Getting in the Zone...

'Research has shown that the ability to self-regulate is essential to the development of learning skills and work habits" (Baumeister and Vohns)

In Room 23 we have been using a Zone system that is based on the Zones of Regulations. We have discussed how in our class we are learning to manage ourselves in all areas of learning. 

We started by talking a lot about emotions. We explored what they were, when we might feel these, how we react to and deal with these. We refer back to the problem solving wheel a lot and we use lots of social stories with 'Sally and Fred' our class puppets. 

When the zones were introduced we discussed what it meant to be in each zone - the behaviours we might see and the expressions that might be seen. We talked about what each zone looks, sounds and feels like. This is also brought back to the 'Bucket Filling'. We showed each other examples, took photos for us to refer to and are constantly bringing conversations back to the zones displayed on the wall. They know what is expected and that getting on the Red Zone is not OK in our room. It also means that they are not given the privilege of working outside without a teacher.

Each child has an avatar monster (that is used in a vairety of places in the class) and only the teacher and that child are allowed to move them.

The children are super proud when we have no one on the Red Zone and if and when they do slide to yellow or red they work hard to move back to the green. We all begin and end the day on green.