A Sneak Peek!
Upcoming Companion Curriculum Guide:
As author of the book, When the Going Gets Tough, I want to share with you the news that coming in the future is also a curriculum guide for this book (2025). I am writing the curriculum guide to assist you in helping children recognize and manage their emotions!
The Companion Curriculum Guide consists of a fully developed 15-day unit of study, using When the Going Gets Tough as the organizing text for teaching, learning, and emotional growth. Lesson plans for the unit of study incorporate an interactive read aloud, modeling of the emotional reset strategies shared in the storybook, an opportunity for lively practice of the reset strategies, and home-school reflection letters.
More specifically, curriculum components ensure educators are equipped with helpful information to teach about emotional recognition and management with confidence and intentionality.
Curricular components include the following:
Introductory and Concluding Letters—letters written from me to you, the mental health advocate, and to learners and family/caregivers.
Introductory and Concluding Surveys— an optional pre- and post-survey set you up to assess children’s progress and gather individual and group assessment information.
Curriculum Calendar—a guide to help plan the unit. Sessions can be taught in a 15-day block or spread out over time. Lesson sequence is somewhat flexible. For these reasons, a planning calendar is a practical curriculum tool.
Lesson Plans—fifteen individual lesson plans are described in detail. They use the reliable workshop approach: mini-lesson, activity time, and share time. Lesson extensions support planning and teaching as well.
Morning Meeting Plans—fifteen individual individual morning meeting plans are described in detail. Each morning meeting session, coincides with the lesson plan topic for that day. Morning meeting plans include a student message, greeting, activity, and share opportunity.
Coloring Book—The nine characters children meet in the book, When the Going Gets Tough, are revisited in the form of a coloring book.
Home Link—To bridge school and home, curriculum letters are provided to copy and send home with the completion of each lesson. The letters encourage families/caregivers to discuss emotional awareness and management, using language and information offered in the curriculum.