Eastern Washington University
The cool-down buddy tool is a corrective strategy that can help students who are going through emotions during class time and need a chance to cool down. When the student is upset, they can quietly walk to tap their cool-down buddy on the shoulder, and walk to the designated cool-down spot in the classroom together.
Brain Break Cards help keep students engaged during longer activities by giving them an activity break! These activities get students moving and energized in order to help them along when it is time to resume their tasks. Brain breaks are a great preventative tool to use to help keep your students alert and ready to learn!
This tool is a great way to create a community that supports each other and teaches social emotional skills for our students future. The tool is a jar that is used to shout out fellow students who are showing character traits that should be celebrated.
This tool would be used to signify that the class is transitioning. Different songs can be connected with transitioning to the carpet, to centers, back to their desks, etc.
This tool is used to pick students in their pods/table groups randomly and assign them roles to prevent any arguments and ensure effective collaboration.
This tool includes a mirror, and positive affirmations all around the mirror — students are able to look at themselves and think positive thoughts/cool down if needed/etc.
When students are absent, another student is the “Well Wisher”. The student will color a picture and write a note to the student absent, reminding them we missed them at school.
Kindness notes are a great way for students to support one another in the classroom. Students are to draw a name out of a cup and write a nice note towards the other student. This helps students branch out and find new friends within the classroom.
Safe spaces in a classroom consist of allowing students to go and relieve stress, calm down and recharge their emotions before going back to learn. A safe space supports students social-emotional learning by teaching these students to focus on their good emotions and manage their bad emotions.
This tool is incredibly helpful for many reasons. This tool gives the opportunity for students to lift other students up. Students may not hear a lot of nice things about them from their friends or family, so hearing a compliment can lift their spirits. This tool creates a strong and positive classroom community by uniting students in thinking positively about others.
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