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The purpose of this management padlet is to give teachers who work with students with emotional disabilities, or students  who struggle with regulating emotions, tips on how to develop a calm and safe classroom environment. The main audience is teachers who teach students with emotional disabilities, but many of these strategies could be useful in any classroom. The information provided in this padlet includes helping students regulate their emotions, gives ideas on how to calm students down, and provides information on how to build a positive classroom community. All of these are important pieces that make a positive learning environment for students who struggle with emotions and behaviors.

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KidConnect is a program that teaches students emotional regulation. The link that I provided is information on an app that can be used in the classrooms to help students learn how to better regulate their emotions. The app serves to help students in the moment to learn steps to identify their emotions and to use appropriate strategies. The app helps teachers take, keep, and track important data related to their students' behaviors. When working with students with IEP's data is critical. This app seems like a very helpful way to keep data and stay organized. Of course you have to pay to have access to this program, so the information that is provided is limited; however, this would be a great resource, and would likely be funded, for students who are at significant risk in a school setting.

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Quick registration for KidConnect for the iPad. App teaches emotional regulation to K- 12 Students.

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This is a great way to start the day to ensure that all students have a positive attitude and are ready to begin a new day. Often times students with emotional disabilities will let anxiety from what is going to happen later in the day affect them as soon as they get to school. A test that isn't going to happen until 2:30 could cause so much anxiety that their whole day is negative. Going over this in the morning can calm many students' fears and feelings. It is also helpful to see how things went at home the night before/morning and to make sure that all things that happened yesterday were left in yesterday. This emotional planner gives students a chance to "let go" of what might be on their minds, so they can focus on school.

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In one of my self-contained ED classrooms we did something similar to Bucket Fillers and the students loved it! It was a great way to let the students have time for everyone to focus on what they were doing that was good, rather than looking at the negative. The two examples provide information about using bucket fillers as a way to create positive classroom community. It can be used in any classroom, but I saw great progress from my students who struggled significantly with behaviors and emotions.

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I am a firm believer in positive and encouraging classroom environments. Students who feel safe and encouraged are being set up to take risks, challenge themselves, and work hard. There are a few ways that I achieve this in my classroom. This post will outline how to create a bucket filler classroom so your students can feel successful and work hard.

How Full is Your Bucket

Every year I read the book How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids . This book explains the concept of each of us having an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, we feel awful. It goes through the importance and impact of our words and actions towards others. It also describes how when we fill others' buckets, in return, it fills our own.

Some other bucket filler books that I love to read throughout the year include:
Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids (Bucketfilling Books) Bucket Filling from A to Z: The Key to Being Happy
Fill a Bucket: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Young Children

Bucket Filler Anchor Chart

After reading the story, we move into some class discussion. I ask my students the question, "What are some positive choices we can make this year?" Then I instruct them to "turn and teach". At that point the kids turn and face their turn and teach partner and they take turns telling their partner ideas for positive choices. After approximately 1-2 minutes, we return to our whole group conversation and the students share some of their ideas aloud. At that point I add their ideas to the anchor chart you can see below.

I would recommend hanging this anchor chart on your classroom wall for the first month of school. You will see why I recommend this next.

Time to Implement

Here's where the fun begins. The kids now understand some of your classroom expectations and the behaviors and actions they should strive towards. They also understand the importance of using words to fill their classmates' buckets. Now they get to put this all to action.

At the beginning of the week, each student gets the name of somebody in their class. It is their responsibility to look for something positive from that student. It can be something that was written on the anchor chart that is displayed on your wall or something different. On the final day of the week, the students create their bucket filler tag. This is a fun and rewarding experience for your students. They choose the tag that matches the compliment. They can use pencil, markers, or crayons to get creative. Then they deliver their tag to the student. Give them about 5 minutes to share with each other about why they chose to compliment them on that specific behavior. At that point, the students put their tags on a necklace, binder ring, library pocket, take home folder, brag tag book, or even in their pencil box.

Where do you get the tags?

I have created some tags for you to print and use in your classroom. I have some separate sets as well as a bundle to save you money.

Full Color Editable Brag Tags (with kid images)
Black & White Editable Brag Tags (with kid images)
Full Color Editable Brag Tags (with school images)
Editable Brag Tag GROWING BUNDLE

If you found this post helpful and would like to save it for future reference, feel free to use the image below to pin to your Pinterest board.

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. For more information about my Disclosure Policy, please visit this link.

