SEL Focus

Our four areas of focus for Social and Emotional learning are:

1. Peace/Calming Corners

2. Morning/Afternoon Meetings

3. Zones of Regulation

4. Self-Care for Students and Staff

Peace/Calming Corners

The Peace Corner: An Essential Classroom Resource

Posted by Kelli Love

The peace corner is a powerful and touching space in the classroom that supports self regulation.

It’s private. It’s structured. It includes choice. It’s an experiment. It’s inviting. It’s a movement toward independence onto the mat (or the desk or the rug spot) and ultimately into everyday life. It’s called the “peace corner” because there is something peaceful about simply being allowed to experience our feelings and take care of our self in the way that is right for us. The use of a peace corner can transform the culture of the classroom. In this article, we’ll look at why it’s so powerful and how you can create this space for your students.

A peace corner is private

There can be many reasons our students might need alone time to manage their feelings at school. Often times being in a group context is overwhelming to our students’ nervous system, especially given the length of time children spend at school. Something is happening inside of them, and processing that something might be overwhelming with others looking on. Being in a large group context can invite the feeling of being over stimulated. Even as adults, 5-10 minutes of quiet, alone time can do wonders for our level of participation in a group experience

This privacy also allows students to develop agency. I find that I rarely ask students to go to the peace corner anymore. I may gently nudge a student to go. Self regulation looks like students initiating the experience. Mostly, students show the peace sign and I respond with a non-verbal cue for the student to leave the group and go to the peace corner. This private communication is more about me being aware of what is happening in the room and instruction not stopping than an ask for permission. I rarely say no when students show me the signal. I also ask students to show the peace sign at their heart so that it isn’t an announcement to the whole class, but a communication between us.

A peace corner is structured

As we know, children crave boundaries to guide their explorations. I find a timer essential to guide students time in the peace corner. I include choice by providing 5 different sand timers so students can choose which one will meet their needs at the start of their peace corner experience. At the beginning of the year, I explain if they need more time to let me know, but it’s not a place to stay forever. It’s important to be intentional about emphasizing that the peace corner isn’t a place for escaping learning. It is a space that allows for students to check in with themselves, experience a break, and re-establish learning readiness.

I DESCRIBE THE PEACE CORNER TO STUDENTS AS A PLACE TO HELP MANAGE FEELINGS BY EXPLORING STRATEGIES THAT CAN GIVE US WHAT WE NEED AND IN TURN HELP US FEEL READY TO LEARN AGAIN WHEN IT FEELS LIKE THE LEARNING HAS STOPPED.

As with any routine in our classroom, I explain the purpose at the beginning of the year, have students model how to use the peace corner, and revisit our agreements around its purpose when needed. In order to prevent the impulse for students to ask to go simply out of curiosity, it is helpful to offer all students a chance to explore the peace corner on their own at least once at the beginning of the year. Once the routine is up and running, it can also be useful to have a sign in system so that we are aware of how often students are requesting to leave the group.

A peace corner is an experiment

Since we all need different things at different times, there isn’t one magic thing that students practice in the peace corner. Students get to explore things on their own and get a sense of what works best. This year I’ve decided that I want students to report to me privately what self care tool they used in the peace corner and if it worked or not. This is often completed through a letter or a quick check in. This emphasizes the purpose and function of the space as well as an integration of reflection and will help me support them!. There are many options on strategies and implementation but the activities should be practiced as a class before we can ask students to try them on their own.

A key element of the peace corner is choice to facilitate openness and curiosity toward self care.

