The RULER acronym ends with R for emotional regulation. Regulation strategies help us adjust our emotional state so that it’s not too overwhelming for us. This doesn’t mean we can control our emotions, making negative emotions disappear at will. But it does mean we don’t have to be controlled by them.
The classroom can be an overwhelming place, and students benefit from being explicitly taught regulation skills. Here’s some activities that can help scaffold students ability to choose a regulation strategy to fit their emotional state:
Here’s a master list of regulation strategies. Students dig deeper into each category with the following activities:
These activities are included in my RULER Bundle, a TpT resource that’s chock full of activities to help your students respond to their emotions in a healthy and informed way. As with the other units, this one includes print and digital versions of the activities:
If you’re interested in using these activities in your classroom, preview the unit on TpT! I’d love to hear your own strategies for developing an emotionally intelligent classroom in the comments.
