Zones of Regulation at Norwood Primary School
Hopefully, your children are beginning to talk about the ‘zones’. We are moving to this method of supporting our students with their emotional regulation. Kindergarten children continue to learn about feelings and regulation through MyTern while our other students are applying their understanding to Zones of Regulation. We are finding that the tools and concepts are working very successfully with our older students and that the two approaches are complimentary of each other. Try asking them ‘which zone do you think you are in now?’ and see what they say.
So what is it?
- The core focus of Zones is to positively support the acquisition of self-regulation skills where our students are supported to manage all the feelings that they are experiencing.
- There are 4 zones of colour to reflect different states of emotional levels.
- It is a safe non-judgmental way to recognize and communicate how they are feeling.
- Once a student identifies the colour they are in, they are able utilise tools to navigate between zones.
- Green is “good to go”
- Yellow is “caution”
- Red is “stop and regain control”
- Blue is “need to recharge”
Important Points:
- There are no “bad” zones. Instead:
- everyone experiences all of the zones at one time or another
- we will teach students to figure out what zone they are in and what tools they can use to regulate and move between zones.
- While the green zone is optimal, it is ok for students to remain in the yellow and blue zone if they are not ready to move to the green zone. At this stage, we validate their feelings and help them use tools to maintain where they are while still performing required tasks.