Mindful Teaching with the Peace Corner

The last thing I want to offer about my experience with the peace corner is a sense of kind awareness toward yourself (as the teacher) when a student asks to utilize the peace corner. It is useful to notice our response when a student asks to take a moment away from the group. Do I respond with tension or trust? Can I access a curiosity toward myself and my own impulses? Do I notice myself wanting to deny students the opportunity to spend time away from the group for some reason? Do I notice myself open to some students spending time in the peace corner and not open to others? Do I want to spend time in the peace corner myself? Our relationship to this area of our classroom is an interesting one to observe, as it can tell us a lot about our own needs and our beliefs about learning. It’s helpful to examine which “reasons” for going to the peace corner we value and which ones we find less worthy. If students are respecting the structure of the peace corner and not over using it, it’s not up to us to decide what is or is not a worthy cause for leaving the group.

The peace corner can also support our own mindfulness practice!

Transfer of learning

Ultimately, we want students to gain independence by choosing strategies for themselves and understand what works for them in the peace corner. The hope is they begin a habit of checking in and reflecting on what they need to support their well being. This reflection can begin in the peace corner but can transfer as self curiosity in areas of the day where a peace corner isn’t accessible. The world would be a different place if we all had a quiet space we could go to, close the door, and lovingly attend to our self. If used consistently, the peace corner slowly integrates itself into everyday life, especially if we take the time to ask our students to reflect on what they tried and what worked in the peace corner.

Even though the peace corner is an outer resource because of its place in the classroom, it supports the cultivation of our student’s inner resources. The action of taking time alone, on purpose, is cultivating an inner resource that can be accessed when children feel disappointed with how things went, or how things didn’t go. Once students can reconnect with their inner knowing, they can go on, and be ready to rejoin the group.

List of items you might want to include in your Peace corner:

Squishy “stress” ball
Glitter ball or make your own glitter jar
Emotional feelings sheet to help identify and record emotions
Mirror to help identify emotions
Blank paper, pens, and crayons to draw emotions, write a letter, or to reflect on strategies used in the peace corner
Hoberman, breathing sphere
Sand timer
A soft, small blanket or even a weighted blanket for sensory reasons could be great
Coloring Sheets/Zentangles, Dot to Dots
Pillows
Breathing Visuals
Stuffed Animals

The Little Flower Yoga team also created a list of children’s books you might want to include in your peace corner, but it could be great for the kids to make their own book (or video) about what to do in the peace corner:

I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness, by Susan Verde and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Anh’s Anger, by Gail Silver and illustrated by Christianne Kromer
Moody Cow Meditates, by Kerry Lee MacLean
The Mindfulness Coloring Book, by Emma Farrarons
Yoga and Mindfulness Practices for Children Activity and Coloring Book, by Jennifer Cohen Harper and illustrated by Karen Gilmour

Copy of Virtual Calm Down Spot PDF.pdf

Virtual Calm Down Spot

Morning-Afternoon Meetings

What is Morning Meeting?

Morning meetings have different components that help bring the class together and connect. A popular format follows the Responsive Classroom method with four main parts. Your morning meeting can take on its structure depending on your classroom needs and time allowance.

Morning meetings are a time for all members of a class to join together and start the day. The purpose is to help everyone settle in and feel ready for the day. Morning meetings should be relatively quick and purposeful. It is essential to be flexible with the time, and do what feels best for your student’s needs that day.

While a morning meeting is encouraged, a class meeting can take place at any time of day and any structure you need. An afternoon wrap-up is a useful way for kids to transition out the door.

Why is a Morning Meeting Important?

There are many benefits to having a daily morning meeting in your classroom.

1. Morning meetings help kids settle into the day.

Starting the day off with a meeting is an excellent way to focus on what’s ahead and create a positive atmosphere where students are ready to learn. Often kids come with stories (good and bad) from home that may challenge them to get focused once at school.

Morning meetings provide an opportunity for kids to get emotionally ready for the day, to leave the previous events behind, and focus on what’s happening at school.

2. Morning meetings help create classroom inclusion.

When everyone has a voice and a chance to share openly, they begin to feel heard and understood. When they feel understood and respected, they feel like they belong. This is when an inclusive morning meeting can occur.

