Pleasant Valley Elementary School currently uses Soul Shoppe to support a curriculum of social-emotional development on campus. These workshops are fun and interactive, weaving life skills and tools through stories that look like common “real-life” challenges and experiences.
For September, students started learning the balloon tool, which imagines a place inside where feelings build up. Students are encouraged to find healthy ways to “empty” their balloons so that these feelings don’t “leak” in negative ways that hurt the people around them. Many studies have shown the benefits of teaching children how to identify emotions at an early age, including the foundational work of John Gottman and Haim Ginott.
Parents and students are encouraged to practice using the check-in activity sheet and guidelines in the letter to parents to build healthy communications skills.
You can download those resources here: