Managing Thoughts (Gr k-5)
In this module, students will learn to better understand and manage their thoughts. They will learn that thoughts play a large role in determining feelings and behaviors, so it is important to gain a deeper awareness of thoughts. Students will learn to assess if their thoughts are true and helpful and to recognize and replace unhelpful thoughts. Finally, students will learn about typical negative thinking patterns and ways to replace these “thinking traps” with more helpful, positive, or realistic ways of thinking.
Part 1
Part 2
How was your experience using this resource?
Izamary Rios - 2nd Grade Teacher
This was definitely a hard SEL Lesson. This is something I had to teach to my kids over the span of 7 days. I had students every morning journal about their thoughts to help them develop self awareness.
I made an anchor chart to help students ask themselves “Is this helpful?” Is this true?” The anchor chart was very helpful because it was a visual reminder for the students.
This is not a skill that will be mastered easily because even as an adult I struggle with thinking traps. I have made it a point to check in with my students in the morning, after lunch and at the end of the day on how they are doing. I ask them if they felt like during the day they fell in any thinking trap and I offer the option of either sharing aloud or journaling. This has helped my students start to reflect on their thoughts.
Alina Enoiu - 3rd Grade Teacher
My students loved learning different strategies to manage their emotions. Because my students are learning online, we often talk about the importance of doing things away from our screens. So I loved that these videos supported that by encouraging kids to find other coping strategies to manage their thoughts and feelings
Throughout the activity, students were able to share strategies that they used to manage frustrations—going for a bike ride, reading outside, coloring, etc.
I would have loved the addition of more examples for kids around positive self talk? I think they probably do have times when they think negatively about themselves but this looks different for young kids compared to teens. So I would have loved more examples of what this looks or sounds like. I think there is a lot of potential for some powerful conversations with my kids coming out of this activitySo I am definitely we can have many more follow up activities on this.
Lynh Nguyen - Kindergarten Teacher
I found that this was a more challenging module to implement for the little ones. I spread it across 4 days, but I felt that it was not enough time to really implement it.
Modeling how to engage in metacognition was successful
I think, having students share experiences when they had negative thoughts, would have been more effective
The book “My Magic Breathe” was a really good Read Aloud that provided a breathing activity that helped turned negative thoughts into positive thoughts.
Aasha Trosper - 2nd Grade Teacher
This lesson was harder to implement for younger children as their thinking is not abstract and they view the world in black and white.
Students had a difficult time practicing this skill outside of our mindfulness section of class.
We read Alexander and the Terrible No Good Very Bad Day and How to Fill Your Bucket to help students notice negative thought patterns, and it demonstrated how to improve your day as well as help others.
I believe that if this lesson and skill was taught with continuity from kindergarten to 5th grade students would have a very strong grasp of this skill and it would result in better student data overall.