Is it a Rock? or Play-Doh Type Problems? ASCA Standard: PS: B1.4 Develop effective coping skills for dealing with problems One of my favorite lessons is the "Introduction to Coping" from Gwen Sitsch & Diane Senn's Puzzle Pieces Classroom Guidance Connection, 2007. It teaches children what coping is and what it is not. I adapted the following lesson from "Introduction to Coping" and use the following worksheet to guide the lesson. Coping is such an important skill for any individual to have. Effectively coping with a challenging situation can change how we think, feel, and/or act, about that event and in effect shape our approach to life. I use this lesson with elementary and middle school ages. It can be adapted for individual, small, or large group settings. It is a great lesson for any time of year however I always try to fit the lesson in closer to the beginning that way I can refer to the lesson throughout the year. **Click HERE for a link to the worksheet** Items Needed: Play-doh (enough for each child to have roughly the size of a large marble) and a rock. Lesson: Start by giving each student a piece of play-doh with the instructions that they will may shape the Play-doh into anything they want using only their hands and their desk surface. I give them about 3 minutes to do this. While they make their imaginative creations (you may see many "balls", "snakes", and "pancakes") ask students to list of challenges their age group has to deal with; death, illness, divorce, moving, parent changes job, friend moves away, changing schools or grade levels, Write their answers for the class to see. *Side Note: You will want to preface the lesson with the "no name rule" meaning in large groups we do not share specific names but students are welcome to do so in private. This will be a time when students may want to share their personal challenges. It is important to acknowledge their experiences however a large group setting does not allow the specific support an individual may need. Work to normalize their experiences and to connect individual experiences to others in the room by asking "has this been a challenge for anyone else or someone you know?" If the individual(s) need more time to share, respectfully redirect them back to the large group and finding an more private opportunity to discuss their challenges. Ask students to briefly share what they made. Collect the Play-doh to limit future distractions. Next ask for a volunteer (be mindful of the student you choose). Instruct them to use only their hands and desk surface to shape this next object into anything they want. Then give them the rock. Ask who controlled the Play-doh and how they did this. Go on to talk about how some problems are like Play-doh, they can be controlled by making a change, and some problems are like a rock, they cannot be controlled or changed so you must cope with them. We describe coping as dealing with a problem in a safe, healthy, and respectful way for ourselves and others. *Side Note: Do to popular culture and various family cultures many students may believe using drugs, most specifically alcohol, is a way to cope with problems. This is a valuable opportunity to teach children that while people believe drugs make them feel better, using drugs will add more problems such as chemical dependency, reduced decision making, increased accidents, etch. Using drugs is NOT coping. We go on to discuss how coping is a way to help ourselves feel better and take a mental vacation from the problem. I put this lesson together using Pinterest and Puzzle Pieces by Sitsch & Senn. Thanks to Elementary School Counseling.org for the menu template and to Flourish n Thrive Counseling for compiling a wonderful list of coping skills some of which I used for the "Menu"! I also added the Relaxation Exercises from Taking the Work Out of Blood Work: A Parent's Guide.
Let me tell you.... my kinders can make up some stories. Now when it came to putting their stories onto paper ::crickets:: They could not do...
It’s great to be alive today! I don’t mean today specifically, but today in general. If you don’t like today or don’t find today particularly pleasing, don’t worry, it will be different tomorrow. I mean that both specifically and generally. Not only will the calendar be +1, but some amazing, forward-thinking, edgy entrepreneur will change the way we live, demonstrating our mercurial existence.
This one page worksheet helps students organize their thoughts about music and special events in their life. Students are encouraged to choose 10 important events from their life like their birth, first day of school, birth of a sibling, funeral of a loved one, etc... and then pick a song that matc...
Today I'm giving a glance into my first day of school lesson plans, from TK - 5th grade. In the first day of music class, students are arguably the most attentive they will be all year. This puts a unique pressure on the first day's lesson plan to set the tone for the rest of our time together.
So much popular music overly sexual and violent. I’m always really happy to hear a positive and appropriate song on the radio. One great song that’s popular right now is “Best Day…
My son gets frustrated and upset very quickly. He has a short fuse. He always describes his state as he's 'MAD'. Whatever happens, he's always mad and whenever that word comes out of his mouth, things get escalated pretty quickly. I explained to him that most probably he doesn't get MAD in every situation. He doesn't feel the same level of frustration every time. MAD is like an extreme feeling that he cannot get to in a split second. There must be other feelings he's visiting, in between feeling happy and MAD. We had the feelings list with pictures of facial
Teaching is a wonderful job. My first ever blog post outlined the 5 top reasons why I love being a teacher. However, there are many things that make amazing teachers hate their job and leave the pr…
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Classroom introductions. The ICEBREAKER! The moment your students (and YOU!) have been waiting for all summer. But the butterflies, they are in the pits of your students stomachs. How do you make it effortless for everyone? Well, here are 5 different ways to break the ice and say “hello!” the easy way. Start by breaking your… Continue reading →
Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! I know a lot of you are still in school so here's a fun song to use with your 1st graders . .. . and 2nd graders! I found it in Holidays and Special Days by Grace Nash and Janice Rapley during my college practicum classes and have used it every year. The kids eat it up! Here's the song: Now, this is NOT a folk song. But over the years I've accidentally changed the melody. Here's the way I sing it with my kiddos (and we sing it with swung eighth notes): I use this to aurally identify/reinforce quarter rests with my 1st graders. Other than that, we use it for expression and FUN. Here's the game: Formation: circle, with one student (the "farmer") on the outside of the circle and 2-3 turkeys in the middle. Action: as the song is sung, the farmer walks around the outside of the circle while the turkeys trot around the middle of the circle. At the end of the song the farmer chases the turkeys. Depending on where your students are in your movement sequence, you can have the students in the circle walk the beat while the song is sung with their arms acting as a fence. At the end, the students can choose to make their joined arms gates or leave their section of the fence closed. You can also add instruments. In Holidays and Special Days there are more elaborate Orff parts. I simplified it so my 1st and 2nd graders can play is successfully and independently. Here are a couple of my 1st graders playing it this year. It's a lot of fun and it's great to get some of those pre-holiday wiggles out: Liza Meyer's wrote a post that included this song a couple years ago. She notates it as la,-do at the beginning but my source uses so-mi. You can read her post by clicking here. This post also has a fun Thanksgiving song to the tune of Zum Gali Gali- it's a must do! Your older kiddos with LOVE it! Have a GREAT week everyone!
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 ...
Ah, the first few minutes in the classroom. Combine that with the first few minutes in the morning of the first few weeks of school, and it’s enough to drive a person crazy! I wanted to share with you something that I do to help my kiddos learn the routines of the morning. It’s super simple – if you know me, I’m all about simple, practical, and easy. Enter the Morning Jobs I Can Cards. We don’t start the year with all of the job cards hanging up. I start with the most important one. In the fall – it’s simply hanging up our backpacks. As the days go on, and I introduce the other jobs, I add the other I can cards. The children always refer to these job cards to make sure that they are finishing all of their morning jobs. Here are some of the morning jobs that I do…putting their folders in their mailboxes (after they check for notes). Signing in… Sometimes I will have them sign in on the IWB by answering a question. They will choose their lunch. The larger picture is mine, the other two were unfortunately dead-end pins. If you know who those belong to, please let me know, so I can give them credit! I love this interactive check in from Pink Cat Studio! If you would like these morning job cards for your classroom, you can download them for free {here}.
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 ...
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Teachers you work hard and need some down time. Here are 7 easy ways to take back your personal time and find work life balance.
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