social emotional
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Classroom Gratitude Journal
The easiest way to help children understand gratitude is to talk about it over and over again. I’ve created a really cute freebie that will help your students put practice their thankfulness, while recording what happens each day. These pages can be used to create a classroom gratitude journal. Each day ask your students what they are thankful for, or grateful for. In the beginning you’ll likely get the same answers again and again – “I’m thankful that we got to play outside” and “I’m thankful for snack time.” You may need to set an example by telling the class what you are thankful for each day, but with practice…
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Teaching Thankfulness
Thanksgiving is a two-part holiday – first, you’ve got the historical references, and then there are the social emotional lessons. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to help children practice being thankful, and for very young preschoolers, this may be the first time they’ve ever considered the fact they they are lucky to have certain people and things in their lives. There are a number of ways to help children focus on what they are thankful for this holiday season, here are a few ideas; Host a food drive. This doesn’t have to be just for Thanksgiving, make it last until your winter break. Families need help all winter long! Some…
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Finding Joy
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Family Photo Paper Bag Albums
When I was in the classroom, family photos were a huge part of our classroom decor. I wanted my students to be able to share them with each other, and use them to help transition in the morning. I also love that they make the children feel like their families are always a part of the classroom, and are welcome at school anytime. This is an easy (and economical) photo album project that you can send home at the beginning of the year. Each family can help their child put the album together and then you can do a special show and tell so that the children can share them with…
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A Peaceful Thanksgiving – Tips for Avoiding Holiday Meltdowns
Thanksgiving is supposed to be time to relax and enjoy family, time to take a few minutes to recognize the blessings in our life. You aren’t alone if your annual Thanksgiving celebration is anything less than stressful and overwhelming. There is food that needs prepared, family members to please, extra furniture to set up, grocery shopping to do, not to mention arranging schedules to make sure that you are present at every family celebration. In all of this, kids often get less to their own devices, and end up making messes that need cleaned up, and arguments that need solved. By taking a few minutes to prepare simple activities to…
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Book Talk Tuesday – The Family Book
Now that my students have begun to come down from their Halloween high, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. I’ve always taught Thanksgiving a little differently. In my experience, young children can’t begun to understand the symbolism related to Pilgrims and Native Americans because they don’t have the background understanding of the historical value that these symbols represent. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving my class spends a lot of time exploring the concept of family – the people who make up our families, what it means to be a family, and reasons why families are important. These are all topics that children can easily understand and relate…
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Preschool Activities that meet Social Emotional Activities
It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for some activities aligned to a specific standard. This is the eighth week of this feature, and can you believe it, this is the last of the Social Emotional Standards. We’ve made it all the way through an entire domain. But, if you need more ideas, don’t worry, I’m always adding to my Social Emotional Pinboard! (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). Domain: Social Emotional DevelopmentStrand: RelationshipsTopic: EmpathyEmpathy.…
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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 seventh 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). I’ve rounded up some great ideas today!Domain: Social Emotional DevelopmentStrand: RelationshipsTopic: Peer Interactions and RelationshipsPeer interactions involve so much more than just playing together. Children learn cooperative behaviors, negotiation skills, teamwork, and conflict resolution through repeated interaction and by watching…
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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 sixth 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). Let’s see what great ideas we can find today!Domain: Social Emotional DevelopmentStrand: RelationshipsTopic: Interactions with AdultsAll children should be able to make a list of adults that they trust and feel comfortable with. The key to meeting this particular standard…
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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 fifth 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 DevelopmentStrand: RelationshipsTopic: AttachmentAttachment is healthy, we want children to feel attachment to parental figures, and to want their parents near them. We also want young children to feel safe and comfortable at school, so that…
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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 DevelopmentStrand: SelfTopic: 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…
