Last month I completed a series of social emotional activities built around the RULER method for social emotional learning. Over the next few weeks I’d like to share them with you! You can purchase the activities in my TpT store, or use them as inspiration for your own activities. This post will focus on understanding emotions. Read Aloud: There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon Reading There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon by Jack Kent is a great way to introduce this concept. In the book, Billy Bixby wakes up to find a small dragon at the foot of his bed. He tells his mom about the dragon, but she claims there’s no such…
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Finding Clipart for Your TpT Store
If you’re a new TpT seller looking for advice in the Seller’s Forum, you’ll notice a recurring them: clipart. More specifically, you’ll hear people suggest that you invest in good clipart. I concur, with some reservations. When it comes to Teachers Pay Teachers, the bottom line is this: quality content sells…but only if it’s packaged well. Teachers can’t view your whole product before purchasing, so a good cover and preview suggests something about the quality of the content. Here are my three recommendations for finding clipart. One is free, one is paid, and one can be accessed through a free trial. This is not a sponsored post. Purchase a Clipart…
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Regulating Emotions, Social-Emotional Learning (part 5)
Here we are the last step of the RULER method–regulation! A quick note before we complete this little series. You’ve probably already noticed that a linear process (recognize, then understand, then label, then express, then regulate) doesn’t completely match how we experience and respond to our emotions. The RULER method is a way of teaching these skills in a logical order, but the steps don’t necessarily need to be carried out in this order. Once students have the skills, they can apply them as they see fit! Okay here we go, on to regulation. What is Emotional Regulation? We regulate our emotions when we try to adjust them in some…
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Labeling Emotions, Social-Emotional Learning (RULER, part 3)
All this talk about social emotional learning may make you nervous. Sure, you say, I’m a professional…but I’m not a professional therapist. Fair point, but emotional intelligence can be taught–and you are a professional teacher. All this to say that this next skill, labeling emotions, is the easiest to teach using traditional (read: non-therapy) teaching methods. Labeling emotions comes down to developing and using an extensive emotional vocabulary. And whomever you are (assuming you’re a teacher), you have a lot of experience with expanding student’s vocabularies. Labeling Emotions: What it Means & Why it’s Important We label an emotion when we describe it using the most precise word we can…
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Recognizing Emotions & Using the Mood Meter for Social Emotional Learning (RULER, part 1)
The RULER method for social emotional learning begins with recognizing emotions. Recognizing emotions simply means noticing the emotional territory we’re in. It doesn’t require us to name the emotion (that comes later), just notice. How Will Recognizing Emotions Help My Students? Recognition is the first step toward healthy expression and regulation. Ignored emotions become exaggerated, painful, and uncontrollable. Noticing a feeling, especially a negative one, can alleviate some of our emotional distress. When students notice they’re feeling a strong emotion they can: Reflect on what they need from themselves or others. Communicate their feelings. Ask for help if they need it. How Can I Help My Students Recognize their Emotions?…
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A Regular Person’s Guide to Creating a TpT “Brand,” Step 1: Choose a Color Palette & Import it to Keynote
Do you hate the word “brand” as applied to yourself? Are you already cringing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. But when I say “brand” I’m not talking about staging a fabricated life so you can get more instagram followers, likes, re-shares or whatever. I simply mean taking a few simple steps to make your TpT products attractive, recognizable, and cohesive. The first step is to choose a color palette. This will make designing a logo, product covers and blog posts simpler. If there is a set of colors you already like to use, then great–you’re almost done! But if you don’t have an eye for color (I don’t), here are…
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RULER: An Acronym for Social Emotional Learning + TpT Sale
If you want to spend less time putting out behavioral fires in your classroom, look to social-emotional learning. Outbursts, shutdowns, and fights occur when students don’t have tools for helpful (and appropriate) emotional expression. I recently read Marc Brackett’s Permission to Feel and was inspired to create classroom resources for his RULER acronym. In his book, Brackett points out what most of us already know–school is an emotionally fraught place for students and teachers, and we could all use some help. Today I’m so excited to release my newest TpT product–social emotional activities to fit each letter in the RULER acronym. It’s on sale until Friday, so be sure to…
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Using Keynote to Make Classroom Materials & TpT Products
Much has been said about the benefits of PowerPoint over Word when it comes to making Teachers Pay Teachers products, and I wholeheartedly agree. If you’re frustrated with rogue images, it’s time to switch to PowerPoint, or Keynote. Here’s a little primer on using Keynote to make multi-page documents, quizzes, and task cards for your classroom or Teachers Pay Teachers store. Changing Keynote Dimensions for Multi-Page Documents, TpT Covers, TpT Previews, Pins for Pinterest, and TpT Banners. Here’s how to change Keynote slide dimensions so that each page is the equivalent of a 8.5″X11″ page: Open Keynote and create a new presentation. Select Document at the top, right of your…
