How To Set Up a Calm Corner in Your Classroom or Home

In this blog post, we'll talk about why we have calm corners and how we can set one up to ensure maximum success and minimum distraction from what matters most.

Have you tried implementing a calm corner in your class without success?

Have you wanted to create a safe space, but are worried about the logistics behind it?

Do you currently offer a calm corner but are looking for fresh, new ideas to level up your chill out zone?

Then you, my resourceful lifelong learner, are in the right place.

Why have a calm down space? Simply put, like anything, we need to invest time, space and energy in order to yield positive results.

We need to be cognizant of assumptions that we make when welcoming new students into our classes each Back to School season. Do we expect Kindergarten students to be able to read when they come into our classrooms for the first time? No. Would it be wonderful if they had some letter or sight word recognition in their back pockets already? Sure- but we don't make assumptions that any of them do.

Similarly, we cannot expect children (at any age) to enter our learning environments with a strong sense of emotional intelligence and self-regulation without first allowing them to observe, assess and practice.

Academic benchmarks are more concrete and therefore easier for parents to gauge and work towards versus emotional ones. So while Fifi can confidently find every object she sees in the room that starts with the letter T, she may be very surprised to find herself unable to handle T-for-tantrums when her eyes start leaking and frustrated hands begin to tear up that book you gave her to read in a panic.

When it comes to behavior management and classroom management, there is no one perfect solution, however, there is a universally flawed solution: Bandaid behavior management.

C- Co-create the space as a community

A- Allow time to build habits and explore tools

L- Leave assumptions at the door

M- Model using the coping tools & scaffold