Activity 1: (10 minutes) COPING SKILLS

Review the Pyramid of Happiness anchor chart from the slides. Review the fourth and fifth level of the pyramid and perform that action (strike a superhero pose and star-jump with arms and legs spread out wide). Make the connection of how knowing coping skills leads to a happier and healthier life. This makes us the best version of ourselves! Remind students about the actions associated with each level of the pyramid.

Use the slideshow to introduce the topic and have a discussion about what coping means, what coping skills are, and when to use them. Hang the Coping Skills chart in the classroom where the students have access to it.

Activity 2: (15 minutes) THE 3 STEPS OF COPING

Hard things happen to everyone. Everyone has bad days. Sometimes things feel harder than other things. When bad things happen, you may feel mad, sad, angry, afraid, or worried. Or you may be confused and you may not know how you feel. To use coping skills when things are hard, follow these 3 steps:

1. How am I feeling?
2. How big is the problem?
3. Use a coping method.

Have a discussion about the 3 steps and all the different kinds of coping skills that children can use. Have the children recall the calming and emotional regulation strategies that we have learned in previous lessons. Review the power point or share the Coping Skills chart. Share the following scenarios and have the children help you use the 3 steps to using coping skills for each scenario:

• A friend is calling you a name.
• You woke up feeling grumpy.
• You spilled your pudding on the floor.
• You tore a page out of your favorite book.
• Your grownup is late to pick you up from school.
• Your sister blamed you for something you didn’t do.
• You woke up in the night with a nightmare.
• You didn’t get the toy you wanted from the store.
• You lost your favorite teddy bear.
• Your grownup got angry with you.
• Your friend won’t play with you at school.
• You are moving out of your house.

Activity 3: (15 minutes) HARD THINGS HAPPEN

Invite the children to share a time when they experienced something difficult or when they felt bad.

• What was hard about the situation?
• How did you feel?
• What did you do about it?

Sometimes our coping strategies make us feel worse. Read A Terrible Thing Happened, by Margaret Holmes or watch the read-aloud video by American Psychological Association.

• What happened when Sherman didn’t work to fix his bad feelings?
• What strategies did Sherman use that didn’t help him feel better?
• Which strategies did he use that helped him feel better?
• How can we help when a friend is having a bad day? (EQ)

Activity 4: (15 minutes) I CAN TAKE CARE OF ME/I CAN DO HARD THINGS

We are learning how to handle difficult situations and big feelings. Knowing that we can do important things for ourselves helps us have the confidence to know that we can learn to take care of ourselves when we are having a hard time.

Encourage the children to draw a picture of something that they have learned to do for themselves this year. Have them dictate a story about this drawing to you as you write it on their paper. Gather all the children’s illustrations and share them with the rest of the class, pointing out how each of us can do hard things. Knowing that we can do and learn things is a strategy that helps us cope and helps our well-being.