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My FAVORITES!
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This is MY FAVORITE resiliency explanation for all elementary grades. It breaks resiliency down into simple terms: BOUNCE or SPLAT. I am beyond happy that I stumbled upon this resource.
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This lesson was only done after students had varying degrees of knowledge in coping skills and self-awareness.
I presented this lesson to the whole school in 2 separate parts for grades K-2 and grades 3-5. I adapted this lesson to suite the level of understanding to the grades I was teaching. The teachers and staff were also in attendance in order to help reinforce this lesson.
To demonstrate BOUNCE, I used a bouncy ball.
To demonstrate SPLAT, I got a large bowl and an egg and threw the egg into the bowl for it to crack and shatter. The students loved this!
After a while, some teachers did not have to ask students if how they reacted was a BOUNCE or SPLAT, they simply did hand motions for a bouncy ball and/or clapping their hands together to signal the SPLAT of an egg.
Zones of Regulation & Coping Skills
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Early in the year we do a lot of mindfulness and coping skill activities. I used the "umbrella worksheet" activity in this bundle following review of Zones of Regulation. It is really important that students understand emotions (in this case, emotions in terms of ZONES) prior to the completion of this coping skills activity. I also spent the previous lesson on general coping skills and explained that everyone has different things that work for them when they are in different zones.
Students wrote all the emotion words they know on the outside of the umbrella and then they made each section of the umbrella a different "zone". Inside the umbrella, they wrote coping skills they can use if they find themselves in whichever zone.
This lesson took about two 30 minutes classes to do. Most students were able to complete the activity in time and some completed it later on. I found it mostly useful for grades 3 and 4.
Students may also draw emoji symbols and draw their coping skills for this activity if writing is challenging for them. A scribe can also be used.
Mindfulness Exercise
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I mostly used this resource for these two mindfulness components. The Mindful Melt has a few grammatical errors but did not impact my ability to read. I also trained the teachers to read the Mindful Melt and created a few reminders for them before they read (based off of what they learned in training).
"I Statements" and Communication Styles
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This lesson is a good fit to be taught to grade 5 classes and some grade 4 classes. In my experience so far, WITS (Walk Away, Ignore, Talk it Out, Seek Help) is useful for K-3 students. As a whole school, we emphasize talking things out using kind language/kind words and in upper elementary, I focus more on the how of "talking it out". I also emphasize that conflict resolution should not be done through the use of electronics.
For this lesson, I wrote the "I Statement" strategy on the board and explained each part. I then had students practice using the "I Statements" with a partner with scenarios I read and invented for them. It took one 30 minute lesson to complete.
My next visit to some classes was a lesson on communication styles. This was eye-opening for some students as they gained an increase in self-awareness. Again, I emphasized how you can't really solve conflict over electronic platforms (except for talking on the phone in the case of this lesson) as your tone of voice is impossible to be truly known.
"The Beautiful Oops"-Resiliency and Perfectionism
This is a follow-up/reinforcement lesson for BOUNCE and SPLAT. I only used bits and pieces of this bundle given the time I had.
I read "The Beautiful Oops" (you can see the version I have on my books page) and then we discussed what they learned from the book. Afterwards, I read some scenario cards (in the bundle) and had students say what they would tell the character experiencing the mistake. Following this dialogue, I handed out the "An oops is beautiful because..." page for students to complete. I did this lesson with grade 2 students but it could also be done with grade 1 students (depending on the class and time of the year). Students were allowed to decorate their "oops is beautiful" page and were encouraged to place it somewhere they would be reminded of this lesson.
Self-Control
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This is a fun lesson on Self Control, following a lesson on Whole Body Listening (see my favorite book for this on my books page!). I really enjoyed how the self-control process was broken down into simple, easy steps, for students to follow and understand. I also printed and colored the poster for the classroom as a reminder of the steps to follow.
It took about 45 minutes for this lesson and was taught to grade 1 students. I didn't use the whole bundle because of time constraints, so I picked what I thought to be the most applicable to the goal of the lesson I wanted to teach. I did use the self-control survey (which was hilarious!) with changing the wording while I read each statement aloud to the students. I also used the posters and scenario cards.
Making and Keeping Friends!​
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Counsellor Keri has a lot of great resources, if you haven't noticed a trend...:) Making and keeping friends is something I get asked to do a lesson on every year. This is my favorite friendship lesson so far! It broke down friendship into understandable steps for lower elementary students. I usually do a follow-up lesson about friendship later on in the year to reinforce what was previously taught by reading one of the books from my collection (also on the book page).
This lesson took about 30 minutes. What students didn't complete, they brought home to complete in most cases. I mostly used the scenario cards and the sheets that have the 5 clouds on them. Depending on grade and ability, students could draw or write the answers in the clouds. The scenario cards were great for real-life possible examples. If I had more time, I would have liked to introduce the concept by having all students help create a "recipe" for making a friend. I have done this in the past, perhaps this is something the classroom teacher could do with some guidance if they wanted!:)
Bullying​
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Every year, schools focus on the education and prevention of bullying. This is a great activity for upper elementary students. Identifying different types of bullying can be hard if given scenarios. I find students grasp the concept and can tell you the different types of bullying....but, when it comes to identifying the type of bullying by reading a scenario...it is much harder!
This lesson usually takes two 30 minute visits. The first visit being teaching or reviewing the types of bullying and creating examples and the second being the Scoot Game. For some classes, I read the Scoot cards (i.e. if it was a FI class) as there is a time constraint and for other classes, there were EAs to help students. This lesson can be adapted to meet the need of each class:)
Tattling vs. Telling
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This is a really fun lesson to teach! You can get really creative with this lesson and take it further if you have time!
At the schools I work at, we use the WITS program (google it and you will find lots of info, lessons, ideas, and more!). What helped the students understand the difference between tattling and telling is...that tattling is to get someone in trouble and it is something that you can use your WITS for. Telling is when there is an emergency, you need help, or someone is hurt.
Both lessons took about one 30 minute period with about an hour of prep time prior (cutting, coloring, organizing). I took my time explaining the concept and made sure that the classes who really do struggle with this concept had a better understanding. I did check-ins with students on the playground during duty to see if they remembered ;)
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