Julie Clifford and Samantha Oliver
Middle School BGCA Spring 2010
Wednesday-April 21st, 2010
Unit Title: Career Exploration
Lesson Title: Time Management/Stress Balls
Grade Level: Middle School Students- Grades 6, 7, 8
ASCA Standards: A:A2.1 Apply time-management and task-management skills
A:C1.1 Demonstrate the ability to balance school, studies, extracurricular activities,
leisure time and family life
A:B2.5 Use problem-solving and decision-making skills to assess progress toward
educational goals
NYS Learning Standards: CDOS Standard 3a: Universal Foundation Skills
Students will demonstrate mastery of the foundation skills and competencies essential for
success in the workplace.
Lesson Objectives:
 Using an informational session on time management and having the students
create a project for reducing stress, students will become familiar of ways to cope
with stressors of their daily life as well as productively manage their time.
Assessment/Evaluation Methods
 Students will be assessed via a brief discussion of information learned at the end
of the lesson as well as a short evaluation sheet assessing what knowledge they
obtained from the lesson.
Resources/Materials:
 Information on time management (handouts)
 Sandwich Bags
 Flour
 Funnels (soda/water bottles cut in half)
 Permanent markers (for decorating stress balls)
 Balloons (12 inch)
 Drop cloths
Lesson Plan/Procedure
 Introduction
-Identify the goal of the lesson/objectives. Counselor will tell students that we are
going to be doing a lesson on effective time management and stress. School,
homework, sleeping, and eating are all things that middle school students have to
effectively manage in their day.
1)
-Explain to students that we need to identify what we HAVE to do and what we
WANT to do. In order to effectively manage our time we all need to:
a. Understand how much time we have each activity in a day will take
b. Make a plan that helps us get through the week
REWARD to time management: Less stressed
2) -Explain the difference between “HAVE TO” “WANT TO” and “GOALS”.
Short-term goals are things we want or need to do that can be accomplished in a few
hours or days.
Long-term goals are part of the “bigger picture” of our lives -- our dreams and
aspirations.
-Ask students to come up with a few activities that you have to, want to, and a few short
and long term goals they have in school or at home.
-Have students write this down on the worksheet.
-Counselor will ask for any volunteers to list one activity from each column
-EX: Have to’s: Eating, sleeping, family responsibilities, school and homework, personal
hygiene
Want to’s: activities after school, “chill time”
Goals: “Many of our have to’s and want to’s get satisfied by our goals that we make for
ourselves”
3) Ask them to think about the consequences that would happen if we didn’t do our have
to’s. Explain to students that choosing priorities, or deciding what to spend less time on
or cut out of your budget completely, is one of the most important steps in managing your
time. Sometimes we have to choose priorities over the long term, and sometimes we have
to do it day to day.
-Think about what’s urgent
-Think about the consequences for not doing the big things
4) Explain to students that stress is a normal part of everyday life and that time
management can cause stressors on our body.
-Ask students what things they do to cope with stress
5) Explain to students what stress balls are and tell them that we will be making them
today for them to take home and use as a coping method for stress.
-Instructions for stress balls:
 Students will work in pairs
 Each student will get a balloon and blow it up and let the air out to allow the
balloon to become more elastic
 The students will use water/soda bottles to use as a funnel as they put the flour in
the funnel until the balloon has about 3 inches of flour.
 Students will tie balloon closed as nearest to the flour as they can.
 Students can decorate balloons with permanent markers
ContentlLevel Discussion:
-As you deal with a stressful situation, you can squeeze or throw the ball, or just
maneuver it around your hand. Using a stress ball puts your mind to work on something
other than the stressor, without you even realizing it. It helps you take a break but at the
same time continue working on a solution. The tension you feel inside will outlet itself
into the ball as you squeeze or vigorously move it around your hand or throwing it back
and forth. Freeing your mind from the constant mindset of what you are dealing with will
enable you to come to a solution that you otherwise wouldn't have because you were
being too narrow minded.
Personal-level Discussion: What are situations in your life that cause you to become
stressed? In what ways will you effectively manage your time throughout the day in order
to decrease your stress level?
Closure: End with a discussion and closing remark on how this activity will help them
realize that there are ways in which to deal with stress in a healthy way. Tell them other
ways in which they can cope.
Modifications/alternatives for Special Education
 Have extra staff available to work with any students who may need extra help
 If students don’t want to make a stress ball we have alternative activities they can
do. (Ex: from worksheet-make a calendar, weekly planner for next week)
 Allow students the opportunity to work by themselves.
References
PBS Kids, It’s my Life. (2005). Time management,
http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/time/index.html, Retrieved on April 16th, 2010.
Families.com, parents.community.relationships. (2010) Stress balls-How they can help
you. http://fitness.families.com/blog/stress-balls-how-can-they-help-you,
Retrieved on April 20th, 2010.
Time Management: Me Vs. The Clock
What are the things we have to do in our lives? What are the things we want to do? All of
these take TIME!
Have-To’s:
“Have-To’s” need to be a part of almost every day. Whether we like it or not, we all have
to find time to get them done.

A few Have-To’s in my life:
.
Want-To’s:
Fortunately, our time isn’t just about responsibilities…we get to have some fun, too!
“Want-To’s” make our lives a little more fulfilling.

A few Want-To’s in my life:
.
Goals:
Many of our Have-To’s and Want-To’s get done because we set goals for ourselves.
Short-term goals are things we want or need to do that can be accomplished in a few
hours or days. Ex: Get a birthday card for Grandma
Long-term goals are part of the “bigger picture” of our lives -- our dreams and
aspirations. Ex : I want to become a pediatrician.


A short term goal I have :
A long term goal I have:
How Can I Improve my Time Management?






Consider everything we HAVE to do and WANT to do.
Understand how much time each activity in a day will take.
Create goals for yourself
Avoid distractions
Write things down!
Stay organized
I Can Do This by Creating:
-a.Monthly Calendars
- b.Weekly Planner
-c. Daily Schedule
a.
b.
c.
PBS Kids, It’s my Life. (2005). Time management, http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/time/index.html, Retrieved on April 16th, 2010.
Evaluation on Time Management lesson
Name:
1) What did you like most about this activity?
2) What did you like least about this activity?
.
3) What was one thing that you learned about time management?
.
4) On a scale from 1(dislike) to 10 (really liked), how would you rate our lesson?
Evaluation on Time Management lesson
Name:
1) What did you like most about this activity?
.
2) What did you like least about this activity?
.
3) What was one thing that you learned about time management?
.
4) On a scale from 1(dislike) to 10 (really liked), how would you rate our lesson?