As one of our Zones Champions, a first-grade teacher wisely noted, “We don’t teach anything important just once!” underscoring the value of using The Zones of Regulation Digital Curriculum year after year.
Growing from Co-Regulation to Self-Regulation
When we think about teaching regulation, it’s helpful to remember that it is a development skillset that takes time and support to foster, just like learning to walk or read. A child who first learns to co-regulate with supportive adults such as parents, caregivers, teachers, and therapists, will develop the foundational skills to self-regulate more easily in the future.
The Zones of Regulation simplifies co-regulation by providing a shared framework—taught through common language, visuals, and practices—that help both learners and supporting adults develop emotional awareness and communication skills. It also provides an easy-to-use system for managing feelings and energy in any situation. Teaching and reinforcing these skills with learners over multiple years nurtures their growth in communication, metacognition, and emotional regulation.
The Zones of Regulation Digital Curriculum’s scope and sequence is designed to provide opportunities to revisit, reinforce, and deepen learning throughout learners’ formative years. It equips you with actionable tools to co-regulate with learners in the moment and foster self-regulation over time.
Revisiting Concepts in the Digital Curriculum
Within each curriculum concept, you have flexibility to best introduce and revisit the content using components including the Interactive Presentation, Group Activity, and Geared Activities. Use each concept’s formative assessment (Check for Learning) to assess what instruction is needed for your learners, and gauge to what depth you will extend learning as they grow and develop.
3 Effective Ways to Adjust the Zones Curriculum Year-by-Year
- Modify the Interactive Presentation Delivery: Pare down, review, dig in deeper to selected topics, and/or skip to the Wrap-Up section in the digital presentation slides.
- Vary Selection of Geared Activities: Choose new activities to reinforce learning, among the 100+ options available.
- Adjust Instructional Time: Spend less time on direct instruction and more time on reviewing and reinforcing regulation skills in your Zones Climate.
Watch this video, part of our Zones Insider series for Digital Curriculum subscribers, to learn more about options for teaching The Zones in the second year and beyond.
Grade-Level Strategies for Multi-Year Implementation
Here are some examples of how Zones of Regulation instruction can look based on grade level for the second year of implementation and beyond:
- Lower grade leaders may introduce portions of a concept’s Interactive Presentation with learners, and then select Gear 1 or 2 activities to work toward the learning targets with different levels of support and depth.
- Upper grade leaders may scale back instruction and exposure, for example, only using the video and Pair & Share from the Interactive Presentation in tandem with a Gear 3 activity choice.
In all grade levels and years of implementation, it is essential to review the Four Signature Practices on a yearly basis to reestablish common language for co-regulation, reinforce key skills, and promote a safe and inviting Zones Climate with learners.
Free Resource to Support Long-Term Zones Implementation
Download this FREE guide, A Multi-Year Approach to Teaching The Zones, to learn more about how it works.
