Excerpt
Excerpted from Chapter 4 of Strong Start—Grades K-2: A Social & Emotional Learning Curriculum, by Kenneth W. Merrell, Ph.D., Danielle M. Parisi, and Sara A. Whitcomb.
Copyright ©2007 by The State of Oregon acting by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of the University of Oregon. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Strong Start consists of 10 carefully sequenced lessons, designed for maximum impact on cognitive, affective, and social functioning within a relatively brief period of time. Each of these lessons is overviewed in this section. You should read these descriptions carefully prior to preparing your first lesson so that you will understand the lesson sequencing and the "big ideas" behind Strong Start.
LESSON 1: THE FEELINGS EXERCISE GROUPIn the first lesson, The Feelings Exercise Group, students are introduced to the Strong Start curriculum, and the purpose, goals, and practices of the program are overviewed. A general overview of the big ideas of the curriculum and its individual lessons is provided so that students will understand what they can expect over the course of the instruction as well as behavioral expectations for their participation. Important terms are introduced, as is Henry, a stuffed animal that serves as the mascot for the curriculum and is used to help introduce key concepts. Students are made aware of the importance of this curriculum so that they are able to understand why appropriate behaviors such as respect for others, confidentiality of shared information, and adequate lesson preparation are integral parts of the experience.
LESSONS 2 AND 3: UNDERSTANDING YOUR FEELINGS
The second and third lessons, Understanding Your Feelings 1 and 2, are intended to improve the emotional vocabulary, awareness, and resiliency skills of students. Understanding and recognizing one’s emotions is an important skill for everyone during all stages of life because people experience emotions at school, home, work, and play. Being able to recognize their emotions and react in an appropriate way, even when the emotion is not a good feeling, will allow your students to create and sustain positive relationships in school and throughout their lives.
In Understanding Your Feelings 1, students learn to identify different types of basic emotions and distinguish them as resulting in "good" or "not good" feelings. Students learn to recognize which situations might cause them to feel a certain way. The goal of this lesson is to apply the skills learned to different situations at different times and in different settings.
In Understanding Your Feelings 2, the feelings-identification skills are extended to include how one might express different feelings—both positive and negative—in an appropriate manner. Students learn that, although it is okay to have any feeling, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways of showing or expressing feelings. Given a way of expressing a feeling, students identify the way as "okay" or "not okay." Students then have the opportunity to apply their new skills in fun application exercises, making it more likely that they will be able to generalize the new skills to other situations.
LESSON 4: WHEN YOU’RE ANGRY
The fourth lesson, When You’re Angry, teaches students that all people experience anger in their lives; however, many young children are not able to appropriately understand and deal effectively with their anger. Misunderstanding anger, and an inability to appropriately manage it, can often manifest itself in inappropriate behaviors such as arguments and fights, excessive sadness, and frustration. This lesson teaches students to understand the physical signs or manifes