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Classroom Coping Skills Lesson Plan and Calm Down Boxes

This was the first post I wrote about implementing Calm Down Corners at my school, and it shares a lot of great lessons of what not to do and how to do a lesson about them. I wrote a second post sharing even more ideas and problem solving tips that you can find here!

Classroom Coping Skills Lesson

School Counselor Calm down boxes created for each homeroom.

Two years ago, my co-counselor and I were given money in the school budget to create calm down boxes for each homeroom. We were JAZZED about this. We spend copious amounts of time finding approved vendors, DIYing our glitter jars, and trying to master Boardmaker. The first week of school we gave them to the teachers and gave some suggestions on how they could introduce them to their students. Cut to the end of the year: the boxes were never really used. We found them on high shelves behind teachers’ desks. We found them hidden behind things on the floor. We went into rooms we couldn’t find them at all. We talked to students who looked at us like we were crazy when we asked about them. It was a total fail. At first I was angry; then I realized I was to blame.

Coping Skills: Calm down boxes for homerooms created by School CounselorsWhere did we go wrong?

1) We gave them to teachers the first week of school and expected them to hear and remember the words coming out of our mouths. In our excitement for students to have these tools (and, admittedly, excitement to have the boxes out of our already cramped and tiny offices), we forgot to think strategically about the timing of their release.

2) We asked our teachers to teach the students how to use the calm down box because we didn’t want to use up one of our lessons for it. This was silly because a) this is really in the counseling wheelhouse and b) it’s not good practice to add to teachers’ plates unless absolutely necessary.

This year we remedied our mistake by planning for our first lesson in 2nd-4th grade to be about classroom coping skills where we would teach and practice use of the calm down box.

I had originally planned a few read alouds to kick off the lesson (affiliate links): Mouse Was Mad for 2nd grade, Moody Cow Meditates for 3rd, and Even Superheroes Have Bad Days for 4th. I didn’t end up having enough time to do this for my 45 minute lessons, but if I had a whole 60, I would have gone for it.

 

Once I got a better sense of how long the rotations part of the lesson was going to go, I instead started with a short discussion with the class about feeling super upset (mad, worried, sad) and how sometimes those feelings make it hard for our brain to learn. Then I introduce the calm down box – a set of tools or strategies you can use to help yourself feel better so your brain can go back to learning

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents

After explaining that we’d be practicing the strategies in rotations, I explicitly teach and model how to use each of them. For example, I show and explain that the stress ball will always stay in our hands (not the floor, our desks, or the air) and that we squeeze the ball super tight for 5 seconds, relax our hand and arm muscles for 5 seconds, and then repeat. As I teach each tool, I have a volunteer place the rotation directions and practice tools on top of a table or desk grouping.

For 3rd and 4th grade, we practiced 6 tools and had 6 rotations: mandala, ‘My Happy Place’, deep breathing, glitter jar (or visual timer), stress ball, and ‘Hug an Animal’. With 2nd grade I narrowed it down to just ‘My Happy Place’, mandala, visual timer, and deep breathing. Last year we didn’t have stuffed animals in the boxes, but both my co-counselor and I witnessed the power of the stuffed animal in our offices and decided to include them.

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents
School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents

 

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contentsSchool Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents

 

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents

*Side note – my mind jar recipe as as follows: 1 part glycerin to 3-4 parts water, 4 drops dish soap, 3 drops food coloring, and glitter

They really only needed 2 to 3 minutes per rotation which was a surprise. I used my phone timer in the upper grades because we needed to stay on track to get through all six stations, and used my chime in 2nd grade where I could just gauge their readiness before rotating them. Big kids also scored each rotation in a recording sheet in a dry erase pocket as they went to show how helpful each strategy was for them.

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contentsSchool Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Examples of Calm down box contents

 

In rooms where we had extra time (i.e. rooms that managed the logistics of the lesson without us needing to stop and review expectations), students completed exit tickets. I really loved this piece because I find that students do excellent when learning coping skills but they struggle with using them in the moment – this exit ticket helps them anticipate when they’ll need to use the calm down box.

In high need rooms, I also introduced the visual communication board. Each year, I have a number of students whose emotional dysregulation results in a total shut down. I used a similar board the last couple of years and found that many of these students respond really well to being able to identify their emotion and need non-verbally like this.

School Counselor Coping Skills Lesson Plan: Visual emotion communication board

I love how this lesson turned out (I experimented with coping skills rotations a few years ago) but, as always, I have a “next time I do this…” for it. This could be even more powerful if I broke it up into two lessons. The first would be a focus on identifying strong emotions in themselves, including the physical clues of the feelings. The second would just be the rotations and exit ticket.

Wanting more information on how to implement Calm Corners or Peace Corners? I wrote a ton more about the logistics in this post!

Pin for later:

School counseling classroom coping skills

10 Responses

  1. Hi Sarah. I love this. So smart! Did you have 4-5 of each item in the rotation stations…one for each child at the station? I would imagine that would be best. I guess that wouldn't be hard if you just created or bought an extra 3-4 of each thing. Then you'd just take the extra set with you as you make your way to every classroom to introduce, right? Let me know how you did it. Thank you!

    1. Hello! I'm so sorry for my delay in responding. For some manipulatives I had enough of the item for each student. For some others (like the stuffed animal and maybe the mind jar), I had them take turns. There was still plenty of time for everyone to use them. I think I carried my crate with me and included their calm down box, all of the visuals for the centers, the tracking sheets, and then a couple extra manipulatives.

    1. Hello! I believe those were from School Specialty but they don’t look like they’re available anymore. Truthfully, they were not a huge hit. The beads inside were hard and my students didn’t love them. Best, Sara

  2. Thank you for the great ideas for teaching calm spaces/boxes in the classroom. I am doing a lesson in classes soon and love the recording sheet. I would like to see it added to the. packet for purchase, if possible. I love for my students to go home with something to remind them of what worked for them.

    1. You’re welcome! This resource here: https://shop.theresponsivecounselor.com/product/calm-corner-signs-peace-corner-or-take-a-break-spot-tools/

      does include the recording sheet. It’s included in the zip folder as a PowerPoint titled “EDITABLE Accountability and Travel Sheet”

      The upper elementary version has one as well, on page 6 of the PDF: https://shop.theresponsivecounselor.com/product/calm-corner-signs-peace-corner-or-take-a-break-spot-tools-2/

      Best,
      Sara

  3. I love this. I found my way here because I have a high school student who was abandoned as a baby and is just a giant ball of emotions in my 2.5 hour class. I think these ideas are great…. but maybe too juvenile for a high schooler. Do you have any experience with older kids and these types of coping tools? Thank you.

    1. Hi! I don’t have experience with HS students, but I think the big ideas are the same. Here are two modifications I would use for a teen:
      1. Allow them to have 1-3 coping tools with them at their desk/in their backpack.
      2. Use a “breaks” system to allow them to leave the classroom. This would look like having a process in place for them to take a break (such as a special hand signal), a designated place for them to go to, etc. While ideally we want students to regulate their emotions in class, sometimes feelings are too big for that AND adolescence in particular crave and need privacy in these moments.

      Hope that helps some!
      Sara

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Hello, I’m Sara!

With 10 years of experience in
elementary school counseling,
I get to serve in a different way now
– by helping fellow counselors and
educators!

I value quality over quantity,
effective practices and resources,
and meeting the unique needs of all
our diverse learners.

Sara

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