Several years ago, a group of elementary assistant principals that I was a part of got together to share ideas and learn from each other. One idea that stuck with me was shared by Katie Herrera at Pope Elementary. We were discussing how many of the behaviors we were trying to teach our students really boiled down to needing to improve their self-control.

Trouble keeping hands to self? Improving self-control would help!

Blurting out? More self-control would mean less blurting.

Using unkind words? Again, improving self-control would help with this issue, too!

That’s when Katie shared how she helps students learn what self-control feels like using bubbles.

Bubbles?

Yes! Bubbles!

Katie explained how she would blow bubbles for her students, but tell them NOT to dance around or pop them. Then, she would explain to them that THAT was self-control. They would discuss how it felt and what they had to do to keep themselves from popping the bubbles. She would explain how they could also show self-control in other situations.

I had all but forgotten this tip until I came across this video explanation from Teacher Tipster:

In a recent PBIS team meeting, we started to discuss how we needed a way to help our students grow their self-control. I decided to put together a slide deck to share with teachers at my school so they could easily lead the class through this lesson with little preparation/planning ahead of time. Check out the slide deck below and grab a copy of your own to edit by clicking this link!

Hope this helps your students understand and improve their self-control!