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How to Create a Bucket Filler Classroom - Lucky Little Learners

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I am a firm believer in positive and encouraging classroom environments. Students who feel safe and encouraged are being set up to take risks, challenge themselves, and work hard. There are a few ways that I achieve this in my classroom.

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This is a second example of how to implement bucket fillers in a classroom. This is a lengthy video and does not need to be watched fully in order to get helpful tips on implementation.

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I borrowed this management technique from Jessica. I love this idea and wish I had known about this years ago! When students are in a self-contained setting and everyone in the classroom struggles with many of the same issues, building a positive classroom community is critical for growth and building relationships. I plan to use this idea!

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This article gives great information on the importance of having a quiet place for students to go when they feel that they need to step away from the group to deal with emotions. It gives tips on teaching students when and how to use the space and gives additional helpful information. This  is a great addition to any classroom.

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Alison, a young five-year-old I taught recently, struggled with separation anxiety at the beginning of the year. She had a hard time saying goodbye to her dad when he dropped her off in the mornings. On one particularly difficult day, she went through all the usual routines-blowing a kiss, waving goodbye at the window, drawing a picture for her dad-but was still distressed.

Though upset, Alison knew what to do. She grabbed her stuffed animal and made a beeline to the quiet place. After ten minutes of cuddling with her stuffy and looking at a book, she joined the group, happily and on her own. Not that Alison wasn't sad the next day when her dad left, but she had a way to help herself feel better.

Based on ideas in Jane Nelsen's book Positive Discipline in the Classroom, the quiet place is a space in my classroom where children can go voluntarily to comfort themselves. The quiet place is different from the time-out space: in my classroom these are two separate places with different purposes.

I introduce the quiet place in the first week of school, before we launch into academics, before we learn to use classroom materials, before we even begin thinking about our hopes and dreams for school or what our classroom rules should be.

During this week I introduce basic classroom routines such as responding to the quiet signal, raising a hand to speak during meetings, circling up, and walking in a line down the hall. Just as these classroom routines provide a sense of order and security, the quiet place reassures children that their personal emotional needs will be taken care of. With this reassurance, children will be free to think about the needs of others and able to open their minds to learning.

Introducing the quiet place

I begin by talking with the children about times when we're too sad or upset to think. I tell them that everyone feels that way sometimes and that by taking some time alone, we can help ourselves feel better. Then, when we feel better, I say, we'll make better decisions about taking care of ourselves and others.

Young children tend to like enclosed, private spaces. I prepare such a space ahead of time. But now the children and I think together about its contents. If the purpose of the quiet place is to help us feel better, what might we put there? Pillows, stuffed animals, books, and drawing materials are usually the first things children mention. After gathering some of the materials the children name, I ask them to help arrange the items in the space.

Teaching when and how to use the quiet place

Although I sometimes suggest that a student go to the quiet place (I never tell or insist that a student go), my goal is for students themselves to know when it would benefit them to go.

So, once the quiet place is set up, we talk about some specific reasons why someone might use it. The typical causes of distress for children may differ depending on their age.

"You might feel sad because you miss your mom," a new kindergartner might say.

"You might be upset because someone cheated at checkers," a first grader might say.

A typical seven-year-old's response might be, "You might feel mad because someone wouldn't sit with you at lunch."

And an eight-year-old might suggest, "You might feel angry because you couldn't play kickball at recess."

Next, we talk about how to go to the quiet place, how to be in it, and how to come back, all without disturbing others in the class. We name specific actions: walk in a normal, calm way; keep our hands to ourselves when we walk to the spot and back; keep our mouths quiet or only humming softly while we're there; and so forth.

But talking isn't enough. Children also need to see what these expected behaviors look like and experience what they feel like. So after we've named the behaviors, we model them. First I demonstrate going to the quiet place, staying there a while, and coming back. Then I let the students demonstrate. I allow plenty of time so that everyone who wants to demonstrate can do so. Because children will be using the space when they're upset, this rehearsing is especially important. (See the article "Bringing Classroom Rules to Life" for more about modeling.)

Additional tips for effective use

Get clear on what you will and won't allow in the space.

It's important to let the children help create the quiet place. At the same time, for safety and other reasons, the teacher needs to set some limits. For example, I don't allow smooth rocks (even though some children find them soothing to touch) because they can be thrown. I don't allow music because children too easily get absorbed in the music and forget to come back. One year, students wanted to use our reading corner for the quiet place. I vetoed that because it was important to preserve a nice space for reading.

