First Grade CARE Class
First Grade CARE Class
*Zones of Regulation Concepts 1-7 will be instructed from September though mid-October. Zones lessons will continue in January afte ra short break for our Personal Safety Curriculum, Care for Kids.
Concept 1: What is Regulation?
In Concept 1, learners explore concrete examples of regulation, such as adjusting the speed of a fan or controlling the temperature of water from a faucet. We explain how regulation also helps us have more control over how we manage our feelings, energy, and behavior.
Learning Targets:
I can use the word “regulate” in a sentence.
I can describe one or more ways a person can regulate themself.
Vocabulary:
Regulate - to adjust, manage, or control something so it works well.
Well-being - feeling well, healthy, comfortable and/or successful.
Behavior - a person’s actions.
Bring it Home:
Concept 2: What is Regulation?
In Concept 2, we explore the four Zones of Regulation and how they are used to categorize and identify the variety of feelings and energy states we all experience. Learning about The Zones of Regulation framework provides us with an easy way to think about, communicate around, and care for our feelings. Since every person experiences a wide range of feelings, we stress that all the Zones are okay, and you should not attach judgement or shame to any one Zone.
Zones are based on feelings, not behaviors.
All the Zones are okay.
Our experience of The Zones is unique.
The Zones of Regulation is not a compliance-based model.
The Green Zone is not the goal.
Learning Targets:
I can name and describe the four Zones of Regulation.
I can sort, or categorize, feelings into the four Zones of Regulation.
Vocabulary:
Emotions - feelings we have.
Category - a group of things or ideas that are similar.
Zone - a category used to describe our feelings on the INSIDE (including emotions and energy).
Bring it Home:
Concept 3: All the Zones are Okay
In Concept 3, we build upon the understanding of the four Zones of Regulation to learn that all the Zones – and all our feelings – are okay. We build the foundation for social awareness and perspective-taking by exploring how people experience a variety of feelings and views within a situation. Remember - the Green Zone is not the expectation or superior and the Red Zone is not bad or wrong. All the Zones are okay. All behaviors are not.
We emphasize the distinction between our feelings and our behaviors, stressing the importance of safe behaviors for ourselves and others.
Learning Targets:
I can connect my feelings and Zones with real-life situations.
I can give an example of how people have different feelings and perspectives in a situation.
Vocabulary:
Perspective - person’s unique way of feeling, viewing, or thinking about something.
Situation - what is happening at a certain time and place.
Bring it Home:
Concept 4: My Signals, My Zones
In Concept 4, learners explore the body signals and sensations that relate to their feelings. Understanding these feelings is also known as the interoceptive sense. The brain perceives the physiological cues and sensations in the body before it catches up and labels the emotion. These cues or signals alert us that our feelings are changing. For example, you sense the tension in your neck and jaw and recognize you’re stressed, or you feel the flutter of butterflies in your stomach and identify you are nervous. For many learners who have difficulty naming their emotions, learning to tune into their body signals can be an entry point for building self-awareness. Noticing our body signals is also a basic mindfulness practice, giving us a moment to integrate our body, mind, and emotional state.
Learning Targets:
I can name at least one body signal I feel when I am in each Zone.
I can explain how body signals, Zones, and emotions are all connected.
Vocabulary:
Body Signals - the sensations inside our body that help us figure out how we feel.
Self-Awareness - understanding how you feel.
Bring it Home:
Concept 5: The Zones Check-In
The Zones Check-In is a mindful practice, which involves pausing to tune in to our body signals, emotions, and Zones to promote self-awareness and provide us with information about if and how to best regulate. We notice physiological signals and sensations in our body before our brain catches up and labels them. Embedding frequent Zones Check-Ins throughout the day allows learners to become more in-tune with their body and self-monitor how they are feeling. Check-ins can also help learners communicate or share their feelings with others. To do a Zones Check-In, we pause and think about the parts of the triangle we learned about in C4 that included our body signals, emotion, and Zone. Any of these components may be what we notice first; they all connect to each other, providing us with self-awareness of how we are feeling.
