During our first two weeks of school much of our focus has been on developing a warm and caring classroom community in which all children feel safe and welcome, feelings essential for learning.  For young children, a critical first step in this process is helping them develop an awareness of their own feelings and emotions.  This week we have been talking about the Zones of Regulation, four categories or  "zones" used to categorize different emotions people experience:  blue, green, yellow, and red.  Green is optimum.  People in the green zone might be feeling happy, calm, or focused.   Blue is running slow-perhaps tired, sick, or sad.  Yellow represents caution-frustrated, overwhelmed, silly, worried, or anxious.  Finally the red zone is for extreme emotions and feeling out of control- terrified, angry, or completely overwhelmed.  To help us practice identifying the zones we read the book "On Monday When It Rained..." by Cherryl Kachenmeister,  which describes the range of feelings for one boy in a given week, and emphasizes that all people, even adults, cycle through various emotions every day.  We brainstormed strategies for moving toward the green zone when we aren't feeling our best.  Some of our ideas include taking deep breaths, finding a space by ourselves, counting to five (or higher), or sitting with a drip toy.

We also read the book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today" by Carol McCloud, which talks about the rewards of treating other people with kindness.  When you fill someone else's bucket your own bucket fills as well.  In the coming days we will be paying close attention to the particular acts that fill our buckets each day.