Zipper Baggie Thermometers!

If you are looking for an easy, economical way to create an anger thermometer (that moves) - I have an idea for you!

Purchase a box of Ziploc Easy Zipper or Hefty One Slider plastic baggies (one quart size or different size to meet your needs). The baggies need to have the plastic zipper. I prefer the sturdiness of the freezer bags, but the zipper storage bags work just as well.

Create an anger thermometer using clip art. Find a clip art picture of a thermometer and add text boxes either to the right or left of the clip art - Extremely Angry at the top, Angry in the middle, and Not Angry on the bottom. A colorful feelings thermometer can be downloaded at www.jillycharts.com . Using their thermometer, you can adapt it with text boxes to state Extremely Angry in the red box, Angry in the green box, and Not Angry in the blue box. OR, add the student pictures as it was intended. For the jillychart thermometer, you will have to adjust the size to fit in your baggie (or purchase bigger baggies).

Adjust the size of the thermometer to fit nicely inside the baggie. Print. Slide the picture in the baggie. If you'd like, you can use two different thermometers (slide in the baggie back-to-back) - one will have the zipper to the right and one will have the zipper to the left.

You now have a personal anger thermometer in which students can move the zipper up and down to indicate their level of anger.

I use this baggie thermometer when students are in the midst of anger. I also use it a lot in small support groups when we are identifying anger triggers and how angry each student feels for each trigger. Something so easy has created such a positive response from the kiddos! They enjoy moving the zipper up and down their thermometer. Some have asked for their very own to keep in the classroom - so that their teacher or other school staff will have a visual representation of their anger levels.

Examples of other uses for Zipper Baggies:

• Feelings thermometer with feeling faces and or level of one particular feeling - such as level of anxiety, worry, stress. Document and keep track of the levels to help students work through difficult situations and days.
• Any Likert scale...slip inside the baggie and use the zipper
• To determine level of risk....on a scale of 1-10....use the zipper baggie