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Coffee Chat: Self Regualation

Wonderful turn out for our coffee chat this week on self regulation. Here are some photos of our work together. Thank you to our wonderful librarian Cath who had books available on our topic!  

Self Regulation Coffee Chat

Join the ES Counselors for our next Coffee Chat about the tools we can use to support our kids in regulating their emotions.  We will discuss the common language we use at ISKL, tools that support kids, and how we can be mindful of our own behaviour in the moments when our kids are dysregulated.
Location: MPR 5
Date: Thursday, November 21, 8:15-9:30

Please fill out the form to attend!

Do you know the goals of the Zones of Regulation?

Zones of Regulation

Children need to be taught explicitly how to regulate their actions when they experience strong emotions. When they can do this, it leads to increased self regulation control and problem solving abilities. Children can learn to recognize their emotions when they pay attention to the responses they are having in the mind, heart and body. In our lessons the students have been exploring how our thoughts create emotions and are learning ways to manage their emotions through self-regulation strategies (taking a walk, getting a drink of water, taking a mindful breath. The Zones of Regulation chart can be very useful to students to help them to recognize when they may no longer be in the green zone. Children still need our help in modelling and demonstrating who to deal with emotions that happen throughout the day. 

Parenting in the Digital Age

On Friday, October 11, the counselors and the tech team co-hosted a Coffee Chat on parenting in the digital age. There was a very successful turn out and great discussions were held. If you missed the coffee chat, you can download our resources here on our blog under the Coffee Chat tab.

The power of our thoughts... Grades 4 - 5

As part of our self- regulation exploration in Grades 4 - 5 we tuned into the power of our thoughts to trigger strong emotions. I used a personal example of seeing pictures on social media of a party "I wasn't invited to." Jumping to conclusions, having potentially inaccurate thoughts, can trigger strong emotions which in turn can trigger urges and impulses to do things we may regret or that will make a problem worse. We often talk about the part of the brain, our prefrontal cortex (PFC), that helps us to control those urges and impulses but with it not fully developed until age 25 we have to use lots of other strategies!

One strategy I introduced in Grade 5 is the 3 C's. Catch the thought - by tuning into where the strong emotion came from. Check the thought - is it true, do I have evidence for that and finally, Change the thought. As students head towards Middle School and peers become increasingly important this is a good strategy to keep in their toolboxes as small slights or perceptions can quickly turn into big dramas. Of course this is all developmentally appropriate but hopefully, our continued focus on mindfulness can help! To read more: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/headroom/cbt/catch_it.pdf

Self-regulation in Grades 3 - 5

In Grades 3 - 5 students have been learning about the Zones of Regulation and how tuning into our own emotions, how our body feels and our amount of energy can help us to self-regulate.

• I know that all feelings are okay and they often change.

• My body and face give clues to how I’m feeling.

• It’s important to be in control and recognize when I’m not doing what’s expected.

• Others around us have thoughts and feelings about us when we are out of control or doing the unexpected.

• I have strategies to bring me back to the green zone to do my best learning and get along with others!

Students also tuned into their "triggers"; events or situations that often activate their own strong emotions. From "being hungry" to "something being unfair," students did some wonderful self-reflection to help them plan strategies for their triggers.

Zones of Regulation- what zone are you in?

Children need to be taught explicitly how to regulate their actions when they experience strong emotions. When they can do this, it leads to increased self regulation control and problem solving abilities. Children can learn to recognize their emotions when they pay attention to the responses they are having in the mind, heart and body. In our lessons the students have been exploring how our thoughts create emotions and are learning ways to manage their emotions through self-regulation strategies (taking a walk, getting a drink of water, taking a mindful breath. The Zones of Regulation chart can be very useful to students to help them to recognize when they may no longer be in the green zone. Children still need our help in modelling and demonstrating who to deal with emotions that happen throughout the day. 

Introduction to Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and control our bodies, emotions, and thoughts, and changing them as needed. There are many strong or difficult emotions that need  need regulating. Children can experience a range of  reactions  with difficult emotions (i.e. sweat, heart races, yell, stomp, cry) Many students identified feelings of frustration, anger, sadness and sometimes all of those mixed together.
To get us thinking about how to regulate our behaviours, we played the game, Red Light, Green Light. Students made connections that cars must regulate their driving to be aware of what is happening around them (just like our feelings!)

Kindness Matters

As we returned back last month from our mid-year break, we started our lessons off with thinking about kindness. Kindness is about noticing what we see in the world around us in responding in ways with both verbal and non-verbal gestures.

Students explored the value in understanding that Kindness really does start with ourselves! Noticing things about our own self that are worth celebrating and sharing with others. We also unpacked what kindness looks like and sounds like.

Saying goodbye to friends

The end of the semester is always a difficult time when we have to say goodbye to some of our friends who are leaving ISKL for new adventures! We wish you all the best Sejin, Olivia, Nathan, and Nick!