BLITZ THOSE STRESSFUL FEELINGS...Healthy ways to handle stress Teaching your students how to handle stress in the classroom can lead to a much more calm and friendly environment. 1.

OBJECTIVES: 1. What is stress and how does it make you feel? 2. What causes stress 3. Good stress vs. bad stress 4. Healthy ways to handle stress

INDIANA STANDARDS(Grades 3-5).1.2 Give examples of physical and emotional health.(Grades 3-5).4.1 Name effective nonverbal communication skills to enhance health and wellness.(Grades 3-5).4.4 Illustrate how to ask for assistance with a difficult personal situation.

TEACHER TALKING POINTSWhat is stress & how does it make you feel? • Stress is what you feel when you are worried, anxious or uncomfortable about something. • Stress can make your body feel bad by causing headaches or stomach aches. You may also not feel like sleeping or you may sleep too much. Also, it can make you feel like not eating or you can eat too much. • Stress can also cause you to have emotions such as feeling angry, frustrated, scared or afraid. • Stress experienced by children can seem insignificant to adults because of life experience; however, the stress children feel is very real to them.

What causes stressSo many things can cause stress in a child’s life. • KidsHealth recently took a poll and found that the top five things kids said they worried about were: 1. Grades, school and homework — 36% 2. Family — 32% 3. Friends — 21% 4. Brothers and sisters — 20% 5. Mean or annoying people — 20% • Of course there can be so many more things that cause children stress (i.e. sports performance, not learning a new concept) and not all students will react to stress in the same way. • Stress can be caused by any situation that requires a person to adapt or change.

BLITZ THOSE STRESSFUL FEELINGS - STRUGGLING WITH STRESS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LESSON

Good stress vs. bad stress • Students should be aware that there is good stress and bad stress. • Good stress might occur when a student is called on in class or when they have to give a report. Good stress can sometimes help you get things done or help you perform well. • Bad stress happens if the stressful feelings don’t serve a good purpose or can continue over time so that they cause harmful emotional or physical reactions.

Healthy ways to handle stressTeaching your students how to handle stress in the classroom can lead to a much more calm and friendly environment. 1. Talk it out. Sometimes one of the best ways to help with stress is to talk about it with someone. Talk to a trusted adult, such as a teacher or parent, a school counselor, or a coach. Some children prefer to talk with their friends or a sibling. Whoever it is, remember that it’s healthier to talk about what’s bothering you rather than keeping it inside. 2. Be calm. Sometimes when children feel stressed it’s easy for them to completely let go of their feelings. Help them identify whatcan help them calm down to address their stress. This may include things like taking deep breaths, listening to music, writing in a journal, or sitting in a quiet space in the classroom. Have students figure out what works best for them and use it as a way to calm themselves. 3. Encourage them to try and solve the problem. After your students are calm and able to talk, allow them to figure out what the problem is and how they feel they should address the problem. 4. Keep a positive attitude and remember that most stress is temporary. It may not seem like it when you’re in the middle of a stressful situation, but remind students (and yourself!) that most stress does go away.

STUDENT ACTIVITY – Dealing with Feelings: Head to ToeThis activity can be done to remind students that you can deal with stressful or angry feelings in a positive manner rather than getting to upset or sick to your stomach. You can learn from your feelings and release them from your mind and body while doing this special exercise.

Lead students in this visualization activity:Imagine that you are very angry. Your head and face feel angry. Your mouth and teeth feel angry. Your eyes, cheeks and nose feel angry. Your shoulders, arms and hands feel angry. Your stomach feels angry. Your legs and feet are angry. Your toes feel angry.

Now you’re going to relax your body, part by part. Start at your head and face and feel the anger and tension there. Now relax your head and face and feel peace and calm there. Next, feel the anger and tension in your mouth and teeth. Relax your mouth and teeth and feel peace and calm there. (Continue going through the rest of the body parts, tensing and relaxing each area).

When your students are completely relaxed, suggest that this is a technique they can use to calm themselves down when they feel themselves getting angry.

They don’t always need to go through the entire body but could focus on a specific part of their body if they feel that part taking on a lot of tension.

FAMILY INFORMATIONStress can manifest itself both emotionally or physically in children. In terms of emotional reactions to stress you may notice the following behaviors in your child: new fears (strangers, dark), being very clingy, aggressive behaviors, or withdrawal from activities. Physically, you may notice headache, decreased appetite, upset stomach, or regression in developmental milestones (bedwetting, thumb sucking).

Unfortunately, no family is immune from stress. In order to help manage the amount of stress your family has to handle, here are a few tips on how you can help your children manage stress successfully.

1. Scheduling One of the biggest stressors for children is being overscheduled – they have to pay attention in school for most of the day, come home and finish their homework, do chores, participate in extracurricular activities and go to bed just to wake up and repeat everything again the next day. Parents need to recognize that children need some downtime in order to help their brains and bodies rest. If you notice that around mealtimes, everyone is eating on the run or in the car that may be a sign to cut back on the number of activities for your family. 2. Make sleep a priority. Sleep is important for everything from reducing stress to boosting mood to improving school performance. If your child isn’t getting enough sleep, it can make them lethargic throughout the day causing them even more stress because they’re too tired to learn. On average, children need at least 8-10 hours of sleep per night. 3. Teach your children to pay attention to their own bodies. Encourage them to listen to how their bodies are feeling as a result of stress. While it’s normal for a child to have a stomach ache or butterflies on the first day of school, constantly heading to the nurse office because their stomach hurts or waking up over and over with a headache is a sign that there may be too much stress. 4. Keep your own stress in check. Serve as a good role model for your child by allowing him or her to see how you handle stress. You may choose to share with them what is stressful to you and let them know a few ways how you deal with the problem. 5. Organize! Having an organized home can take away a lot of stressful circumstances. Having lunches packed, clothes laid out and alarms set the night before can help mornings run a lot smoother. Starting the day on a calm note, helps lay out the tone for the rest of the day. 6. Accept mistakes. For some children, a lot of stress comes from being afraid of making mistakes. Remind them that they’re not perfect and they don’t need to know how to do everything correctly. Encourage them to see mistakes as an opportunity to learn something new. 7. Be Active. It doesn’t matter how old you are – physical activity has been shown to help decrease stress. Try a walk through a park, a bike ride, or a family dance party to incorporate playful movement into the weekly routine. Your kids will learn from you to use regular, fun exercise to dial down the tension in their days.

LESSON PLAN EVALUATION

1. Stress does not affect a person’s physical health. ___True ___False

2. All children react to stress in the same way. ___True ___False

3. There is such a thing as good stress. ___True ___False

4. Most stress is temporary. ___True ___False