Salute to Social Skills!

So, the Stop and Think area of the classroom has been helpful...it's not a perfect routine yet, but the class has doubled in size since we started.  That's right...DOUBLED in size.  Sounds like an insane number until you remember that I only had 3 before....then you remember that they are Emotionally Disabled, and DOUBLED sounds daunting again.

Anyway, we've made some additions to the Stop and Think area, and here they are!

First....let's revisit a poster that has been in the area....You'll notice the addition of zebra duct tape at the top and bottom...That would be because Thing 1 had a tantrum a week ago and kicked the wall.  Repeatedly.  Eventually, she kicked her way up to the poster, and RRRRRiiiiiipp!  Sigh.  Lesson #1 - Always laminate all your posters in your Stop and Think area.  I probably would have before putting it up in the first place, but we have been out of laminating paper for about 4 months (Shocking, I know!)  You will also notice an addition of a drawing next to "angry."   A day or 2 after the tantrum, we were working on our daily social skill and the class was asked to draw a picture of how they felt about that day (Shocker #2 - We'd had some challenges that day).  Thing 1 drew a picture of herself being angry.  She then cut it out, grabbed the tape, and placed it on the poster.  I asked what she was doing and she replied, "I put my angry face over there because when I am angry, I go there to calm down.  And I'm a little angry that I tore the poster."  Um, Hello, growth! So, Thing 1's picture of angry has remained in the area.  Let's hear it for students' having some ownership!





 Our new "Get Your Angries Out" poster from PeaceKids.net.  Download it (For FREE!!)  HERE!

I'm loving this acrostic for the word THINK.  Want this version?  Get it for free right HERE!



And if you want this Stop and Think printable, get it HERE!


We've also added an Anger Management Toolbox to the area.  So far, we've only put a few things in, but we want to see how well it works out before loading it with items.  So far we have 2 squishy stress balls and 2 sensory bottles.  One bottle has been filled with rice (Some fancy Basmati rice that I overpaid for, then realized that I don't really like Basmati rice.  But, I digress.) and a few squirts of green food coloring.  Only some of the rice took in the color, which gave me the desired affect.  Now, there are 2 shades of rice, and it gives the kids something to focus on when angry.  The second bottle is a generous amount of Palmolive and water, filled about 3/4 of the way to the top.  Shake it, and it bubbles up.  Pretty simple.  I then hot glued the top on, and added the zebra duct tape (because, you know, gotta keep a theme going, right?).

So, there it is!  Link it up, Pin it, try it in your room and let me know if you learn any lessons too!