Calm Corner

Funded Feb 6, 2023

Our Calm Corner is up and running in the classroom! We finally have a safe space to practice learned strategies to control and positively express emotions. Students are able to identify emotions and are comfortable expressing them, but not having an assigned area with the right tools was preventing the most important step from occurring; to practice the regulating of those emotions. It is important to share that the area is regularly used by a handful of students who are currently struggling with anxiety, trauma, and/or anger control. The rest of the students use it occasionally mostly when feeling overwhelmed or sad.

The day that they walked in and saw the new Calm Corner they were mostly speechless. I introduced all the available calming tools and explained their use. I set expectations and they were ready. That first day it was used to calm frustration feelings by two students and they even practiced conflict resolution skills. They both sat on the new bean bags, used the stress balls, one of them chose to color a mandala. They set the timer and after 5 min. they started a conversation to agree on a solution to their conflict. All of that with no intervention from teacher!

Having a Calm Corner is making a huge impact on students. They feel validated and safe.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Arriaga