Calm Down Corner 101: Simple Steps for a More Peaceful Classroom

Your little learners can have big feelings, and figuring out how to deal with them can feel overwhelming. Give your students a safe place to express and learn how to process their emotions with a Calm Down Corner. 

This corner is filled with resources and strategies to help your students understand, identify, and express the big emotions they are feeling without completely disrupting the class. 

So, let’s dig into how to bring a calm corner into your space! 

Step 1: Introduce the Calm Down Corner

The first step is to talk about this calming corner in your classroom with your students. 

You want to set the stage for your calm down corner. Remind your students that it is a place for them to grow, learn, and have some space when they need it. 

Make sure you don’t talk about it in a way that makes kids think they are in trouble if you ever suggest heading over to the calm down corner.  

To make this a fun little mini-lesson, you can start by reading your favorite picture book about big emotions. 

I have some great SEL books listed here! 

Then, talk through the purpose of your calming corner. 

It’s a space to: 

✨ Give you a place to unwind 

✨ Help you figure out how you’re feeling 

✨ Express that emotion in a safe way for our classroom 

Don’t forget to mention your expectations for what the calm down corner looks, feels, and sounds like. 

Using the Calm Corner Rules poster is a great way to introduce this to your students and provides an excellent visual reminder each time students are in the calm down corner. 

Step 2: Model How to Use the Corner

Now, you can talk about this corner all day long, but what’s really going to stick in your students’ brains is showing them. 

Brainstorm some ideas as a class of times when they might need to use the calm down corner. 

➡️ A fight on the playground 

➡️ A friend said something hurtful 

➡️ Everything is annoying you 

Then, walk them through how to come over to the calm down corner, and use a strategy or two. 

You don’t have to completely fill your calm down corner with every strategy right away. Pick two or three of your favorites, teach how to use them, and slowly add more strategies throughout the year. 

Next, invite a student to do some modeling. Encourage them to show how to NOT use the calm down corner. Then, end with having them model how to use the same strategy or tool correctly. 

There’s something powerful in having your students show off how not to use places before showcasing the behavior you’re looking for. It’s one of my favorite classroom management strategies!  

A great strategy I’ve seen other teachers use in their calming corners is adding a sand timer. This sets a time limit on how long a student should be in the area. When they arrive at the corner, they flip the timer to give themselves 5 minutes. When the timer is finished, their time in the corner is done. 

Including some sort of breathing posters in your calm down corner is a great resource to keep things structured and give your students the support they need. 

Step 3: Practice as a Class 

Now that you’ve introduced the calming corner to your class, it’s time to actually put it to work! 

You can choose to do this as more modeling, or simply have a few weeks where you tell your students you’ll be sending each student to check out the calm down corner throughout the day. 

As the day goes on, randomly tap a student’s shoulder and invite them to check out the calming corner for a few minutes. 

This will help all of your students become comfortable with the space and will help reduce the feeling that it is an abnormal, weird, or bad place to be in the classroom. 

This can also be a time for students to practice using the journaling pages to work through their emotions when they’re more at peace. 

Step 4: Let Students Decide 

This step is more of a reminder to give your students. 

Remind your students that this calming corner in the classroom is filled with different resources. They can choose something they need and enjoy at that time.

Now, you might have an expectation that each student fills out a journaling page or emotions check in so you know how they are feeling and why they headed over to the corner. 

But beyond that, explain that they can choose a calming activity that helps them most. 

👉 Maybe that’s a coloring page for one student. 

👉 Or some deep breathing exercises for another. 

👉 For another it might be getting in touch with his or her senses to be more grounded. 

To keep things organized, I would suggest having folders, bins, or even a Sterilite 3-drawer container for all the papers. 

Remember to teach students how to keep the corner tidy as well so the next person can easily use it. 

Step 5: Revisit Routines

As your year goes on, don’t forget about these routines! 

Encourage and praise students for using the corner well. 

And don’t be afraid to pull out the stops, slow down, and go through your expectations and modeling of this space again. If it begins to get out of hand, take the time to reteach those expectations. 

Another way to revisit this is to continually add or swap out the tools that are available within the calming corner for your students. 

You could even open the floor to hear what else your students would like to have in the calm down corner! 

Step 6: Enjoy the Calm in your Room as Students Self-Regulate!

Ultimately, you want to provide a place in your classroom where students feel safe to express those big emotions they don’t know what to do with. 

Encourage them as they learn how to express these emotions in healthy, helpful ways. 

Talk about the calming down corner and the strategies inside often. Bring them to some of your whole group times to remind your students that everyone has big feelings and emotions. 

It’s simply a beautiful part of being human. ❤️

If you’re looking for the tools, strategies, and some structure to bring to your own calming corner, check out my Calm Down Corner kit. 

It’s filled with a rules poster, banner, breathing strategies, journaling pages, coloring sheets, and SO many more resources. I’ve created it so all you need to do is hit print. 🥰