This “feelings first” approach can have a positive impact on relationships and the climate of a home, classroom, or other setting.
Learning Targets:
I can pause and do a Zones Check-In on my own or with others.
With practice, I can check in when I am in each of the Zones: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue.
Vocabulary:
Zones Check-In - pausing to notice and identify how we feel.
Bring it Home:
Concept 6: Situations that Trigger and Spark
In Concept 6 (C6), learners will gain awareness of situations that impact their regulation, categorizing them into “triggers” and “sparks.” Triggers include unwelcome events and sensations that cause us to have less comfortable feelings, such as worried, angry, embarrassed, or annoyed. Understanding our triggers helps us to attend to our regulation when we encounter them. We also explore sparks, which are welcome events or sensations that provoke strong feelings of joy, such as giddiness, excitement, elation, etc. Although our sparks are enjoyable, they also can cause us to feel less regulated, such as when we are excited to partner with a friend on a project but can’t focus to be successful. By deepening this situational awareness, learners can better predict and prepare for triggers and sparks, develop a plan for regulating in these situations, and become more adept and confident at advocating for themselves.
Learning Targets:
I can notice and describe the situation around me (when, where, what, who).
I can name at least two of my triggers and two of my sparks.
Vocabulary:
Trigger - an unwelcome situation that causes us to feel less regulated.
Spark - a welcome situation that causes us to feel less regulated.
Bring it Home:
Concept 7: What is a Regulation Tool?
The goal of Concept 7 (C7) is to introduce the learners to what regulation tools are and how those tools can help to regulate each Zone. Learners will discover that regulation tools are likely within and around them, such as taking a deep breath, asking for help, water bottles, fidgets, etc. An essential element of The Zones Climate is building awareness that tools look and feel different for each of us, depending on our physiology, culture, identity, and lived experience; there are no prescribed tools for a particular Zone.
Learning Targets:
I can identify common regulation tools around me.
I can use The Zones of Regulation to categorize regulation tools.
Vocabulary:
Regulation Tool - a strategy, or something we do, to manage our Zones.
Zones Toolbox - a collection of regulation tools for each Zone.
Bring it Home:
Lesson 1: Asking for Help
What are examples of activities children can do by themselves? What are examples of situations where children might need to ask for help? Who are trusted adults who can help?
In this lesson, children learn about asking for help. Additionally, the lesson focuses on learning about touch and that sometimes people like touch and sometimes they don't. Student learn it is OK to ask for help for all kinds of different things and they brainstorm who they could ask for help.
Instead of teaching children "rules" about touching, this program teaches that everyone has the right to set boundaries nad expect that those boundaries will be respected. Taking this approach is part of the program's overall trauma-informed approach. The language "asking for help" is more natural for children to use than "tell someone," which carries the notion of tattling and is discouraged in many settings.
Objectives:
Differentiate between activities that do and do not require help
Identify trusted adults who can help
Practice asking for help
Vocabulary:
trusted adult – someone you can talk to who makes you feel safe and comfortable, believes you when you speak, who you know well and your other trusted adults know well.
Lesson 3: Bodies
What parts do people have that are the same? What parts do people have that are different? What does "public" mean? What does "private" mean? Which are "private" and "public" body parts? Who can help us if there is confusion about "public" vs. "private" body parts?
In this lesson, children learn about bodies. This lesson gives children the proper terms for parts of their bodies, including genitals. Doing this reduces the risk of child sexual abuse by giving children anatomically correct language should they attempt to disclose sexual abuse. Children also learn what public and private means, both in terms of bodies and places.
Being able to accurately name all body parts reduces a child's risk of being victimized. Someone may be less likely to victimize a child who can accurately name the genitals because that child will have the increased self-awareness about their bodies, and should they choose to disclose, they will have the proper language.
Objectives:
Define "private"
Identify similar and different body parts
Practice using accurate language for body parts
Identify "private" body parts
Practice appropriate behavior regarding "private" body parts
Identify who can help with confusion around "private" body parts
Define "privacy"
Vocabulary:
Public place - a place where lots of people might go or could be.
