Hi all!  This is one of the posts I get emailed most about, so I wanted to update it to share the resources that I use for these lessons.  Enjoy!

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I have a confession:  classroom lessons are not my favorite.  Doing a lesson and leaving is just not my thing…did they learn anything?  Will they use this?  Was it a complete fail???  I will never know.

Okay, I know, I could ask the teacher, but my point is, I really struggle with them.  But, I have enjoyed pushing in and doing lessons in a unit for 2 different classrooms in the past year.  This year, at the start of the year, when I gave one of my teachers some visuals for the Zones of Regulation, she thought it looked like a great strategy, and asked me to teach it to the class.

I panicked.  I was in the Yellow Zone (!!).  But eventually, I realized this was a great opportunity for my students to see that this was a skill anyone could use.  I agreed to do four classroom lessons, and they have worked out well.  As much as I’d like to take credit for the success of this, I strongly believe that the classroom teacher is the driving force for it to succeed.  She integrates the vocabulary and lessons into everyday learning, and relates it to her own life.  It is awesome.

Here’s what we’ve done:

In case you aren’t familiar with the program.  Here is the original book (affiliate link).

Week 1:  Introduction to the Zones

I started this lesson with a discussion about self regulation-what it is and why it’s important, and then I introduced the Zones a tool to help with self regulation.  I showed the kids visuals of each Zone and we had a discussion about what feelings belong in each Zone.  Then, I split the class into 4 groups, and gave them all a color card for each Zone, and then a bunch of pictures/visuals to sort in each.  I had a bunch of these from my own groups, but added a few more-one of emojis, one of baseball players, one of real life people, and one of characters from movies.  The kids really liked this.

Once they were done, was brought them all back to the circle and analyzed the pictures from each one.  What did we notice about the faces of everyone in the blue zone?  How about the body language of those in the red?  We left over with a conclusion about what this is important, and I ask them to start noticing themselves and others in the Zones.

Materials used:

NBA players (free)

Emoji Chart ($1, worth it)

Movie characters from Google and “real life” people from unsplash.com

Week 2:  The Zones in Me & How it affects other people

To start off the second week, I review the first lesson briefly, and then talk about how there are times when it is “expected” to be in each Zone.  We brainstorm times it’s expected to be in the green, yellow, blue and red, and talk about how when we are in a Zone and it’s expected, other people don’t have too many different thoughts about us.  Then I go into, how other people think when they see us in a Zone and it’s unexpected.  I use this chart to help the kids understand, and make it more interactive.

Finally, on the second week, I ask each child to pick 2 colors and share (anonymously) two times they were in each one recently.  I love this one!

Materials used:

Colored post it notes

Large post it sheets

Week 3:  Triggers that move us out of the Green Zone

On the third week, I introduce triggers and something that helps put space in between us and the Green Zone.  I give examples and then used this trigger activity, but had the kids just share what the trigger was in each situation, and start to brainstorm a possible tool/solution.  Then, I had the kids reflect (in partnerships) on a trigger for them.  The kids were SO insightful during this, I was so proud!

Materials needed:

A visual for Triggers (will vary by age-here’s what I use)

Post it notes from last lesson, grouped together by similar triggers.

Age appropriate examples of triggers that move kids between zones.

Week 4:  Toolbox

This is my last initial week, as I then do follow-up as needed, but for this week, I wanted to tie tools into what we had already learned, and expose students to tools that they weren’t familiar with.  I started off again with a review, and then talked about tools as a way to get us back to the Green zone.  I then briefly explained these 6 tools, and had students go around and briefly test out each.  We wrapped up by making bookmarks of one tool that we could reference in each zone.  It was fun!

I have now put together this for TPT.  You can find it here.

The stations I used were:

1. 5 Finger & Lazy 8 Breathing
2. 5 Senses
3. Calming Tools/Fidgets (I had them read a fidget social story and then play around with tools
4. Spaghetti Body
5. Inner Coach
6. Music-I had 4 music clips, and asked the students to think about when each type of music could help them.

I hope you find this useful or inspirational for your work!  Enjoy!