Do you ever have a day when you just have to stop and think, "My students have lost their minds!" That sounds harsh....but seriously I've stopped and thought just that more than once. It never fails. You have a day when even your BEST BEHAVED students suddenly have no self control and it feels as if you have lost a long fought battle by the end of the day. That's what I call a bad day....and I always go back the next day with a plan in place to make sure we can reel it back in. One of my favorite strategies to recover from a bad day is called bubble behavior. It is all about practicing SELF CONTROL. Young students are learning about self control and their self regulation isn't always firing on all cylinders. They need to practice. The Activity: Break out a bottle of bubbles (I know you have some in your closet!) and get your class together on the rug or outside on the playground. The first time you blow some bubbles you already KNOW what is going to happen. They are going to go NUTS! Let them! They will jump all over the place trying to pop all of the bubbles and laugh and probably shout at all of the craziness that is happening. Let it happen..... Then get control again (it may take a few minutes) and tell the students that this time they are going to practice SELF CONTROL. This time when the bubbles go up they are going to stay in their seats, breathe, and watch the bubbles fall without saying anything. When the last bubble hits the ground ask the students, "How did that feel?" A lot of them are going to say that was hard, I wanted to jump up, I wanted to pop the bubbles, etc. Use this as a class discussion about how it feels when we want to lose control in the classroom. Is it ok to jump out of seats and run around the room? No, because it isn't safe and it cause PANDEMONIUM in the classroom. (I love using that word with them!) Is it hard sometimes to show self control? YES! Of course it is but we are all capable of it. You can do a couple of rounds of this or just pull out the bubbles each time you need a reminder. Sometimes it is just a fun calming technique to use too. I created this recording sheet to make a little activity out of it. Always a great reminder! You can click HERE to get it for free! That is how I use bubbles in the classroom to CALM my class down after a BAD DAY. Thankfully we don't have those very often but they do happen! Another fun way to practice self regulation is to play a red light green light of sorts. Have students stand up at the rug and make sure they have enough room around them to be active. When you say "Go!" they run as quick as they can in place. When you say "Stop!" they freeze. If they don't freeze they are out of the game. This is a great way to practice self regulation and then put it into practice during important times like partner work and on the playground. If you would like to save this life saving (so dramatic) technique you can pin it here! P.S. Get a FREE ALPHABET ACTIVITY when you sign up for my newsletter HERE!
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