your life.” – Marcus Aurelius 3) “I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson 4) “As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise, you will miss most of your life.” – Buddha 5) “When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole
