Self Management Teaching Resources
Help your students improve their self management skills with activities and printable worksheets created by teachers specifically for elementary and middle school students.
This teaching resource collection has been designed to help teachers help their students develop a host of skills from skills such as self control to impulse control and time management, goal setting. With digital and printable activities available, there is something to fit every lesson plan!
Best of all, each teaching resource has undergone rigorous review by the Teach Starter team to ensure it's ready for the classroom ... and your students!
Curious about teaching self management skills and looking for strategies that will work for your students? Read on for some tips from our expert teachers!
What Is Self Management? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Like so many lessons we teach, it can be helpful to start off by defining what self management actually means to give our students an understanding of the topic at hand. Here's a self management definition for kids from our teacher team:
Self-management means being in control of your own thoughts, feelings and actions. When we have good self management, we are able to make good choices and stay focused on our goals. Self management skills also help us to handle our emotions in a positive way.
Self Management Skills for Kids to Teach in the Classroom
As one of the core competencies of SEL, self management covers a fairly broad area. The skills that kids develop under this umbrella can include everything from means for control anxiety and anger to learning to set goals and make the changes necessary to meet them.
So what are the main skills you should be teaching? Here are some of the more common ones our teacher team focuses on with our students:
Resilience
We help our students develop resilience by teaching them how to bounce back from setbacks, cope with challenges and persevere — skills that they'll need long after they've left your classroom.
Self Control
The names are nearly synonymous, so it's hardly surprising that self control falls under the self management umbrella. Teaching kids these skills can involve discussing techniques they can use to manage their impulses and emotions
Goal Setting
Being able to set realistic and achievable goals — both short-term and long-term — falls under self management. With this in mind, it's important to also teach your students strategies to work toward their goals and track their progress.
Time Management
Helping your students understand the concept of time and teaching them to plan and organize their tasks and activities falls right in line with providing strategies to achieve their goals. Time management is also an essential life skill that will serve your students well into adulthood.
Task Initiation
While the level of independence and ability to initiate tasks is highly dependent on factors like age and person abilities, encouraging your students to start tasks promptly and independently is part of building those self management skills. This also involves helping them overcome procrastination or avoidance behaviors.
Organization
Teaching our students strategies for organizing their materials — whether it's keeping their desks tidy or returning borrowed materials to the appropriate place – is a key component of teaching them self management. As they get older, they should be able to take on more and more responsibility for keeping their belongings organized.
Responsibility
Speaking of responsibility, it's important to promote a sense of responsibility by encouraging students to take ownership of their actions in your classroom, to complete their assignments on time and to follow classroom rules.
- Free Plan
Emotion Strategies Wheel
Help your students self-regulate when they experience "big" emotions with this hands-on emotions wheel with accompanying calming strategies.
- Free Plan
Goal Setting – Iceberg Template
Download a free goal setting template that helps students identify singular aspects that they need focus on to achieve a goal.
- Free Plan
The Worry Waterfall – Anxiety Management Poster
Teach your students how to deal effectively with worrying thoughts with this classroom poster.
- Free Plan
Australian Animals Mindfulness Bookmarks
Practice mindfulness and keep track of your reading with these Australian Animals Mindfulness Bookmarks!
- Free Plan
Mindful Coloring Sheet - Tree
A tree mindful coloring sheet.
- Free Plan
Dealing with Bullying Poster
Add this anti-bullying poster for the classroom to your bullying prevention toolkit and teach your students five resilience strategies to respond to bullying behavior.
- Free Plan
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise – Worksheet
De-escalate your students while in difficult situations with this calming exercise.
- Plus Plan
Last Day of School Coloring Page
Calm the end-of-year chaos with a printable end-of-the-school-year coloring page.
- Free Plan
My Feelings Volcano Worksheet
Prevent students from being overcome by strong emotions with this volcano-themed coping skills worksheet.
- Free Plan
My Emotional Triggers Worksheet
Help your elementary students explore the situations that trigger them to experience certain emotional responses with this 2-page emotional triggers worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Printable Bookmarks - Mindful Coloring
Bring calm to the classroom with these mindfulness coloring bookmarks.
- Plus Plan
Resilience Word Search
Use this resilience word search to immerse your students in the key vocabulary related to this important social-emotional skill.
- Plus Plan
Calming Strategies Fortune Teller Template
Help your students choose and apply strategies when they need to calm down with this handy fortune teller template.
- Free Plan
Calming Down Mini-Book
Help your students to keep calm when they are experiencing heightened emotions with this social story mini-book.
- Plus Plan
Chill Out – Classroom Break Passes
Give your students a work break to stop behavior problems before they start with our printable Chill Out Passes.
- Free Plan
Resilience Writing Prompts
Use this set of resilience writing prompts to help your students reflect upon times they have observed resilience in themselves and others.
- Plus Plan
Sloth Mindfulness Coloring Pages
Use these sloth-themed coloring pages to bring a bit of creative calm into the classroom.
- Free Plan
Pattern Coloring - Flower
Use colors to create a pattern using this sheet.
- Plus Plan
Managing Big Emotions – Interactive Activity
Teach students how to manage emotions using healthy coping skills with this interactive scenario game for the early years classroom.
- Plus Plan
Classroom Routines for Independent Work Checklist
Give your students a checklist to remind them of classroom routines to follow when working independently.
- Plus Plan
Mindfulness Activity Mats
A set of 10 mindfulness activity mats.
- Plus Plan
Mindful Breathing Exercises – Task Cards
Use these mindfulness breathing exercises to help students calm themselves down when they are feeling upset or anxious.
- Plus Plan
Fox Mindful Coloring Sheet
A fox mindful coloring sheet.
- Plus Plan
Coping With Change - Social Story Mini Book
A social story to develop coping skills for when there is a change in the routine.
- Plus Plan
5 Minute Mindfulness Meditation Activity Task Cards for Kids
Bring 5-minute mindfulness meditation into the classroom and your social and emotional learning with these 17 printable activity cards for kids.
- Plus Plan
Mindfulness Coloring Sheets - Portrait
A set of 3 mindfulness coloring sheets.
- Plus Plan
I Need a Break - Choice Boards
Help upset students regulate their emotions in the classroom with our printable ‘I Need a Break!’ choice boards.
- Plus Plan
Managing Big Emotions – Cut and Paste Worksheets
Empower students to identify and manage big emotions with this set of cut-and-paste worksheets for younger students.
- Plus Plan
Guided Meditation (Mindful Breathing) Script for Kids
Share this guided meditation script with students to promote mindfulness and help them to regulate their emotions by breathing mindfully.
- Plus Plan
Mindful Coloring - Printable Flower Coloring Pages
Pick a pack of printable flower coloring pages to bring a bit of the outdoors into your classroom.
- Plus Plan
Positive Affirmation for Kids — Printable Cards
Get 24 inspiring positive affirmations for kids on printable cards designed for teachers to encourage a growth mindset, self-confidence, and self-belief in your students.
- Plus Plan
What Can I Control? Interactive Emotional Regulation Activity
Help your students build emotional regulation skills with an interactive emotional control activity for classroom SEL instruction.
- Self Management Templates
- Self Management Worksheets
- Self Management Posters
- Self Management Games
- Self Management for Kindergarten
- Self Management for 1st Grade
- Self Management for 2nd Grade
- Self Management for 3rd Grade
- Self Management for 4th Grade
- Self Management for 5th Grade
- Self Management for 6th Grade