Everybody gets anxious or upset sometimes and without knowing how to handle it, it can get overwhelming. Research has shown that breathing is connected to how a person is feeling. For example, breathing is faster and more shallow when angry or upset and slow and deep when happy. By changing your breathing patterns when angry, you can calm down and begin to think more rationally. (Seppala et. al., 2020).

Have group breathe by following triangle.

Objective: The goal of this activity is to provide students with a way of calming down when over-stimulated or full of emotions. By doing this deep breathing exercise, students will be able to understand and experience how the body reacts to certain breathing rhythms.

1. What was it like emotionally to breathe based on the triangle intervals?

2. What thoughts were you having while doing this?

3. What did you feel inside your body while doing this activity?

Closing ritual

Considerations: It is important to consider the age of this population. Middle school students may not want to participate in this activity for fear of embarrassment or ridicule. It is okay for the student to not participate, but it will be highly encouraged.

Emotional regulation is important when it comes to being successful in peer relationships. Transitioning into a new, often larger, school can be a lot to handle and emotions can come across as something that we are not always feeling. Anxiety and nervousness can come out as anger and sadness can often be expressed as anger as well. In order to regulate our emotions, we need to understand them.

Have each child make a list of emotions that they experience. Then have them draw a picture or make a collage of a representation of these emotions. Prompts can include “when you feel angry, what does that look like?”, “how does it feel when you are happy?”. Students can be as creative as possible and use any materials they want. When finished, they share them with the group (Your Therapy Source, 2022)

Goal of the activity: The goal of this activity is to understand and identify emotions. By understanding an emotion, the student can identify how they are feeling and make the necessary steps to regulate that emotion.

Considerations: Something to be considered is the time of this activity. It can be decreased to each student choosing one emotion to focus on and given only a few options of the materials they can use to complete the activity.

The group is intended to support students as they adjust to this potentially difficult transition from elementary school to middle school. Over the course of meeting, the group will take time to build rapport with other members and the facilitator of the group. During this time, they will determine group norms and learn how to maintain confidentiality. As the group progresses, members will practice mindfulness, emotional regulation, and coping skills. Members of the group will identify and discuss personal and social changes that take places during this transition. In addition, members will focus on the components of this change that they can control and what they do not have control over. As the group begins to close, members will reevaluate their feelings towards starting middle school and recognize the new strategies they have attained.

Social emotional development and academics are the domains that are relevant to this group. Below are the objectives and relevant ASCA Mindset or Behavior (ASCA, 2019).

After meeting with students in the first group session about group norms and expectations, the activity in Week 2 will provide students with a chance to get to know one another. It will also give students a chance to interact with one another comfortably without the hassle of worksheets or written responses. 

The end goal is to learn communication skills, such as active listening, to reduce the anxiety of transitioning by learning to communicate and listen openly and clearly with peers. According to Rosenfeld & Richman (1998), “Active listening may increase feelings of control by providing the recipient with an opportunity to vent her or his feelings, which reduces stress and provides an opportunity to explore alternatives with a caring and concerned support provider”.

Considerations:

Interventions that direct members to gain awareness of what they are experiencing in the here and now tend to intensify the emotional quality of interactions (Corey & Corey, 2018). While working in groups on communication skills it is important to focus on the here and now which gives students a chance to clearly communicate what they are experiencing in the present as a middle school student.

End with Closing Ritual

Following our opening rituals, members will take part in the “web” activity. In this activity, members will hold a ball of yarn. One person starts by holding one end and then passing it to another group member. In this scenario, the group facilitator should go first to model the expectations for participation. The person passing the ball of yarn will tell the person they are passing it to how they have impacted them positively throughout the group process. That member then loops the yarn around their finger and passes the ball to someone else. The activity will continue until each person has both given and received feedback from every person, including the facilitator. To complete the activity, each person will use a pair of scissors to cut the web that has spun around them. These cut pieces of yarn will serve as a tangible reminder of all the positive ways in which they impacted others and were impacted (Terry, 2011). 

The last activity of the closing group session will allow members the opportunity to focus on themselves. Members of the group will utilize https://www.futureme.org/ to write themselves letters that they will read at the end of their first year of middle school. Using this service, the students will select the last day of the school year to receive their letters. This serves as an opportunity for students to provide themselves with their own encouragement and insight regarding their first year of middle school. 

Objective:
The objective of these activities is to provide members with closure regarding the group process, as well as confidence moving forward through the rest of the school year. The facilitator should include resources for members following the termination of the group, as well as their availability for further assistance regarding future issues. For the closing group the members will participate in two different and very impactful activities.

Closing Rituals

Considerations:

Working within the group setting for several weeks can leave members feeling mixed emotions during the termination stage. The group facilitator and group members should be aware of their feelings towards the termination of the group. Members of the group may express feelings of loss and grief during this time. It is important that the closing session of the group takes time to slow down and provide a platform for students and the facilitator to share feedback, say goodbye, and appreciate the work they have done. This session should maintain a meaningful focus on the group in its entirety. During the closing session, the facilitator should not ask processing questions or present activities that will cause deep issues or new ideas to arise. 

We will create a social contract to build group accountability and student agency in how they expect to interact with one another in a small group setting. Students will be given 3-4 minutes to independently reflect on how they would like to be treated and their expectations for other group members. After their brainstorming, members of the group will share out. Creating this contract will double as a community-building activity that allows students to share in a low-stakes environment. It will also allow the leader to connect students with similar ideas of how they’d like to be treated. After each member shares, the group will collectively agree on 5-8 norms based on their responses. The group will engage in a shared writing activity to visually represent the agreed-upon norms. Each group member will have an opportunity to sign the contract to show their understanding of it and their agreement to adhere to the norms.

Considerations:
The group leader may want to address when the students can eat the candy they receive.  Allowing the members to eat the candy during the Icebreaker may cause distractions in the group.