Teach children how long to stay in the quiet place.

I tell them to stay "until you feel calm" or "until you feel you can take care of your problem." This usually translates to a five- to ten-minute stay.

Make sure children don't use the quiet place to avoid doing something.

Some children may use it to avoid doing a hard assignment, working with a certain partner, or sitting through a meeting. In these cases, I never tell children they can't go to the quiet place. I do tell them they'll have to make up the work they missed, perhaps during recess or choice time. Usually, the children feel better very quickly and return to the task at hand.

Watch for children who are very reluctant to use the space.

Occasionally when I suggest that a child use the quiet place, the child will absolutely refuse or will only go if I go with him/her. There are many possible reasons for this. Whatever the reason, I know it will take longer for these children to learn to comfort themselves. To help them along in the process, I come up with some interim steps, such as bringing a comfort item to their seat or coming to sit next to me when they're upset.

Have a plan in place for children who are too upset to use the quiet place.

Sometimes a child is too distressed to use the quiet place: the child might need one-on-one attention from an adult or might not be able to use the quiet place without disturbing other children. In this case, it's important to have another plan that provides for the child's safety and minimizes disruption to the rest of the class.

The ultimate goal: helping children find the quiet place within

As the year goes on and children become more adept at using the quiet place, I begin to see them managing their feelings in the moment without needing the physical space.

Surprisingly, this is often true for some of the most strong-willed children. Louisa was an energetic, highly determined six-year-old who hated to lose. She argued when she was tagged and cried when she couldn't be first. Early in the year, after losing a game and at my suggestion, Louisa would go to the quiet place just as she was about to have a tantrum. She'd snuggle, she'd cry quietly, she'd brood. Then she'd come back to join the group when she felt better.

By the middle of the year, when Louisa lost a game, I often saw her manage her feelings without needing to remove herself physically from the group. Instead, she would separate herself emotionally for a moment. She would bow her head, clench her fists, pull her knees up to her chin. A minute later, she would be recovered and ready to play again.

Teaching children how to keep themselves in control in emotionally charged situations will help them enormously throughout their schooling and lives. In the case of Louisa, one of her strengths was that she cared so deeply about things. The quiet place helped her develop the inner control that would allow her to use her strong emotions effectively without erasing them.

Teachers need a repertoire of tools and techniques to help our Louisas, Alisons, and all students learn self-care, self-control, and self-discipline. The quiet place can be one important element in a repertoire for young children.
Deborah Porter is a primary grades teacher at the Heath School in Heath, Massachusetts. She has twenty-eight years of teaching experience at the primary and preschool levels and has led Responsive Classroom workshops for the past sixteen years. She is co-author of Rules in School.

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Alison, a young five-year-old I taught recently, struggled with separation anxiety at the beginning of the year. She had a hard time saying goodbye to her dad when he dropped her off in the mornings. On one particularly difficult day, she went through all the usual routines-blowing a kiss, waving goodbye at the window, drawing a picture for her dad-but was still distressed.

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This is a fun and interesting way to calm students down so that excitement does not get out of control. Many students who struggle with emotional regulation can end up going too far with their excitement. Many get into trouble all because they got so excited that they couldn't calm down. This management approach can be done with the whole group or individually and is something that students can learn to do on their own.

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How to Calm Young Children Down in Minutes

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KidConnect. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.teachemotionalregulation.com/kidconnect-quick-registration?hsCtaTracking=60cb5a00-f94d-460a-aca5-7dccd5579610%7C359e903b-6798-4999-9ff7-b0097537d2c6&utm_source=MDR-WAT&utm_medium=ART&utm_campaign=ConnectionsModel_1802_ArtRe

ConnectionsModel. (2018) 10 Tips For Teaching Emotional Regulation. Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/emotional-regulation/

Olsen. A (2018). How to Create A Bucket Filler Classroom. Retrieved from https://luckylittlelearners.com/2016/08/how-to-create-a-bucket-filler-classroom.html

Jane. S (2013). A Teacher's Guide to Bucket Filling. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh7zqz0faZw

Hockett, J. (2016). Community Wall. Peer Relations/Getting Along Padlet.

Responsive Classroom (2003). A Quiet Place for Rough Moments. Retrieved from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/a-quiet-place-for-rough-moments/

Stephens. C (2015). How to Calm Young Children Down In Minutes. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRKpNaVaP84