Junior School, South Plympton

The Zones of Regulation

We look forward to continuing working through the Zones of Regulation Curriculum this Semester. As a school, we introduced this curriculum last year and found it successful in helping children regulate and understand their emotions. The curriculum is tailored to assist students in gaining skills to thoughtfully regulate their actions, by teaching them what these emotions might look like and how they might feel. We tell the children that it is “OK” to feel a range of emotions and then equip them with “tools” that will support them when they are in that zone.

This semester we have decided to refresh the students' knowledge of The Zones of Regulation and build upon what they learnt in the previous year. Over the last few weeks, we have refreshed our knowledge of the coloured zones and the emotions that go with that zone. 

We have looked at how we want to feel at school and what we can do in order to feel that way. 

We have also decided what we would like our toolbox to look like and what we can put in it. A toolbox gives us strategies to stay in the learning zone. This could be either calming techniques, cognitive strategies or sensory supports. 

Later on in the term, we will cover expected and unexpected behaviours, recognising different zones in ourselves and others, and feelings within us.

I have enjoyed seeing the children coming up with fantastic ideas of ways to self-regulate and how they support others when they are feeling different states of emotions. Our toolbox is overflowing with ideas and I love that each toolbox is different and unique. I am looking forward to delving deeper into our Zones learning this semester and having this as the foundation when we introduce Friendology in Semester 2.