Public part - a body part that it is expected to see in a public place. Appropriate to show these parts to others.
Private place - a place where you can go to have privacy/be all alone.
Private part - a body part that is special and just for you; not for everyone to see.
Genitals - the word we use when talking about private parts (including vagina, vulva, penis, and buttocks).
Lesson 4: Babies
What are some things babies need help with? Who can take care of a baby? How can a baby be taken care of? When can a child ask an adult for help with a baby? What are some things that, as children grow, they can do by themselves?
In this lesson, children learn about babies, including what babies need help with. Children will also learn, through helping adults take care of baby dolls, that babies deserve to be taken care of. The children will have a turn helping an adult to feed, diaper, and hold the baby. Additionally, the class will celebrate what they can do now that they are older.
Self-esteem is built through celebrating children's sense of mastery over skills that they were not able to do as younger children. Children experience nurturing in this lesson and then practice nurturing those who are younger than them. Nurturing is a form of empath. Both self-esteem and empathy are important skills for the prevention of sexual abuse and sexually harmful behaviors.
Objectives:
Identify activities babies need help with
Differentiate between activities a child can help a baby with and activities an adult needs to help a baby with
Demonstrate appropriate care for a baby in a specific situation
Identify when to ask for help when caring for a baby
Lesson 5: Asking for Permission
When do we ask if it's OK to touch another person? How do we ask for permission? What are the rules related to play to ensure that all feel safe and comfortable?
In this lesson, children learn about asking permission before touching other people. Students will practice asking for permission to hug or touch, as well as practice respectfully accepting "no touching" answers from others. This lesson is about understanding that everyone has a right to say no to touching, and everyone has a right to have their "no touching" answer respected.
Asking for permission and respectfully accepting "no" are important skills related ot consent . Beginning at young ages, modeling respect for boundaries builds the foundation for a more complex understanding of consent as children get older.
Objectives:
Identify when to ask for permission to touch another person
Practice asking for permission
Vocabulary:
Permission - asking for approval before you do something
Consent - asking for permission to do something and respecting the answer
Concept 8: Building My Zones Toolbox
Students deepen their understanding of regulation tools, noticing their body signals to reflect on the impact a tool is having on their regulation. They are also introduced to the Tool of the Week. This structured practice provides a routine for exploring a new tool each week, giving students multiple practice opportunities to try out the tool and gauge its effect. As we explore new regulation tools, students are given agency to determine which ones work well for them. This provides all students a chance to grow in their regulation competencies, honors their unique regulation needs (e.g., neurology, lived experiences, development), and creates an inclusive environment where regulating with tools is the norm, not the exception.
Learning Targets:
I can reflect on how a tool helps me regulate
I can share a helpful tool from each Zone in my toolbox
Vocabulary:
reflect - to carefully think about something
Concept 9: Deciding to Regulate
Students explore metacognitive skills that help them regulate with more independence and agency. They learn the Stop, Opt & Go strategy is a way to build impulse control, develop thoughtful decision-making, and incorporate problem-solving skills to use in moment to-moment regulation. In Stop, Opt & Go, first we pause or stop before acting upon our instinct or impulse, then we think through the options we have in a situation and how they may or may not work out for us, which may include using a regulation tool. Last, we identify our goal to help us choose the option that will work out best going forward.
As we consider our goals, we introduce students to Now Goals and Later Goals. Later Goals are our long-term goals that take time to accomplish, such as getting a good grade at the end of the semester, learning to read, and personal pursuits into adulthood. These goals are important, but often when figuring out how to regulate in the moment, we consider our Now Goals, which is what we are trying to achieve in the moment, such as finishing a task, feeling more comfortable, or having fun with a friend. The goals we discuss within this concept must be learner-directed, meaning they are authentic personal goals, rather than goals we impose upon our learners.
Learning Targets:
I can pause to think about my options and goals before acting
I can decide if using a regulation tool will help in a situation
Vocabulary:
impulse - a sudden urge to do something
options - choices we have in a situation
goal - something we work toward to accomplish or achieve
Lesson 1: Recognizing Bullying
What is bullying?
