Girl’s Group (Calm Down Control)

All too often I have girls
come into my office upset because of something that happened that caused them
to lose their cool, or in trouble for how they responded to the situation that
angered them. Sometimes they act out in anger intentionally, sometime they just
don’t know how to better handle the situation. 

The kids I work with are young; anger is a big emotion. Most adults do
not even appropriately handle their anger, how can we expect these little ones
to keep in control? Instead of punishing them for losing their cool, I want to
teach them the skills to understand and manage their anger. I want to teach
them skills they can take with them into adulthood that will help them to
become better people overall.

Building on this idea, I created a small group
curriculum for girls designed to do just that. I made it just for girls to get
them hooked, excited, and feeling like they were invited to a special class by
someone who cares.

 This small group curriculum is packed with 10
interactive activities designed to teach students more about their specific
type of anger, how to handle situations that anger them and role-play common
anger inducing situations all while they have fun making their own interactive
book. 

I just finished up a small group using this
resource with four third grade girls. They had a blast learning how to control
their anger and keep calm while they designed their own Calm Down Control book.
Each session, they created an additional page or two of their Calm Down Control
book. I utilize cardstock paper instead of an actual notebook. At the end of
each session, I collected the pages and keep them all until the end of our
group. I then stapled the pages together and let the students take their Calm
Down Control Book home. 

I made a book along with the girls. Below is an outline of our sessions
together and pictures of the book that I created.

I cannot wait to run this group again with another set of students.

Session
#1: Group Intro, Group Norms, Get to Know Me Activity

Session
#2: Anger Triggers

Session
#3: Anger Types/Describing Your Specific Anger

Session
#4: What Does Your Anger Feel Like?

 Session
#5: Steps to My Anger

Session
#6: Who Has the Control?

Session
#7: Who Should Have Control?

Session
#8: Keep Calm Tools

Session
#9: Roleplaying, How Could You Control Yourself?

Session
#10: What Works Best For You/What Did You Learn?

In the
end the girls have a clear understanding of their specific type of anger,
acceptable behaviors when upset, ways to handle their anger, calm down
tools/strategies and what works best for them.

I’ve
seen a major decrease in episodes of anger explosions with the girls in the
groups that I’ve had create this book so far. I’m sure your students will learn
a lot about their anger, while having fun too!

You can
download your own copy HERE.

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