4th Grade: Emotion Management
Your child is learning about the importance of managing strong emotions. Fourth graders will discuss the different ways strong emotions can influence their thoughts and actions. Toward the end of this unit, they practice rethinking situations so they can feel calm and think more clearly. Rethinking means to think about something in a different way and see new aspects of it.
Why is it important? Research shows that children who learn the skills in this unit are more likely to:
Develop stronger coping skills
Be better problem-solvers
Make more positive choices
Build stronger relationships
Practice at Home
What to Look For: Notice and praise your child when they’re able to change how they feel about a challenging situation by thinking about it in a new way. You may hear them name something they learned from the experience or a way they changed their perspective. They may say, “I’m upset I didn’t do well, but now I know what to practice.” or “I thought about it more, and I’m okay with it.” You can say, “I hear you rethinking what happened. Good job seeing things in a different way.”
Discuss: Take turns describing a time when rethinking helped you feel better about a situation. How were you feeling, and what did you say to yourself to feel better about it? You can say something like, “I felt upset when my favorite mug broke, but I realized I have other mugs, and maybe it’s time for a new favorite.”
Practice: Notice when your child encounters a disappointing or challenging situation during their day. Ask them how they can rethink the situation to feel better. You can ask, “What happened? Has this ever happened to anyone else?” or “What’s something good that happened?”
