Skills They Will Learn:

LISTENING: eye-contact, facial expression, tone of voice, nodding, asking questions and making comments, waiting their turn.

BEING A GROUP MEMBER: cooperation, turn-taking, listening, sharing, following directions, accepting and giving positive feed-back.

RECOGNITION OF FEELINGS: recognizing body cues (their own and others), teaching empathy.

RELAXATION AND MUSCLE TENSION EXERCISES: children learn a variety of ways to dissipate stress, anxiety and anger arousal. Deep breathing, lemon-squeeze, spaghetti toes, jelly belly.

RECOGNITION OF ANGER TRIGGERS: children learn to recognize their body cues to identify feelings.

VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES: children use a visual imagery technique as a way of helping them gain self-control. Breathing Down the Tension Scale, The Turtle Trick, The Stop Sign.

SELF-TALK: children use rational self-talk to slow down their responses and replace automatic thoughts triggered by conflict and uncomfortable situations.

DEALING WITH TEASING AND BULLYING: through the use of role-play children learn a variety of strategies to use in teasing and bullying situations.

TO TELL A FRIEND YOU'RE MAD: children learn to express themselves in a straight forward and non-attacking manner. Using "I" Messages.