Emotions Chart - Self Regulation

Emotions Chart

RECOGNIZING EMOTIONS & SELF REGULATION

Little Monster's Classroom offers some fun and cute activities for kids.  This set includes a months worth of activities to help students recognize their emotions, triggers, and positive solutions.

This great scale allows students to monitor how they are feeling.  They simply move a paperclip along the scale to indicate their feelings to themselves, a teacher, or others in the classroom.  The cute little monsters just make us laugh.  It definitely puts a fun spin on self regulation.

The set comes with tons of fun activities to help kids learn about their emotions.  From mazes to crossword puzzles to word searches and super cute make your own monster activities, kids will definitely be engaged.

We love the journals.  How fun is it to make a little monster to show how you are feeling before doing the written portion?  And it comes with all the little monster parts.  You can choose your eyes, mouths, bodies, and even fun little accessories.  I have to say, even I'm tempted to do this activity.

This work set is so much fun that you could easily do it with your entire class to encourage empathy.  It's great for Safe and Inclusive Schools and encouraging anti-bullying behaviour.

There's even an entire set of matching Little Monster classroom management tools and activities.  Graphic organizers and all sorts of classroom resources.  Try it for yourself.

Anti Bullying - Enemy Pie

Anti Bullying

ENEMY PIE - A FUN BOOK AND ART ACTIVITY

Here's a fun book to talk about bullying.  This book, Enemy Pie, is about a little boy who for the first time has an enemy.  He's actually jealous that the boy plays with his best friend and invites everyone but him to his birthday party, but he doesn't see it that way.  He has decided that this is his first enemy and an enemy list in his tree house is required.  He asks his dad how to deal with his enemy and his dad suggests making an enemy pie.  He brainstorms all the gross things that could go into the pie and is surprised when his dad makes the pie out of yummy things.  But, his dad makes sense, "Who would want to eat the pie if it was yucky?"  His dad then tells him that for enemy pie to work, he has to be nice to his enemy and spend a whole day playing with him before he eats the pie.  The boy agrees and in the end, realizes, he actually likes his enemy.

When I read this book to my students, we brainstormed things we might put in our own enemy pies.  

After the story, we talked about why he liked his enemy in the end (he didn't know him at first and in the end realized they had lots in common), then we made our own enemy pies.  The students had a great time.  I did this with Kindergarten to Grade 2 students.

How to Make an Enemy Pie

Supplies: 

• Red, blue, and brown construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue 
• Pencil
• Cans for drawing circles (coffee cans work well)

 Instructions:

1. Demonstrate how to make the pie
2. Ask, what goes on the bottom of a pie?
3. Trace a circle onto brown paper & cut it out for the crust (write your name on the bottom)
4. Ask, what might go into the pie?
5. Cut strips of blue or red paper, then cut into little squares for berries
6. Glue the berries onto the crust
7. Talk about how sometimes pies have strips of crust on top
8. Cut strips of brown construction paper for the crust strips and glue them on
9. Lay flat to dry

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this when the kids made them.  It's a shame, they were so cute.

Silent Speed Ball - How to Play

Silent Speed Ball

A GREAT GAME FOR TEACHERS

This game is pretty easy.  It's a great game for filling extra time in the classroom and winding your students down at the end of a busy day.  Kids love this game.  I've played it from Kindergarten to Grade 6 and it's always a hit.


The rules are simple:

• Everyone stands behind their chair or in a circle (for younger students)
• No one can talk, but you
• Students take turns tossing a ball (I use a squishy stress-type ball) underhand to each other
• They have to sit down if: they miss the ball (needs to be a good throw), throw overhand, hold the ball for more than 3 seconds, or miss the ball (it has to be a good throw - you decide)
• Near the end of the game, I often implement a 1 second holding rule.  
• If they miss the ball, I give them one throw before they sit down (this really helps to eliminate any tantrums).  If they talk too much while sitting or are misbehaving, I tell them that only students who are sitting quietly will get the play the next game

Note: I do not give out prizes.  If students ask what they get for winning, I tell them a high five or the knowledge that they made it to the end of the game this time.  I think it's very important for students to increase their intrinsic motivation