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Resilience Routine

Lesson Plan

Daily Resilience Plan

Students will build emotional resilience by recognizing their moods, practicing quick calm strategies, and reflecting on their day through a consistent 20-minute routine.

Helping 2nd graders identify feelings and learn coping tools fosters self-regulation, reduces stress, and creates a supportive classroom culture.

Audience

2nd Grade Class

Time

20 minutes

Approach

Structured warm-up, skill practice, and cool-down.

Materials

Quick Calm Moves Slide Deck, Morning Mood Meter Warm-Up Cards, and Evening Reflection Cool-Down Sheets

Prep

Prepare Materials

10 minutes

Step 1

Morning Mood Meter Warm-Up

5 minutes

  • Display the emotion meter and invite students to choose a face that matches their current mood
  • Use quick turn-and-talk pairs for students to share why they feel that way
  • Reinforce vocabulary: happy, calm, worried, frustrated

Step 2

Quick Calm Moves Practice

5 minutes

  • Present 3 short breathing or movement exercises from the Quick Calm Moves Slide Deck
  • Guide students through each move together (e.g., star breaths, shoulder rolls)
  • Encourage students to notice how their bodies feel after each exercise

Step 3

Crisis-Coping Spotlight

5 minutes

  • Briefly introduce a simple coping strategy (e.g., 5-finger grounding) and why it helps during big emotions
  • Role-play a quick scenario where students practice the strategy in pairs
  • Praise attempts and highlight how this can stop stress from escalating

Step 4

Evening Reflection Cool-Down

5 minutes

  • Hand out the Evening Reflection Cool-Down Sheets
  • Prompt students to draw or write one thing that went well and one challenge they managed today
  • Invite volunteers to share reflections and celebrate their resilience efforts
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Slide Deck

Quick Calm Moves

Welcome! Today we’ll learn three easy moves to help us feel calm: 1. Star Breaths 2. Shoulder Rolls 3. 5-Finger Grounding

Let’s practice together!

Introduce the purpose of today’s quick calm moves. Explain that anytime students feel big feelings—like worry, frustration, or excitement—they can use these moves to help their bodies and minds feel more relaxed.

Move 1: Star Breaths

• Stand or sit tall with one arm out
• Breathe in and trace your arm up to the top point of your star
• Breathe out and trace down the other side
• Repeat for all five points of the star

Guide students step-by-step. Model tracing an imaginary star on your back and syncing breath with your hand movements. Encourage them to move slowly and notice how deep breaths feel.

Move 2: Shoulder Rolls

• Sit or stand tall with arms relaxed at your sides
• Inhale and lift both shoulders up toward your ears
• Exhale and roll shoulders back and down
• Repeat 5 times, then switch direction

Demonstrate shoulder rolls with exaggerated motions. Remind students to keep their neck relaxed and move shoulders in a smooth circle. Invite them to notice any tension melting away.

Move 3: 5-Finger Grounding

• Hold one hand up
• Tap each fingertip with your other hand as you name:

  1. Something you see
  2. Something you hear
  3. Something you can touch
  4. Something you can smell
  5. Something you can taste (or wish you could!)

Explain how grounding connects us to the present moment. Model tapping each finger while naming a sense or noticing something around you. Encourage creativity in what they notice.

Let’s Practice & Reflect

  1. Star Breaths (5 points)
  2. Shoulder Rolls (5 circles each direction)
  3. 5-Finger Grounding

How do you feel now?
Who wants to share which move they like best?

Wrap up by leading one full cycle of all three moves. Ask students to share how they feel now compared to the start. Reinforce that these tools are always available.

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Warm Up

Morning Mood Meter Warm-Up Cards

Use these cards to help students identify and share their feelings at the start of class. Print one set per student and invite them to pick the face that matches their mood.

EmotionVisualTurn-and-Talk Prompt
Happy😄"What is something that makes you feel happy today?"
Calm😌"What do you do to feel calm when you’re a little worried?"
Worried😕"Tell your partner one thing you’re thinking about today."
Frustrated😣"Share a time you felt frustrated and how you handled it."
Excited🤩"What are you looking forward to today?"




Turn-and-Talk Directions

  1. Students choose the card that matches their mood.
  2. Pair up and share responses to the prompt.
  3. Invite a few volunteers to share with the whole class to build community and vocabulary.
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Cool Down

Evening Reflection Cool-Down Sheets

Use this sheet at the end of class to help students recognize successes and challenges from their day.

Name: ____________________ Date: ___________

  1. Something that went well today was:











  2. One challenge I navigated today was:






  3. Which calm move helped me the most and why?






  4. Draw or write how you felt after using your calm strategy:












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Resilience Routine • Lenny Learning