The RULER program was developed at Yale University, and Budapest School was the first in Hungary to integrate it into everyday school life. Currently, several BPS locations already offer weekly RULER sessions where children learn about emotions and practice conscious emotional regulation.

But Umbrella Week is a special occasion: the entire community focuses on this theme, deepening the experience in collaboration with other schools. Children will gain experiences that help them become more confident, self-aware, and empathetic.

What will the children do?

During Umbrella Week, emotions will take center stage across all BPS schools. Children will not only talk about how they feel but also use different learning arcs to gain a deeper understanding of how emotions work, their impact, and how to manage them.

Through a variety of sessions, they will explore every aspect of the topic. When a group of children draws a giant Mood Meter on the classroom floor, they are actually practicing how to recognize and accurately name their feelings. They will learn that happiness is not a single feeling, but has a thousand shades—from excited joy to calm contentment. As they progress, they’ll increasingly understand that recognizing and being aware of emotions is the first step in managing them well.

Others will dive into the biology of emotions and learn which parts of the brain are activated when they get nervous before a test or which hormones are responsible for the tension after an argument with a friend. They’ll discover that emotions are not only internal experiences but are accompanied by concrete bodily and neurological processes—and that conscious emotional regulation is, indeed, a learnable skill.

In another school, children will explore the relationship between emotions and social connections. They’ll observe how people express emotions in different cultures. They might watch a short video explaining how in Japan, a restrained smile can express respect, while in an Italian family, expressive gestures are completely natural. This module helps them become more sensitive and open to others’ emotional expressions and better understand why people respond differently to the same situation.

A shared experience and space for connection between schools: the Emotion Olympics!
If one team wants to win the "calmness medal," they’ll need to brainstorm together on methods to calm down in stressful situations. They’ll try breathing exercises, movement techniques, and share what they do at home when they feel tense. In the process, children develop their emotional regulation skills almost effortlessly and discover effective strategies through their own experiences.

One unique aspect of Umbrella Week is that it's not just individual schools focusing on the theme, but the entire BPS network connects through it. Children from different locations work together on projects or "compete" for the Emotion Cup during an Olympic day. This way, they not only learn about emotions through their own experiences but also discover how connection, collaboration, and paying attention to one another play a key role in experiencing and managing emotions—because feeling is allowed!