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