Calm Down Corner

ADD, anxiety, anger, distractibility, hyperactivity...oh my! After teaching for 16 years, I have had my share of students who have ADD, anxiety, hyperactivity, sensory and/or social needs. I strongly believe that teaching the whole child (meeting each child’s emotional, social, academic, physical needs) makes a truly exceptional educator. However, this is not an easy job to do when you have 28 students, each with a different need, in your class! More days than not, I wear many hats: nurse, mommy, daddy, physiologist, social worker, gym teacher, music teacher, Like it or not, we are no longer just a “classroom teacher.”

Can you relate!?!?!

I created this file as a way to compile all my ideas for how I help all the students in my classroom- above and beyond the routine and daily classroom management that is established.

This file was created to give ideas for how to help the students who:

• Are happy, joyous, and are loving life! These students will love the joy journal writing about what they are grateful for.
• Are anxious, shy, and overwhelmed. Students who are afraid to speak up in class, get scared during a thunderstorm or fire drill or MAP testing, need a brain freeze pass or a bathroom break.
• Are angry, mad, physically violent towards others or themselves. Some students hide their anger well and some students need help controlling their anger. The shades of anger resources will help these students identify the emotion and appropriate ways to deal with the anger.
• Are embarrassed or sad because they acted on their anger and created hurt somebody else’s feelings. These students need to learn how to how to make a sincere apology.
• Are hyperactive and need help with controlling their excess energy. The five minute fidget pass is a great tool for these students.
• Are working to identify the different emotions that they feel on a daily basis. These feelings are not to be labeled as “bad.” Students need to understand that throughout the day, their emotions change.

However, with specific tools in place, they are better able to manage those emotions.

You will find that your entire class will benefit from some of the ideas presented in this file, such as the joy journal, the feelings journal, the classroom economy behavior system, or “listening with your whole self.” However, you may want to introduce some of the ideas presented in this file with only the students who you feel will benefit the most from them. For example, I only use my brain freeze passes for students who have ADD and I only use the fidgets for those students who have ADHD. However, you know your students best!

This file also includes:

• Resources and ideas for how to implement an individualized behavior plan
• Resources and ideas for how to implement a classroom economy behavior management plan. Students earn credits for good choices and debits for poor choices, getting paid on pay day and either saving their money or shopping for a fun reward

Please email me with any questions!

Melissa :)