Description of the Lessons

Living with Stress is a series of classroom guidance lessons for elementary aged students ages 4-10 (grades K-5^th) to help the child learn to deal with day-to-day stress in the home and at school. The lessons are a collection of activities and stories from a workbook titled “Living with Stress” by Sandra M. Sylvester, Ph.D., Mary Jane Cera, and Judith Bisignano which is published by Sheed and Ward out of Kansas City, MO (see reference below). Any lesson could be adapted to either a 30-minute or 45 minute session depending on the age group and their attention span. There are six lessons—one lesson per week over a six week time period.

The initial lesson would start with the following story titled “My Very, Very Bad Week”:

“I could tell this was going to be a very bad week. From the start, nothing went right. First of all, I couldn’t find anything I needed. I wanted to play baseball with my friends. I couldn’t find my glove. I looked everywhere. No glove. I was reading a great book about exploring space. The next day when I went to find it, it was gone. No book. I couldn’t find my pencils or papers for school. I couldn’t find my friend’s phone number. I couldn’t even find my left shoe. No pencils. No papers. No phone number. No shoe. I asked my dad if he knew where any of my things could be. He said, “If you would keep your room clean, you wouldn’t lose your things.” That made me really mad! I knew he was right, but I was still mad. I did find a few things. My little sister had my book and my pencils in her backpack. I’ve asked her not to take my things, but she does anyway. My little sister often bothers me. This week I was building a model, wooden dinosaur. It took me a long time to build. I had to glue all of the pieces together. I set the dinosaur on my desk to dry, but before it could dry, my sister picked it up. The dinosaur was ruined. I was so mad at my sister! I yelled at her and she started to cry. Mom came into my room. She said, “You shouldn’t yell at your little sister. You are older. You should know better.” That made me mad, too. It seemed like no one at home cared about my problems. Things at school weren’t any better. My friends brought marbles to play with on the playground. No one told me to bring my marbles, so I couldn’t play. My class went on a fieldtrip to the art museum. My friends all sat together on the bus. There wasn’t room for me. I felt left out. I felt sad and lonely. Also this week, Dad took me shopping to buy new shoes. I picked out my favorite pair—red with black stripes on the sides. “Sorry,” said the salesperson. “We don’t have your size.” Later, we stopped to get an ice cream cone. I wanted cherry with mint chips. “Sorry,” said the salesperson. “We’re all out of cherry.” Nothing was going right! On the weekend, we had our first soccer game of the year. We had been practicing hard all week. In the last minute of the game, we were losing 2 to 1. I had a chance to tie the game. Sam passed the ball right to me. I missed the shot. We lost the game. I felt like everyone was disappointed in me. I was disappointed in myself. The next day my friend, Tom, came over to my house. I was cleaning my room. I told him about my awful week. Tom said, “Sometimes I have bad days, too.” I was glad to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way. I felt better just talking to Tom. That night, Mom made my favorite dinner. I felt better after eating a good meal. I decided to make another wooden model. This time I built a butterfly. I felt relaxed after building my model. This time I let my sister help me. We both put the butterfly in a safe place so it would not break. I finished reading my book about space. Then I spent some time imagining what it would be like to live on another planet. Sometimes I feel better having time to be alone, just to sit and dream. At my next soccer practice, I told my coach that I knew I didn’t play very well in the last game. I told him I would practice harder and play better. The exercise I get from playing soccer makes my body feel strong and helps me feel great. I did a lot of things to help myself feel better. I’m sure I will have other bad days, and other bad weeks, but I know that I’m the one who makes good days happen.”

The follow up discussion after this story would include discusses why and when the student in the story was mad, sad lonely then telling about a time when they felt angry/mad, sad, and left out/lonely. Then go on to have them list the things they do to make things better when things are going badly.

Lesson Two is about “Describing Friendship & Being a Better Friend” and begins by explaining that having friends helps deal with stress. Have them write the name of a good friend, draw or paste a picture of the friend, list 3 positive words to describe your friend, tell about something you and your friend enjoy doing together, tell about a problem you and your friend share, and lastly, what you could do to solve this problem. The lesson would then have the student tell about some things they could do to become a better friend.

Lesson Three is about “Making Things Better”. Explain to the children that they can solve little problems before they become big problems. Have them describe what they would do to make things better in the following situations: 1) What would you do if you spilled a quart of milk all over the kitchen floor? 2) What would you do if your friends didn’t include you in a game? 3) What would you do if you wanted to talk with your mom or dad but they looked busy with something else? 4) What would you do if you wanted to see one T.V. program and the rest of the family wanted to see something else? 5) What would you do if your plans to go to the movies were suddenly changed for an important reason? Have the students write their answers on paper first before sharing them with the class—it will allow for quiet introspection.

