Preschool Activities that meet Social Emotional Standards
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for some activities aligned to a specific standard. This is the fourth week of this feature, and we’re still on social emotional standards. (The Standards that I use every day, and am most comfortable with are Ohio’s Early Learning Development Standards – you can review them here, however I’ve found that even if your State’s standards differ, many of these activities can still be aligned similarly). Here we go!
Domain: Social Emotional Development
Strand: Self
Topic: Sense of Competence
This is one of those standards that can be difficult to plan activities for, because you can absolutely take steps to foster competence in your students, but often this happens organically during other planned activities. One way to approach this standard is to use it to focus on self help skills. These skills help children feel independent, and mastering them encourages students to attempt other, more challenging tasks on their own. Here are some great ideas for working on self help skills in the classroom:
Easy DIY Dressing Boards from Stir the Wonder
Button Board from Rockabye Butterfly
Water Pouring from Montessori Training
Buttoning Chain from Tips from a Typical Mom
All of these ideas can be made easily and included on a lesson plan. Another great idea would be to create a closet in your dramatic play area so children can practice putting on shoes, zipping up jackets, and buttoning shirts. You could also set up a dish washing station in your sensory table or put out a basket full of towels and blankets that children can practice folding. These are all simple things that will help children strengthen their sense of competence.