Stress Strategies in Grade 4

I have chosen to focus on Grade 4 Health, specifically looking at outcome USC4.6. This outcome focuses on assessing healthy stress management strategies (e.g., relaxation skills, stress control skills, guided imagery, expressing feelings, exercising). I have taught Grade 4 before, lots of that time however was during the pandemic, which required doing many of these activities & lessons online. I will also be teaching Grade 4 again in the fall, so I knew that was the grade level I wanted to focus on. Grade 4 is the age where lots of changes begin to happen & it can be a very overwhelming time for children. When we were online the first time I had many Grade 4’s not know how to handle the stress they were feeling & this emotion was new to a lot of them. 

I wanted to make sure my students were properly managing their stress levels & I have now made this a priority in all of my classrooms regardless of the grade or the outcome/unit. This is a life skill that needs to be understood and implemented properly and I believe this is an outcome that everyone reaches in a unique way & at diverse levels. No entire class of students will have the exact same management strategy incorporated in the same way, so I feel it is important for students to work through this with their own exploration. Of course collaboration with peers, and suggestions or discussions from the teacher is necessary, but at the end of the day our students need to find what works for them.

I think that this outcome/objective will work well in an online or blended learning format for many reasons. For starters it provides the students with the opportunity to explore & research on their own. The internet is a great place to search for strategies & tips and I can also provide some of these resources in an online format for my students to use & explore on their own time. This adds a deeper level of exploration, rather than just reading through pages then completing a booklet. I think there are so many online platforms that can be used to enhance the learning in this area & make it more interactive for each individual student. It also lets the students participate anonymously from their classmates when or if needed.

All children process and handle stress and stressful situations in such a wide range of ways. Some become emotional, some shut down, some become angry or aggressive. I think there is such an importance in respecting this diversity within children & providing them with the privacy of exploring this on their own. Karen Wallace & Patrick Lewis do an incredible job of expressing the importance of healing & growing through play, art, and narrative (PAN). Technology provides such an incredible opportunity for approaching this within the classroom. However, I do think this proves that blended learning is more beneficial than online learning for young children. I know next year there will be lots of things I will explain & share with my students regarding this topic, but I will also let my student’s explore what they need to & how they need to in order to feel safe & reduce areas of stress.