Missouri Department of Elementary
Stressed Out Sally
Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...
Health Smart Virginia
So Stressed, Now Stress Less
Carrot, egg, or tea? A parable gets teens thinking about how, when faced with the same adversity, people respond differently. As the lesson progresses, class members learn about how stress is regulated by the sympathetic and...
Overcoming Obstacles
Handling Stress
Middle schoolers learn how to "put stress to rest" by identifying their stress factors and the physical and emotional signs they exhibit when stressed. After the class brainstorms ways to handle these stressors, individuals commit to...
Nemours KidsHealth
Stress: Grades 3-5
Two activities focus on stress—common stressors and coping strategies. In the first activity, scholars identify stressors and explore ways to keep stress away. To aid the process, learners create a poster and complete a handout...
Overcoming Obstacles
Coping Skills
A lesson challenges scholars to identify life stressors and list ways to cope. Learners create a "Coping with Emotions" book detailing the importance of responsibly working through our feelings.
Health Smart Virginia
Stress Management - Doctor Disease
Doctor, doctor, help me please! As part of their study of the correlation between disease and illness, middle schoolers take on the role of doctors. They rotate through 10 learning stations, read about patients' symptoms, and write a...
Health Smart Virginia
Stressed Out
Stress, eustress, distress. A step-by-step plan leads middle schoolers through a lesson about coping with stress. To gather background information, scholars watch a presentation, examine a list of positive coping skills, and read...
Health Smart Virginia
I Hope I Can Cope
Teach your freshmen stress management techniques that help them cope with distress and stress. Class members create a Relaxation Station where they practice the C.O.P.E strategy for dealing with stress. They then choose from a menu of...
Health Smart Virginia
"SuperBetter" Stress Management
The goal of this Health Smart lesson is for freshmen to develop a personal system for coping with stress. They create a power-up list of things that make them feel happier, healthier, or better connected, identify people in their lives...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Sally’s Super Day
After having a bad day, Sally took scholars' suggestions and had a super day. Pupils listen to her newest short story then discuss the events that occurred. They sort each event by what was in her control and what was not. Participants...
Health Smart Virginia
Mindful Yoga Introduction
Middle schoolers apply what they learned in the previous lesson about mindful yoga to design a project to help a teen cope with a stressful situation in a healthy way. Groups role play explaining the benefits of their approach and...
San Diego County District Attorney
Emotions/Feelings
Three lessons delve deep into the topic of feelings and the importance of expressing one's emotions. Through grand conversation, hands-on learning experiences, and reflective writing, scholars interpret the ups and downs of everyday...
Health Smart Virginia
What Is Mindfulness?
Stop. Breathe. Think. A richly detailed instructional activity on mindfulness introduces freshmen to meditation as a coping strategy to deal with stress.
Family & Children's Service
Children in Change
While children may not have the opportunity to directly affect the changes happening in their family life, help them develop necessary coping skills for expressing their emotions and dealing with those changes.
Health Smart Virginia
Mental and Emotional Health
The first lesson plan in a social and emotional health unit is designed to help seventh graders develop the skills they need to cope with disappointment and manage stress. Groups practice stress reduction techniques and share ideas for...
Health Smart Virginia
Shake It Off
It requires more than a twitch to shake off stress. But with the help of the stress management strategies taught in a very dynamic lesson, freshmen can learn to do so. Class members watch videos, examine an infographic, read an article,...
Health Smart Virginia
Mindfulness Breathing
The more you practice, the better you get. That's the big idea behind a lesson for middle schoolers about using mindfulness breathing techniques to reduce stress. Class members practice Star Breathing and Rainbow Breathing exercises and...
Health Smart Virginia
What's Up with Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present. Introduce freshmen to a stress-reducing tool that helps them pay close attention to what is happening, choose their behavior, and respond. Learners use a timeline to track their...
McGill University
Emotional Regulation
A unit of 10 scripted lessons is designed to help learners develop awareness of their emotions and of positive coping strategies they can use to regulate their emotions. They also learn how to replace negative strategies like self-blame...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Putting on Armor
Peers can exert tremendous pressure that can lead to positive and negative consequences. To conclude the Risky Business unit, class members create a Personal Safety Plan. They list things or situations that cause stress, things they have...
IRISS
Exploring Self-Esteem 1: What Is Self-Esteem?
Adolescents explore self-esteem and the various factors that influence a person's sense of self in this four-part lesson series. Through a combination of whole class instruction, small group discussions, and independent work, students...
Together Counts
Foundations of Wellness
You may be physically healthy, but what about mentally and emotionally? How is your social health? Kindergartners and first and second graders learn about the importance of maintaining their health in all aspects of their lives with a...
PBS
Stories of Painkiller Addiction: Contemplating Nature vs. Nurture
Does having an addict in your family make it more likely to become one yourself? Explore the genetic risk factors, as well as the prominent environmental influences, for substance addiction in a lesson that encourages awareness and open...
Health Smart Virginia
Social Emotional Skills Lessons Overview
Sometimes the hardest part of planning any unit of instruction is determining the activities that reinforce the concepts of the lessons and support the development of student skills. This first resource in the Health Smart series...