Wait and Cool Off

We have been discussing Kelso's choices in kindergarten.  Many students immediately yelled out "Queso!" when he came into the classroom. :) This week we are focusing on "Wait and Cool Off," an important strategy to do before attempting to resolve conflict.  I pointed out this section of the wheel and showed them an enlarged picture of this choice:

Many times when conflict occurs we have very intense feelings.  I reminded them of our lesson at the beginning of the year when we talked about how our bodies give us warning signals.  When we are feeling intense emotions, we lose control of ourselves and might make choices we later regret, like hitting or yelling.  I introduced our read aloud, When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry... written by Molly Bang.  This book does an excellent job showing how our feelings can overtake us and how we can find ways to calm ourselves down.

In the book we learn that Sophie does a number of things to calm herself down: running, climbing trees, taking deep breaths, listening to nature, and walking.  When she rejoins her family she is ready to be kind to others and share her toys.  Today we are going to think about ways that we help ourselves calm down.  I created a list of ideas that we went through and demonstrated with Kelso.  Then students cut out ideas that they could use when they are feeling upset.  Some decided to practice their writing skills and wrote in their ideas instead!