Kenowa Hills — Move over, harmonious Whos down in Whoville: Central Elementary young fives students are learning how their actions can make others’ hearts grow three sizes.
Teacher Robyn Bradford’s K-Knights class learned in December how to cope with and work through big, uncomfortable emotions in their Strong Feelings unit of Second Step’s social-emotional learning curriculum.
“We deal with feelings all the time. Sometimes they are ‘kid size’ and sometimes they are big feelings, like frustration (and) anger at not getting what we want,” Bradford said. “We focus on ways to address strong feelings that keep us, our friends and our surroundings safe.”
During a visit to Bradford’s classroom, several students quickly volunteered to help their friend clean up her spilled breakfast cereal. Later, K-Knight student Caiden reminded his friends that “sharing is caring” while playing with building blocks.
When her class sat down for circle time, Bradford reminded her students, “Use kind words and actions, because we don’t want to hurt our hearts or minds.”
Coping with Big Feelings
Bradford helped her students recognize and respond appropriately to small and big feelings. The K-Knights practiced coping skills, so they would know what to do when faced with big feelings, like anger and frustration, outside of the classroom.
“When we get big feelings, we can’t do anything to hurt ourselves or others,” Bradford instructed. “If we pay attention to how we are feeling when our feelings aren’t too big, we can stop and calm down before our feelings get so big it’s hard to handle them.”
Her students paired up and practiced by pretending to get mad at each other and then putting their hands on their stomachs and taking deep breaths. Bradford said this process stops their brains and slows their breathing so her students can figure out what they need when they’re mad.
“Children can feel frustrated when they are trying to do something that is really hard,” she said. “Knowing how to calm down helps them learn at school and at home.”
The classroom also has a “calm corner” for when students need space to decompress or regulate themselves, so they can get back to learning alongside their peers.
Principal Cherie Horner said teaching kids to regulate their emotions helps them become emotionally well adjusted adults.
Teaching students to practice empathy toward themselves and others, Horner said, is also part of Central’s Capturing Kids Hearts and the district’s True Success curriculum at Central, Alpine and Zinser elementaries.
“The younger you are, the harder it is to verbalize how you’re feeling,” Horner said. “(Social-emotional learning) normalizes big feelings, and our kids have empathy when their friends have big feelings.”
She also shared a story about how a group of young fives recently rallied around one of their classmates at lunch time and sang a song they learned in class to cheer her up.
“One thing I love about Central is kids see each other for who they are and not what they’re doing,” Horner said. “We want to help students understand that they can come as they are and we’ll take you and teach you.”
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