Summer Blog Series: 5 Ideas to Help Students with Emotional Regulation
As an educator, teaching students of various abilities can be challenging enough, but how do you handle all of the social-emotional factors that go beyond academic content, such as emotional regulation? In today’s elementary schools, teachers do much more than just teach; they also have to find ways to navigate what can feel like a minefield of emotions and behaviors. These can include things like anxiety, behavior problems, and stress from home. Teachers often feel a lot of pressure because they don’t always have the training or resources to help with these issues.
Throughout this series, we explore three areas that teachers often struggle with in meeting these needs: helping students to find resiliency, learn social skills, and experience emotional regulation. We provide ideas for social-emotional activities to help both students and teachers succeed in these common areas.
To read part 1 of this series, Building Resiliency, click here.
To read part 2 of this series, Building Social Skills, click here.
What Does Emotional Regulation Mean?
Students deal with a lot of BIG emotions both at home and throughout the school day. Emotional regulation refers to the ability to identify what they are feeling and respond to their emotions in a healthy and constructive way. For students, being able to emotionally regulate means they can recognize their emotions, understand what triggers them, and control their reactions in various situations, whether in school, with peers, or at home.
Instead of reacting impulsively, emotionally regulated students can pause, think, and choose how to respond. It’s important they have positive strategies that they can use to help them cope with negative emotions. For example, instead of lashing out when upset, they might take deep breaths or talk about their feelings. Other strategies include talking to someone they trust, engaging in physical activity, or using relaxation techniques.
Why Students Struggle with Emotional Regulation
Students may struggle with emotional regulation for a variety of reasons, and understanding these can help in addressing the challenges they face. Here are a few common reasons:
- Lack of Emotional Awareness: Some students may not have developed the ability to identify and understand their emotions. Without this awareness, it’s difficult to regulate emotions effectively.
- Developmental Stage: Emotional regulation skills develop over time, and younger students, in particular, may struggle simply because their brains and emotional maturity are still developing.
- Stress and Anxiety: High levels of stress or anxiety, whether from school pressure, family issues, or social challenges, can overwhelm students and make it harder to manage emotions.
- Trauma or Adverse Experiences: Students who have experienced trauma or significant adversity (e.g., abuse, neglect, loss) may have disrupted emotional regulation as a result of these experiences.
- Poor Social Skills: Students with underdeveloped social skills may struggle with the social aspects of emotional regulation, such as understanding social cues or communicating their feelings appropriately.
These factors can interact in complex ways, and students may struggle with emotional regulation due to a combination of these reasons. As educators, we are not meant to solve all of these problems, but instead provide students with tools to help them navigate the big emotions they experience.
Activities to Help with Emotional Regulation
So how can you help your students build those emotional regulation “muscles”? Here are 5 ideas to try in your classroom:
Use a Feelings Thermometer
Help students learn how to recognize, verbalize, and manage their feelings with a visual representation, such as a feelings thermometer. As a class, discuss appropriate ways to manage the range of feelings that students experience. Then they can use the thermometer to gauge their feelings daily or when needed. Display an example like the one shown above from the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health or create one together as a class.
Have a Mindfulness Minute
Incorporate short mindfulness exercises throughout the school day. Have students listen to classical music or focus on a calming sound. You can also practice breathing techniques or guided imagery. These types of activities show students how to center themselves. The Go Noodle channel on Youtube has a lot of great mindfulness videos that can be used with students.
Create a Calm Down Corner
Create a designated area in the classroom where students can go when they need a break. Include calming tools like stress balls, fidget toys, coloring books, or a “breathing buddy” (a stuffed animal they can use to practice breathing exercises). This helps provide a safe space for students to practice self-regulation when they feel overwhelmed. Make sure to communicate very clear guidelines as to what this area will and will not be used for. Check out these tips for creating a Calm Down Corner in your classroom from Little Yellow Star.
Use Positive Affirmations
Using affirmations, or positive self-talk, is a great way to help your students build self-esteem and a positive mindset, which supports emotional regulation. Start or end the day with positive affirmations. Have students repeat phrases like “I can handle this,” “I am in control of my feelings,” or “I am strong.” Your students will love making their own affirmations poster like the one shown above from our Emotional Regulation Unit. Just click the button below to grab yours for FREE!
Teach the CALM Strategy
It can be hard for students and teachers to know how to help students when they are experiencing BIG emotions. That’s why we came up with the CALM strategy. This easy to remember acronym stands for: C-Close your eyes and breathe, A-Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”, L-Listen to your inner voice, M-Make a decision. We understand that students only become comfortable using strategies with lots of modeling and practice, which is why we created our Emotional Regulation Unit to break down and explain each part of the strategy with engaging activities. We included lesson plans, posters, scenario examples, practice sheets and more! Check out the details of the full unit below!
In a school setting, emotional regulation is crucial because it helps students focus better, engage in learning, interact positively with peers and teachers, and handle stress and challenges more effectively. Incorporating these activities into the classroom routine helps students practice emotional regulation in a supportive environment, leading to better social and academic outcomes. Hopefully we’ve given you a few ideas to try out in your classroom this year!