Spend time before the first meeting, teaching expectations and emphasize ways to show respect. Brainstorm and model what they should look like, sound, and feel like and practice it together. Record the expectations on an anchor chart and review it often.

3. Morning meetings develop community and relationships.

Through a daily meeting, the classroom environment is enhanced, relationships develop, and the community grows. Classroom meetings dramatically change the climate of the classroom, starting things off in a positive tone. Children connect with and learn about peers and develop social skills, as well. Morning meetings build community when kids get to help one another and care for each other.

Make sure the morning meetings are student-centered and include time for one-on-one interactions, group sharing, and participation activities.

4. Morning meetings build social and emotional skills.

Morning meetings build many skills through social-emotional learning activities. When children have opportunities to share about themselves openly, they develop self-awareness skills and confidence. Spending time connecting, greeting, and learning about peers will help students develop social skills, as well.

Be patient when first starting morning meetings, as some kids will need time to become comfortable with sharing and participating fully. Make sure to recognize those individuals and allow them time and space to get relaxed.

A helpful strategy to encourage emotional awareness is to do a feelings check-in. Have kids note how they are feeling on a chart or with a sticky note. This exercise will help them be emotionally prepared for what’s next.

Role-playing activities are excellent ways to create empathy and practice socially acceptable responses to different scenarios. Use this activity often to teach kids about body language, facial expressions, and how their actions affect others.

5. Morning meetings provide a way to connect at the start of the day.

The time spent at school is often hectic and over-scheduled. Teachers frequently find it hard to fit everything in. Without a scheduled meeting, the day can quickly slip by without much time dedicated to checking in with each other to see how things are going. Morning meetings afford us a small chunk of time to meet and connect with our students before the academic demands take over.

Make morning meetings are part of your daily plan by scheduling the time and recording it in your teacher planner. Jot down what you will cover in a lesson plan, just as you would for any other academic lesson.

6. Sharing leads to learning.

Morning meetings are valuable chunks of time to learn about our students. They provide a safe space for kids to share honestly with the group.

Ask questions that you wouldn’t usually think to ask during academic learning time or in the brief conversations we have each day. When kids share, we grow familiar with their circumstances, beliefs, joys, struggles, and opinions about school, life, and themselves.

7. Morning meetings build conversation skills.

The structure of meetings provides opportunities to speak and listen. Speaking orally in front of a group and listening to others share ideas develop important conversation skills.

Take time to model and practice proper “whole-body” listening. Also, teach and give examples of clear, fluent speech. Participating in daily classroom meetings will build listening and speaking skills naturally.

Necessary Elements of Any Morning Meeting

No matter what you choose to include in your morning meeting, remember the following essential elements:

Build a morning meeting routine, but also keep it fresh with fun additions and activities.
Be willing to adapt the structure of your meetings to meet the developmental needs of your students.
Provide opportunities for all students to participate equally.

Zones of Regulation

Self-regulation is something everyone continually works on whether or not we are cognizant of it. We all encounter trying circumstances that test our limits from time to time. If we are able to recognize when we are becoming less regulated, we are able to do something about it to manage our feelings and get ourselves to a healthy place. This comes naturally for some, but for others it is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced. This is the goal of The Zones of Regulation (or Zones for short).

WHAT ARE THE ZONES?

The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behavioral approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete colored zones. The Zones framework provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts.

By addressing underlying deficits in emotional and sensory regulation, executive functioning, and social cognition, the framework is designed to help move students toward independent regulation. The Zones of Regulation incorporates Social Thinking® (www.socialthinking.com ) concepts and numerous visuals to teach students to identify their feelings/level of alertness, understand how their behavior impacts those around them, and learn what tools they can use to manage their feelings and states.

Self-Care for Students

SEL self care

Student Activities for Self-Care

Physical Activity Break Cards (2).pdf

Physical Activity Cards

These simple physical activity cards are a great way to get kids, teens, and adults moving...no equipment necessary! Try them out in the classroom, at your desk, and at home with your family.

