Zones of Regulation
Zones of Regulation
Embedded Files
WHAT AND WHY?
ELEMENTARY
ELEMENTARY
The ZONES of Regulation
The ZONES of Regulation
The Zones of Regulation is recommended for our Elementary students, as well as for students who are still learning how to identify their emotions and strategies to support them.
The Zones of Regulation® is a framework and easy-to-use curriculum for teaching students strategies for emotional and sensory self-management. Rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy, The Zones approach uses four colors to help students identify how they are feeling in the moment given their emotions and level of alertness as well as guide them to strategies to support regulation. By understanding how to notice their body’s signals, detect triggers, read social context and consider how their behavior impact those around them, students learn improved emotional control, sensory regulation, self-awareness, and problem-solving abilities. Learning activities and visual supports are included on a USB for easy printing.
Using a cognitive behavioral approach, the curriculum’s learning activities are designed to help students recognize when they are in different states or “zones,” with each of four zones represented by a different color:
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated, euphoric, or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however individuals have more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
All of the zones are natural to experience, but the framework focuses on teaching students how to recognize and manage their zone based on the demands of their environment and the people around them. Learn more in the article, All the Zones are OK! Tips for Managing the Zones You’re In.
UPPER ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY
UPPER ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY
The RULER Approach
The RULER Approach
CLICK IMAGE FOR RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES
The Mood Meter is recommended for middle and high school students, but can also be used for our APL and GATE students in Elementary as well.
Are your students ready for the next layer of the Zones? Check out the RULER Approach and the Mood Meter HERE!
The RULER Approach is perfect for your students with an advanced vocabulary, your GATE students, and your upper elementary students. Keep the language and strategies consistent with your middle school and high school students.
HOW?
Students and their teacher come up with a list of strategies/tools that students can use throughout the day when they are in each Zone. This can be done on the Zone poster or on anchor chart paper, and then posted as a visual to be used throughout the year.
Using strategies and tools are explicitly taught to students, and are modeled by teacher and students.
Teacher then creates a Zone Check In/Check Out system where students identify the Zone that they are in AND they will choose a strategy that will support them in their Zone.
Primary: Tapping on a poster of the Zones and Strategies OR Seesaw Activity
Upper Elementary-Secondary: Google Form
Teacher can check the Google Form to see what students they will need to support and check in with.
Students will Check In as they come into the classroom, and Check Out as they leave.
ZONE CHECK
ZONE CHECK
Students can Check In at the beginning of the day in a Google Form. Teachers can push it out through Google Classroom. This can be used for grades 3-12.
Students choose the Zone that they are in, the strategy/tool that they will use to support them in their Zone, and anything else that they want to share with their teacher. Teachers can check on their laptop, desktop, or phone, and can check in with students throughout the day.
Students can also do a Zone Check using Seesaw. Teachers can push it out as an activity, and students can circle their Zone as well as a strategy they will use to support them in their Zone.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN THE CLASSROOM?
A mental health check is a great way for you to get a quick snap shot of how your students are feeling, why they are feeling that way, AND the strategies that they know they have to support themselves.
Keep ongoing data of your students using their responses in an Excel spreadsheet. Edit this Google Form to continue checking in with your students each day, or create your own.
Use this in Seesaw to have students let you know how they're feeling and what strategies they plan on using to support themselves throughout the day.
Above is a digital copy of the Zones of Regulation. You can ...
Make a copy of these slides - Click HERE for a copy
Edit the slides by adding your bitmoji to each zone
Add these slides to your daily slide deck
Have students check-in each day to identify how they are feeling. Have students use the sentence frames to describe how they are feeling and possible tools they can use to get to the green zone.
Use the Zones' Toolbox to brainstorm self regulation strategies with students
Review these strategies with students on a daily basis
Students can create their own toolbox. Share the toolbox slide with students and have them add their own strategies.
Resource: Zones of Regulation - Tools to Try
Regulation strategies to focus, calm, think, move, breathe, and connect
Slide deck that includes 52 different tools/strategies for students
Classroom Toolbox
Students (TK-2) check in as they come into the classroom.
Students will tap the Zone as well as the strategy they will use to help support them as the ENTER/EXIT the classroom throughout the day.
Explicitly teach what it looks like to use EACH strategy/tool in your classroom.
You can individualize this Zone Check for certain students so they can check in more/less times depending on their needs as well as their behavior.
