This is a visual self-regulation tool (Included: Visual check-in board and strategy cards that you can laminate and velcro to interchange). Designed to help students recognize and manage their energy or emotional state throughout the day.

• Red (Too Fast): when a student feels overstimulated, restless, or “wiggly”
• Green (Just Right): when a student is calm, focused, and ready to learn
• Blue (Too Slow): when a student feels tired, low-energy, or disengaged

Each zone includes simple, concrete strategies students can use to shift their state. For example, calming activities like slow breathing in the red zone, or energizing actions like stretching in the blue zone. At the bottom of each section, there’s a space for the student to choose one strategy and commit to it.

How a teacher could use it.

In practice, this works well as a daily check-in routine. At the start of the day, a teacher might have students look at the chart and quietly identify where they are. This can be done with a quick show of fingers, moving a clip to a color, or just a private mental check.

During transitions or before challenging tasks, the teacher can bring attention back to the chart:
“Take a second—How is your engine running? What Zone are you in? What does your body need right now?”

If students aren’t in the green zone, they can pick one suggested strategy from their current zone and try it. Over time, this builds awareness and independence, because students learn what helps them regulate without needing constant prompting.

It’s also useful for:

• Individual support: A teacher can guide a specific student to choose a strategy from their zone instead of correcting behavior in a purely reactive way
• Classroom norms: Framing regulation as something everyone works on, not just certain students
• Reflection: At the end of the day, students can think about what strategies worked for them