Managing Feelings
May 23, 2022
Research suggests that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6 school-aged students were at high risk of a mental health concerns, such as anxiety or ADHD. These mental health difficulties can affect the way children learn, behave, or handle their emotions, which can cause problems getting through the day.
To help students, many elementary schools in WVSD have programs like Mountainview’s HUBB, which stands for Helping Us Be Our Best. Students can go to HUBB rooms to regroup and build skills in social emotional learning (SEL). SEL helps students understand and manage emotions, show and feel empathy for others, and practice good mental health exercises. Proven benefits of SEL include:
- Improves achievement by an average of 11 percentile points
- Increases prosocial behaviors (kindness, sharing, and empathy)
- Improves student attitudes toward school
- Reduces depression, stress, and anxiety among students
Students who use the HUBB program are taught ways to identify their emotions, whether they’re feeling sad, angry, frustrated, excited, or bored. Once they know how they’re feeling, they can find a quiet space to complete an activity such as reading, art, or yoga. Students then identify their new emotions, which are hopefully more positive than before the activity.
Mrs. de Wet at Mountainview Elementary has created an online, interactive classroom that students can use to access activities and information related to SEL:
Thank you, Mrs. de Wet, for helping WVSD students manage their feelings more positively so they can focus on learning!