WATCH THE VIDEOS BELOW TO SEE THE CLASSROOM TOOLBOX IN ACTION
Individual coping strategies for individual students on rings.
These can be kept in their folder, book bin, cubby, etc. to reference throughout the day.
What tools/strategies do you need to support you in your Zone?
Teacher hangs up 4 posters. Each poster has the name of the Zone with matching color.
Students receive green, yellow, blue, and red post-its.
Class converstation: What coping strategies/tools do you need AT SCHOOL to help support you.
Students place the post-its on the matching posters.
Teacher and students reflect, look at common strategies, and then create their Classroom Toolbox.
1080p.movTeresa Rodriguez's second graders at Loma Vista explain how they use the following systems, and the incredible impact they have on their learning:
Morning Greeting, The Working Clock, Zones of Regulation, Calming Corner, and the Thinkables and Unthinkables
WATCH THESE VIDEOS TO SEE HOW STUDENTS USE THE ZONES OF REGULATION THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL DAY
medium.MOVIMG_2046.MOVFIFTH GRADE STUDENTS AT THE END OF THE DAY
Students place their Zone cards in front of their desks throughout the day.
IMG_3247.MOVStudents fill out their Zone Check In using a Bit.ly link that is saved on their iPads.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING?
PRIMARY OPTION 1: Use this in Seesaw to have students let you know how they're feeling and what strategies they plan on using to support themselves throughout the day.
PRIMARY OPTION 2: Use this in Google Clasroom. Have students check in each morning before they do their assignments. Use this version, edit, or create your own using Google forms.
SPANISH VERSION
SPANISH VERSION
Click on the LINK for the Zone Check In (Spanish Version) to support our students and families at home using Seesaw.
ACTIVITIES TO USE WITH STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM
ACTIVITIES TO USE WITH STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM
& THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING
& THROUGH DISTANCE LEARNING
INTERACTIVE FEELINGS JOURNAL
INTERACTIVE FEELINGS JOURNAL
Use this Interactive Feelings Journal with your students in a Calm Space, or send it out through Google Classroom.
Have students use an iPad in the Calm Space with this Feelings Journal loaded on it, or have your students use it on their own individual iPads at their seat or Calm Space.
Talk about the strategies that they can use to support themselves, and allow them to use these strategies when they need them.
Make sure they use PRESENT mode when students use this Interactive Journal.
SHADE ME IN
SHADE ME IN
Our DAILY FEELINGS LOG is a great way to take a look inside what your students are experiencing each day.
Students will choose different colors to represent their different emotions. (3 different versions are available for you to choose from)
Have them choose the THREE feelings that they experience the MOST throughout the day. Shade in the amount of time they experience those feelings using the face to the left.
NOTE: If they experience this feeling A LOT, then a BIG portion of the face will be shaded that color. If they experience the feeling A LITTLE, the a small portion of the face will be shaded in.
LET'S TALK ABOUT IT
LET'S TALK ABOUT IT
SHOW YOUR FEELINGS is a great activity for your students to identify a time when they felt each feeling. They can also think of a person, place, or thing that makes them feel each of these emotions as well.
We've created these PDFs/ Google Slides/ and Seesaw Activities for your students. They can be used in the classroom AND pushed out through your platform during Distance Learning.
Two different versions are available for you to use. You can have students draw in the square OR on the faces, and then write (or record) themselves explaining themselves.
These can be used throughout the week, one page at a time, or they can be used as a Feelings Journal altogether.
RESOURCES
Zone Check In Poster.pdfZONES POSTERES
ZONES POSTERES
Use this poster to have students CHECK IN as they come into the classroom AND as they leave.
Students will tap the picture that matches how they feel as well as the strategy that they will use to support themselves.
This can also be printed and taken home in Go-Home folders each day to remind students of the strategies that they can use at home as well.
CalmingStrategiesPoster-1.pdfGrades TK-2
Calming Strategies for Our Classroom (3-5).pdfGrades 3-5
Green Zone Poster.pdfBlue Zone Poster.pdfYellow Zone Poster.pdfRed Zone Poster.pdf
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING
1. What Zone is the character in?
2. How do you know?
3. Describe what their face/body looks like
4. What does their body language make you think/feel?
5. What strategy did the character use to support them in their Zone?
6. If you were in the character's shoes, what strategy would YOU choose?
7. Have you ever been in a situation where this has happened to YOU? What could you do if that happens to you?
EVEN MORE!
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