Clarifying what bullying is and how it is both harmful and against the rules empowers students to avoid bullying others and to respond appropriately if they witness or experience bullying. This stops bullying from being accepted as normal. It also helps bullied students understand bullying is wrong and they don't deserve to be bullied, which can reduce the emotional harm they suffer.
Learning Targets:
I can identify bullying
I can recognize bullying in response to scenarios
Concepts:
Bullying is mean or hurtful behavior that keeps happening. It is unfair and one-sided.
Bullying is not safe, respectful or kind. It is against the rules
Recognizing bullying is the first step in getting it to stop
Vocabulary:
Respectful - treating others with kindness, consideration, and regard.
Mean - when someone is not nice to someone else on purpose.
Bullying - when someone keeps being mean to someone else on purpose over and over again.
Recognize - to know or understand something from past experience.
Lesson 2: Reporting Bullying
Bullying versus Tattling
By definition, a student who is being bullied has limited power to make it stop. Preventing and addressing bullying is the responsibility of the adults in the school. But adults are often unaware of bullying. This lesson reinforces the message to students that they must report bullying, and that when they do, adults will help. It also helps students practice reporting, so it is easier to report to an adult when real bullying happens.
This lesson also makes it clear to students that reporting bullying is not the same as tattling, and that it is their job to help keep themselves and others safe by reporting bullying.
Learning Targets:
I can identify caring adults to talk to about bullying or mean behaviors
I can differentiate between tattling and reporting
I can demonstrate how to report bullying
Concepts:
When you haven't been able to get mean behaviors to stop, you should tell a caring adult
If you practice reporting bulling, it's easier to report bullying when it really happens
Vocabulary:
Report - to tell or explain the details of what happened to someone.
Assertive - communicating directly, calmly, and honestly without intentionally hurting someone's feelings.
Snitching/Tattling - telling about someone else's wrong doing to get that person in trouble.
Lesson 3: Refusing Bullying
Why is reporting important? Who can help me?
This lesson reinforces the importance of reporting and adds a focus on helping students learn to use their assertiveness skills to refuse bullying. Students learn that reporting bullying is important because adults should both intervene directly and help them figure out and practice how to respond effectively. Research shows that students can reduce their chances of being bullied in the future by responding assertively. This helps students see that they can get help and help themselves, and that doing both is often the best way to handle bullying.
Learning Targets:
I can recognize bullying
I can apply assertiveness skills to refuse bullying in response to scenarios
Concepts:
You can refuse to let bullying happen to you or to others
Being assertive helps when you're refusing bullying
Vocabulary:
Refuse - to decline or say no to something
Assertive - communicating directly, calmly, and honestly without intentionally hurting someone's feelings
Unique - the only one of its kind
*In first and second grade, we use the terms "mouse" (passive communication), "monster," (aggressive communication), and "ME/Superhero" (assertive communication).
For example - "Hmmm. I'm not sure I understood what you wanted when you were using your monster voice. I can tell you have big feelings because your fists are clenched, your cheeks are red, and your voice is loud. Let's try to take some belly breaths (pause while breathing). Your body looks calmer. Your fists are relaxed and your forehead isn't crinkly. Can you tell me what you need using your strong superhero ME voice?"
Lesson 4: Bystander Power
How can I react or intervene when I see bullying happening?
One reason students bully is for the effect it has on bystanders. Students can gain social status through bullying by looking tough or cool, making others laugh, or showing that they have power. Because of the power differential in bullying, students who are bullied have a limited ability to make it stop. Because bullying often pays off in social or other ways, it can be hard to change the behavior of students who bully. But research shows that changing how bystanders react is a powerful way to reduce bullying. In this lesson’s Skill Practice section, students learn ways bystanders can help stop bullying.
Learning Targets:
I can define bystander
I can demonstrate ways that bystanders can help stop bullying
Concepts:
Bystanders are people who see or know about bullying happening to others
There are things bystanders can do to help stop bullying
Vocabulary:
Bystander - someone who sees bullying or meanness happening
Empathy - the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.