Student Contributor: L. Kettner
The calming corner is a box in the classroom with different calming tools for students like visual calming tools as well as different fidgets, ideas for calming, and tools for visual expression. This is available for students to use when they feel frustrated, angry or upset as a safe way to help them calm down.
This tool should be used when the student feels it is necessary. The teacher can suggest that the tool be used but will not send students there as a form of time out, because this is meant to be a resource for students not a form of punishment. There can be many different items in here to help students calm down, this could include visual calming tools like glitter wands, or homemade ones like galaxy jars anything that is visually calming. Stress balls and other fidgets are also good tools to have in here. Wooden puzzles or putty are some examples of fidgets that could be included. You can also have a little booklet of different ideas on how to help calm down. Materials for drawing or writing, and even little faces that show different moods are good to include for expression. Lastly visuals for calm breathing techniques are good to include for students to get an idea on some more good ways to help calm down. Students could use this box for 5-10 minutes to help them calm down, but if it doesn’t work in that time then another strategy may be needed to help them.
I placed this in the supportive phase because it is meant to help students who are frustrated, angry, or overwhelmed to help them calm down. This is meant as a tool to help support them when they are feeling stressed or overwhelmed and give them effective calming strategies for use both in and outside the classroom. This also relates to the preventative phase because it can help prevent outbursts and major behavior problems in the classroom because students have some effective tools to calm themselves down. I think this is most related to student-directed theories of influence. This is because it puts the students in charge of calming themselves be giving them resources to calm down.
More Information –
Tool Source: https://www.thecalmcorner.com/2018/11/building-a-calming-tools-kit.html