Self-Care for Staff

Here are 15+ ways you can add self-care into your life:

Treat yourself when you need it. Whether it’s a coffee, a massage, or a shopping trip, treat yourself when you need it. It’s important to find what works for you.

Remember to start fresh every day. As an educator, some days are hard. It’s so important to start every day with a fresh mindset. Not only does it help the students, but it will help you, too.

Connect with uplifting colleagues. Find the teacher friends who will listen to you, encourage you, and lift you up.

Do physical activities you enjoy. Whether it’s a daily workout, a yoga class, or jogging with your dog, find the physical activities you love to do most. Then, make them a routine in your life. Sometimes, this can be hard! Make a schedule and try to stick with it. Even in the times when you don’t feel like doing it in the moment, you will always be thankful later on.

Take a break when you need one. We all need breaks sometimes, in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Whether you need a mental health day or just a few minutes to yourself, take a break when you need it most.

Spend time journaling. If you love writing, journaling can be an excellent strategy to improve self-awareness and help you become more in touch with your everyday emotions. Spend just a few minutes a day writing down how you’re feeling, what happened, and what thoughts are going through your mind. Sometimes, just writing them down can help you think things through.

Use positive self-talk. Positive thinking can have a huge impact on our mental health and well-being. Work to recognize your more negative thoughts. Then, reframe them into more positive ones. Saying phrases like, “Today is going to be a great day,” and “This might be tough, but I can do it,” can help you through tough times.

Go for a walk or spend time outside. Spending time outside can be extremely healing and mindful. On the nice days, make an effort to spend a few extra minutes outside, whether that means reading on the porch or taking a walk around the block. You can even consider spending some time outside with your students when weather allows.

Read a good book (just for you). As educators, many of us are often reading to help choose books for our learners or improve our teaching craft. Instead of focusing on reading for teaching, spend time finding and reading a book just for you.

Plan an activity to look forward to. It’s always nice to have something positive to look forward to. Schedule a special dinner with friends, grab tickets for a concert, or plan your family vacation ahead of time.

Spend time with friends and family. It’s true that spending extra time with family and friends can help you feel happier and more fulfilled. Your time with family and friends matters.

Leave work at school for the night or weekend. As an educator, the work is really never done. There is always more than can be planned or graded. Practice leaving work at school over the night. Even more, leave it for the entire weekend to give you the extra family time you deserve.

Spend less time on social media. While there are many benefits to social media, there are a lot of drawbacks, too. Consider taking a peek in your phone’s setting to see how much time each day you’re really spending on social media. Now, just imagine what else you could be doing with that time for yourself! Make a goal to spend a little less time on social media each day.

Bring healthy snacks and meals. Good nutrition can go a long way in helping you to feel your best. Spend some time over the weekend planning what you could bring during the work week. Try planning to bring in one healthy snack each day, like carrots, nuts, or yogurt. Again, it’s important to find what works for you!

Delete your work email from your phone. Sometimes, self-care is about setting limits. If you notice that your work emails are interfering without life outside of school hours, it’s worth considering deleting it from your home. Your you-time matters and the work can wait.

Be comfortable saying “no” to more obligations. You can’t do it all, and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. The next time someone asks you to commit to an extra obligation, really ask yourself if you want to do it or not. Be comfortable saying “no” when you don’t want more added onto your plate.

Give yourself grace. Be kind to yourself! Recognize that you won’t always be perfect and that’s perfectly okay.

tt5-staff-cards-generic.pdf

Teacher Fitness Break Cards

Here’s a fun, healthy idea, which takes just 5 minutes and can impact your own physical, mental, and social well-being and the well-being of your colleagues. Employees who move together are happier together, so let’s take 5 to stretch and move! To get started, print this document. Cut along the gray dotted lines to make easy-to-use physical activity cards. Then, halfway through your next hour-long staff meeting, ask five people to select one card each. Everyone can do an activity together for one minute each.

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