HomeAboutBlog Design

June 09, 2012

Calming Yourself Down Poster

School is out (in most places) for the summer but it's not hard to recall the turmoil that can happen on the playground or in the classroom (bathroom, hall, lunchroom) or anywhere for that matter.

As adults it's hard to see how hurtful someone calling you a "big meanie" or cutting in line can be when we're dealing with budgets, health issues, and other "big, adult" problems.

But we need to remember that for our little ones (or not so little ones) these everyday occurrences are a big deal.  And they can cause some kids to blow.

So it's important that we teach our kiddos to recognize their own (and others) emotions and manage them.

Too many adults in our world haven't learned these crucial skills as one can attest by driving down the road and witnessing all the road rage.  (Maybe we'd need less medication in our world if we all learned and practiced these skills more regularly.)

Our school has used the Second Step program that teaches empathy, emotion management, and problem solving for as long as I can remember.  And like all things, there are some components I like and some I dislike.

But one that I have always liked was the way they teach kids to recognize their own emotions and manage them.  I see a lot of adults who haven't learned this biggie and know that I sometimes struggle with this one too.

Second Step has some posters that come with the program but they are really blah so a few years ago I redid them.  They were a bit better but . . .  Let's be honest here.

Not

nearly

enough!

I mean a primary classroom is supposed to be happy and homey and all those other feel good things.  I honestly spend more time in my classroom than my own house people!

And research shows how color makes all things more appealing.  (As if I needed to have research prove that to me . . . at a cost of billions of dollars!  lol)

So this is the first Second Step poster to be redone.  It is "Calming Yourself Down".  Feel free to nab and enjoy.  I hope you can use it . . . for yourself or your classroom.  :)


Stay tuned for more as I tackle the job of redoing these posters!
Photobucket

13 comments :

  1. we used to do 2nd step...we used to do a lot.. we never stick to anything though...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great poster! I'm printing it and sharing it with my students Monday morning - I still have 3 weeks til summer vacation. I might even print an extra copy for the staff room. :)
    Thank you, Sue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sue. Three weeks. . . ugh! Good luck!

      Delete
  3. This is perfect! Thanks for sharing.

    And, you are right, adults can use this, too!

    Elizabeth

    Fun in Room 4B

    ReplyDelete
  4. We use Second Step and I don't like their blah posters either! This is excellent. Can't wait to see what else you come up!!!!! :). Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the cute poster! We used Second Step this year and loved the emotion management component as well, but the posters are totally boring! Our kids fully embraced the program and you could see them using their strategies when they got upset. Something you might be interested in...We had to create a hard copy "independent practice" for each lesson, so we tried to keep it fun and creative. For the calming thoughts lesson, we had each child draw/write about their "happy/calming thoughts" and compiled it into a class book that was kept at the "time out/take a break" spot. The kids LOVED looking through it when they needed a minute to chill out, and it seemed like they were ready to rejoin the group much faster after the creation of the book. Looking forward to other posters...thanks again!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that idea and am definitely going to use it this coming year!

      Delete
  6. When you click on this poster, it takes you to Scribd, where you have to be a premium subscriber to print, so it's not free....

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a great poster and I would love to use it, but as Liz said, it takes you to Scribd and I'm not a member. Would you care to e-mail it to me? kthexton@asd.edu.qa
    Thanks so much! kelli

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. go here for more info

    ReplyDelete
  9. This blog was... how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I've found something which helped me. Cheers!
    check this site

    ReplyDelete
  10. Greetings! Very helpful advice within this article! It is the little changes that produce the largest changes. Many thanks for sharing!
    check this info

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for filling my bucket!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...