WEATHER OUR PROBLEMS SCALE
Friendzy's Weather Our Problems Scale is a solution-focused scaling strategy that invites students to rate how they are currently doing: how big is the problem or emotion?
Weather provides a great opportunity to visualize this scale. Thunderstorms, for example, are loud, stressful, and can be scary. At the same time, while we may have to work through hardship after it passes, we know the storm will pass and the sun will come out after. Thinking of emotions or problems like weather provides a sense of hope for us! Because we know weather changes, this mindset can help students feel “un-stuck!”. It can be helpful for us to take time to pause, acknowledge our emotions, and name the size of our problem before we can identify coping strategies or solutions that can help improve our situation.
EARLY EDUCATION
Supportive Questions
If you are between a 1-2:
Yay! Things are going great! What is helping you be here?
What can you do more of to stay here?
What does being at this number tell you what you need?
If you are between a 3-5:
What would move you down a number or two? Is there a coping skill that would help?
When things are going better, what will you notice is different?
What does being at this number tell you that you need?
Implementation Tips
Plan the Rollout: We recommend introducing it to the whole class during a time when students are emotionally regulated. This will help them use it more effectively when they are dysregulated, or feeling strong emotions.
Introduce the Scale: Facilitate a conversation with students about weather. Ask them to imagine the most extreme weather and next, the most pleasant weather. Discuss the weather in between. Display the Weather Our Problems Scale and share that we cannot control the weather, but we can control our response (ie. we can grab an umbrella on those rainy days to feel more prepared)! When we experience thunderstorms or stormy moments, we can pause and think about what might help improve our situation. What might bring us back towards a sunny day? Maybe a coping strategy like taking a break, talking to a trusted adult, squeezing a fidget, using a deep breathing strategy, etc. Remembering that controlling our response can help us find a piece of control in tough moments. We can weather our problems!
Make it Visible: Post the Weather Our Problems Scale in your classroom to make it visible for students. You can print out smaller versions to give to students for more personalized use. They can use paper clips to slide up and down throughout the day as they check in with themselves. Keep a Daily-Check In Tool nearby if students need help naming emotions.
Start a Routine: Encourage students to interact with the tool as they need it. Remind students to use the Daily Check-in Tool alongside the weather chart if they need access to emotion vocabulary.
KINDERGARTEN-8TH GRADE
Supportive Questions
If you are between a 1-3:
Yay! Things are going great! What is helping you be here?
What can you do more of to stay here?
What does being at this number tell you what you need?
If you are between a 4-7:
What would move you down a number or two? Is there a coping skill that would help?
When things are going better, what will you notice is different?
What does being at this number tell you that you need?
Implementation Tips
Plan the Rollout: We recommend introducing it to the whole class during a time when students are emotionally regulated. This will help them use it more effectively when they are dysregulated, or feeling strong emotions.
Introduce the Scale: Facilitate a conversation with students about weather. Ask them to imagine the most extreme weather and next, the most pleasant weather. Discuss the weather in between. Display the Weather Our Problems Scale and share that we cannot control the weather, but we can control our response (ie. we can grab an umbrella on those rainy days to feel more prepared)! When we experience tornadoes or stormy moments, we can pause and think about what might help improve our situation. What might bring us back towards a sunny day? Maybe a coping strategy like taking a break, talking to a trusted adult, squeezing a fidget, using a deep breathing strategy, etc. Remembering that controlling our response can help us find a piece of control in tough moments. We can weather our problems!
Make it Visible: Post the Weather Our Problems Scale in your classroom to make it visible for students. You can print out smaller versions to give to students for more personalized use. They can use paper clips to slide up and down throughout the day as they check in with themselves. Keep a Daily-Check In Tool nearby if students need help naming emotions.
Start a Routine: Encourage students to interact with the tool as they need it. Remind students to use the Daily Check-in Tool alongside the weather chart if they need access to emotion vocabulary.
Specific Tips for Your Students
As K-5 students begin to use this tool, check in with them afterwards. You can use these questions as a conversation guide for you. Feel free to remind them of coping skills if they are struggling to think of ones that might help. Deep breathing is always a great place to start!
Middle School students might enjoy processing these questions internally. You can print out the tool instructions on the Friendzy Online Resource Portal to have available for students. You can also leave notecards nearby in case students want to write a message down to share with you. Always encourage them to come to you to check in as they need, but check in from time to time anyway!
We may not be able to control all that comes our way in this life, but we can weather our problems!
Available in English & Spanish!
STRESS SCALE | HIGH SCHOOL
Stress is a common emotion and experience for high school students. Utilizing the Friendzy Stress Scale is a helpful, solution-focused way for students to recognize their level of stress and identify solutions to improve their situation.
Stress is a common emotion and experience for high school students. Utilizing the Friendzy Stress Scale is a helpful, solution-focused way for students to recognize their level of stress and identify solutions to improve their situation.
This scale invites students to rate how stressed they are on a scale from 1 to 10. This is an easy tool that helps students to grow in self-awareness and self-regulation, be their own problem solvers, and realize that stress and emotions come and go. Students have the power to manage their stress!
Stress Scale Worksheet
A helpful way to determine if stress is positive or negative is to place it on a scale. We call this a regulation scale that helps to attribute a number (1-10) for how much stress you are experiencing in your body. Here is an example of situations on the regulation scale.
1: relaxing on the beach
5: lost your phone
10: in danger
Those are examples of growing stress levels. When stress in your body rises above a 5, you are in the caution zone (yellow) moving towards flipping your lid (red).When you start to feel stress that is above a 5, that is moving into negative stress that can have harmful and lasting effects.
Distribute the Stress Scale Worksheet and instruct students to create their own regulation scale by listing their markers for being at a stress level 1, 5, and 10. They can fill in the rest of the scale with situations that bring positive or negative stress throughout the scale.