James Newland, a student at McKinley Elementary School, felt a little bit on yellow Thursday. Thats because another student kept bothering him while he was trying to do his work.
What does it mean to be on yellow?
Furrr-rustrated, James said, drawing out the first syllable and shaking his head at the unpleasant memory.
While frustrated is a pretty big word for a kindergartner, the concept is all too real for a 5-year-old just beginning school.
What can de-escalate Jamess situation from becoming a catastrophe is to be able to recognize and verbalize such feelings.
MCKINLEYS new Zones of Regulation system does such a thing, principal Angie Linn told USD 257 Board of Education members at a meeting Monday night.
The system uses four colors blue, green, yellow and red to help students recognize emotions associated with the colors.
Blue is for those times when youre just not feeling good. Maybe youre sad, bored or tired, or depressed or sick.
Green is a happy color. It means you are ready to learn, relaxed and focused or proud and thankful.
Yellow means you feel crabby, overwhelmed, confused, anxious or frustrated. It also could mean youre feeling excited or silly.
Red means youre angry or scared. Maybe you feel mean or aggressive or want to yell. But it also can represent other extreme emotions, like feeling elated or out of control, that also interfere with learning.
Children need to learn to recognize their emotions and recognize when they are tired or stressed or sad, and be mindful of that and learn how to calm themselves, Linn said. They dont know how to express themselves so when theyre upset they act out. Thats when we have the crying, the tantrums, the hitting and kicking and biting.
The program also offers a Chill Zone, with bean bag chairs where students can go sit for two or three minutes when they feel upset and need to calm down.
They can de-escalate and get themselves regulated, Linn said. Adults, when we are stressed out, we can do something about it. We can go to our happy place in our head. Kids need a concrete place they can go where they feel safe.
Teachers at McKinley adapt the Zones system to fit their classrooms. Some use clothes pins with student names, and the students can clip the pin to a board with the appropriate color. Some use the same concept but with cutout pictures of the student.