Lesson Three focuses on the benefits of exercise to deal with stress. Explain that a fitness program should include strength, flexibility and endurance. Have them stand up in the classroom and see if they can do the following exercises: Toe touch, Hop to It (hop on one foot 10 times each), Sit ups, and Push ups (knees on the ground). If they can’t do it 10 times, tell them to make an exercise goal of doing so. Then have them talk about their favorite exercise, how often they do it and with whom. Lastly, have them draw a picture of themselves doing their favorite exercise. With older grade levels, you might want to take it a step further and ask them to ask their parents to help make a plan to improve their daily exercise.

Lesson Four focuses on the benefits of eating healthy. Eating a balanced diet can help you reduce stress, get energized and feel better. Healthy foods are high in fiber and low in sugar and fat. Explain the four food groups to the students and list examples on the board. Cut out pictures of food from a magazine and have the class tell you which food groups are represented on the picture. Throw in pictures of sugary and fatty food and ask them if that’s part of a food group—remind them that although this are fun foods to eat, we should only eat them some of the time, not all the time. Then have them draw a picture of their favorite foods in each of the four food groups. Give them examples of healthy snacks to eat between meals. For older students, have them do a daily log of their food intake. Have them cross out the foods with sugar and fat and circle the foods that are healthy. Encourage them to reconsider their choices and think of foods they could add to their diet to make it more healthy.

Lesson Five focuses on focuses on enjoying a hobby and relaxation techniques. In early elementary, have kids draw a picture of their favorite hobby and share it with the class. Help the students develop ways or opportunities to start new hobbies—give them an idea sheet. For upper elementary students, give them resources in the community they could use if they’re interested in volunteer opportunities. When discussing relaxation techniques, you could use a guided imagery exercise. You could also encourage the students to find a quiet place in their home they could go to do deep breathing exercises. Also, let them know whom they could go to in the schools if they need to “vent” (such as a guidance counselor).

Lesson Six, the last session, focuses on understanding your feelings. Explain to the class that understanding your feelings can help them cope with stress. This exercise could allow younger children to expand their feeling’s vocabulary. Show them pictures of people’s faces expressing different emotions and describe them to the class. Or have them draw an “emotion” (written on a slip of paper) out of a hat and mime that emotion for the class. For older students, have them list an emotion and a color that represents that emotion. For example, red might mean energy or anger, yellow could mean happiness, and black could mean no feeling. In all grade levels, then let them tell about their favorite feelings and their worst feelings and when they feel them. Have them share with the class what they do when they’re feeling their worst.

Connections to Related Standards, Competencies, and Domains

“Living with Stress” directly relates to Minnesota Prepatory Graduation Standard Numbers 1 (Read, Listen and View), 2 (Write and Speak), 3 (Arts and Literature), 7 (Social Studies), 8 (Physical Education and Lifetime Fitness). Specifically, Lesson One addresses Standard 1 in Interpretation and Evaluation by having the student draw conclusions based on information in the selection, compare and contrast elements of the story or selection, and distinguish facts from opinion. The elements of Literal Comprehension include retelling main ideas or events, identifying main ideas and some supporting details, and interpreting presentations of data. Lesson Two addresses Standard 2 by writing a story, writing a report and/or giving informal oral presentations by expressing opinions, ideas and examples. Lesson Three addresses Standard 3 by having the student communicate ideas through the visual arts. The lesson also addresses Standard 8 in Physical Education and Fitness by showing age-appropriate physical fitness and demonstrating motor skills required for that age group. Lesson Four addresses Standard 3 by having the student’s interpret/evaluate visual images to effectively express knowledge of the four food groups. It also addresses Standard 8 by promoting appropriate nutritional decision-making skills. Lesson Five addresses Standard 3 by having the student communicate ideas thru the visual arts. It also addresses Standard 7 by understanding how wants and needs are responsibly met in the home, school, and community as well as understand how to work to improve the school, community or environment. Lesson Six addresses Standard 3 by using the visual arts and theater (movement to express emotions) to communicate ideas/emotions. This lesson also addresses Standard 7 by demonstrating how different people may respond differently to the same event.

The lessons are reflective of both the Personal/ Social and Academic domains of the MN School Counselors’ Model of Development Guidance and Counseling. Students learn the concept of stress, the four food groups and develop an extended feeling vocabulary which reflects the Academic domain. Students also learn how to identify stress when it’s being experienced, understand that it’s a normal reaction, as well as how to cope with it which reflects the Personal/ Social domain.

All of the lessons relate to some of the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee Standards for middle/ junior high schools. All the lessons relate to the standard of Self-Knowledge since they teach aspects of self-concept, interpersonal skills, and the awareness of the importance of growth and change. They relate to the standard of Educational & Occupational Exploration by promoting awareness of the importance of personal responsibility and good work habits. The Career Planning standard relates because the lessons help students understand how to make decisions.

Reference

Sylvester, S., Cera, M. & Bisignano, J. (1985). Living with Stress. Sheed and Ward:

Kansas City, MO (to order call: 800/ 821-7926)