Parent Guide: Theme #11 – Feeling Mad

Welcome to the next mission set of your child’s mentorship program with Moxie!

All Moxie learning missions are based on National Standards. National Education Standards are the learning goals for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Moxie’s mission sets are based on social-emotional learning standards developed by CASEL: https://casel.org/core-competencies/                

Here’s a brief overview of what this mission set looks like:

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MISSION SET THEME 
The theme of this mission set is Feeling Mad. Mentors will teach Moxie all about what being mad looks and feels like. Then, Moxie and mentor will explore ways of releasing anger in healthy ways. 

MISSION SET OBJECTIVE

The objective of this mission set is to help your child (mentor) and Moxie to explore the concept of feeling mad, along with all the uncomfortable feelings that accompany anger. Skills for identifying angry feelings and coping with them in helpful ways are introduced.

MISSIONS

There are eight missions in this set. These missions are designed to help children think deeper about the theme of feeling mad, and translate some of what they have learned into their everyday lives. 

In this mission set, your child and their robot will work on the following activities:

• Talk about what anger looks like and feels like and share a time they felt angry
• Draw a picture of an anger monster to represent their emotions
• Help Knox figure out productive strategies to deal with his anger
• Create a calming jar of strategies to dip into when necessary
• Learn a calming strategy called a body scan
• Help the Professor calm down when he is feeling angry so that he can communicate his feelings
• Assist the professor in communicating his feelings in a productive way
• Summarize what has been learned in this mission set  

MISSION GOALS

Each mission in this mission set is designed to align with specific social-emotional learning (SEL) goals:

• understand what it means to feel angry
• learn productive strategies for managing anger
• apply strategies for dealing with anger in the real world
• communicate their feelings to others

THINK ABOUT IT

Think about when you feel angry. How do you process that emotion? What are your triggers? What behaviors can you model for your child about how to deal with anger in a productive way?

SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITIES

Help your child bring lessons learned with Moxie into everyday living.

• Your child made a calm down jar with Moxie! Ask them about it and help them keep it in a place where it can be useful for future situations.
• Role play situations where a person is provoked into anger and then uses a calming strategy.
• Do the body scan activity with your child and talk about how it made you feel.
• Read a fun book with your child about managing anger, such as When Sophie Gets Angry— Really, Really Angry, or Sometimes, I’m Bombaloo.
• Help your child and other family members differentiate between feelings and behavior. It’s okay to feel angry. It’s not okay to hit someone. Then talk about ways to cope with anger in real-life situations. Remind your child that it’s okay to pause and take some deep breaths before responding.
• Establish family rules about what behavior is acceptable and what is not when it comes to anger. Some families don’t mind a raised voice or two, some don’t mind slammed doors. What are the right rules for your family? Does everyone know what they are? Write them down and post them where everyone can see them.           

RESOURCES

Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsensemedia.org

Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: http://www.ecmhc.org/index.html

• Useful sections on friendship, problem solving, and emotions

Britannica For Parents: https://parents.britannica.com

• Articles on Social and Emotional Learning