One of the challenges of coping with anxiety is regulating the body's responses. This can be hard for kids, but it's important to teach children how to work with, rather than against, these natural responses. 
          Alex's story does just that and gives hope to students who may be struggling with anxiety, through kid-friendly strategies and models of reframing in the book Beat Beat Thump by Allison Edwards and Steliyana Doneva.

When I experienced my brain injury in 2022, I learned the hard way that your brain really impacts everything! 

That's why I was so glad to see a book come out that teaches children just how our brains work and interact with the world to form our thoughts, feelings, and actions - really, our behavior. 

That book is "Your Amazing Brain"
by Jessica Sinarski. 

As a professional bridging the gap between behavior science and SEL, I am all about making emotional skills observable, measurable, and explicit. It can be really hard to take coping skills - a skill that comes naturally to some and often takes place internally - and break it down into concrete steps for instruction.

Recently though, I came across a diamond of a book that does just that, and I want to share it with you.

It's called "Felix and the Feelings Formula" by Kate Bartlein. 

If you're like me, you love the original book What Should Danny Do? by Ganit and Adir Levy. That's why I am so excited to share with you the perfect summer sequel, What Should Danny Do? On Vacation!  

​We're going to break down what we love about the book, a couple things you should be aware of before using the book, and ideas and resources for how to use this book in your classroom, including a free ending map to help you choose your class' adventure.

Think of the toughest student to ever walk into your classroom. Every teacher has one. Maybe this student was whispered about in the faculty lounge, or yelled about in the principal's office, or cried about in your empty classroom at the end of a hard day. Can you picture this student? Good. Keep them in your mind.

This student was one of "those kids" - a student who had challenging behaviors at school. But how we think and talk about a student with challenging behavior as a significant impact on how we interact with them. That's why, as a BSEL Coach, I choose to refer to students with challenging behaviors as “tough kids.” 

Today, we're reclaiming the word "tough."

The word "behavior" has become a buzzword in education, probably because of the many challenging behaviors happening across today's classrooms - more on that in a second. Unfortunately, the term behavior is often misused or misunderstood. Today, we are here to clear the air about what behavior really is (and is not) to help all educators better support all students.

​To start off, behavior is not a bad word. ​