Social skills
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Building a Positive Mindset
I consider myself a naturally positive person, but the classroom can be a hard place to keep that going. Someone is always upset with someone else, there is always a mess somewhere, and I’m constantly having to change my plans. It takes a toll! When positivity doesn’t come naturally, there are some things that help me keep that positive mindset in the classroom. First and foremost, when I recognize that I’m struggling I make a conscious effort to find something (anything) positive that I can acknowledge. Sometimes this is as small as a child nicely walking across the classroom, or offering to share with another child. I’ll spend the next…
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Beyond the family survey
As a teacher I was a huge fan of the family survey. It helped me learn the answers to very specific questions about children and their families (who lives with you? Is your child afraid of anything? What are your child’s favorite foods?). As a parent, I just filled out one of these surveys for my daughter’s class the other day, and when I was done it felt like I hadn’t really given her teachers a lot of information. It certainly wasn’t going to help them get to know her better, and at this age the answers change so regularly that they may not even be relevant in a month…
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Germs Germs Germs
I have to apologize for being MIA this week, my household is sick sick sick! I know that its a rough year for cold and flu, and I’m not complaining because we could have it much worse. I did want to take a quick minute to share a resource that might be helpful if you’re fighting the germs with your students. Please take a minute to check out my hand washing visuals to help build those healthy routines!
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Friday Freebie – Random Acts of Kindness Calendar
Happy Friday! Yesterday I shared some random acts of kindness for the holiday season. Today I’m sharing a freebie that makes it nearly impossible to NOT do some random acts of kindness this month! This Random Acts of Kindness Calendar is an amazing way to plan for, and keep track of the activities you want to complete. Go download your copy from Herding Kats in Kindergarten, and have a great weekend!
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Using Question of the Day in the Classroom
One of my favorite parts of every single day in my preschool classroom is when it was time to ask the question of the day. This was my chance to see where my students’ heads were at that day, and to get to know them a little better. I promise that it was a process to get our question of the day to a point where it was successful and the children would respond with thoughtful answers. We had to model how to answer questions, and encourage them to think of their own unique answers instead of repeating the same answer as the person who answered before them. Once the…
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Teaching Children to Respect Materials and Belongings
Accidents happen in the preschool classroom all day long – preschoolers just aren’t very coordinated. But we can reduce some of those accidents if we teach our students to treat classroom materials with care and respect. First and foremost, children have to see their teachers modeling how to treat materials with respect. When children see us helping with clean up time, they are more likely to participate. When you return materials to the correct location, the children will start to do this too. Children pick up on your cues and begin to internalize them as expectations. Another great strategy to use when teaching children to respect materials is self-talk. This…
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Freebie Friday – Respect
Happy Friday! The further we get into August, the faster the weeks seem to fly by – summer definitely has a way of disappearing before I’m ready for it to end! This week I’ve shared a number ideas for teaching children about friendship, opinions, and respect. Today’s freebie is another related activity to add to your files. This Social Story from For the Love of PreK is all about being kind. I love social stories for preschoolers because they are simple and to the point – the message is clear and easy to repeat throughout the day so that children are consistently reminded of the expectations. Go download your copy…
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Social Emotional Activities for Preschool
Social Emotional skills are a huge part of preschool. Skills like respecting others’ opinions, taking turns, and managing emotions are the foundational skills that children need in order to be successful. These also tend to be the kind of lessons that present themselves in the preschool classroom over and over again, but when asked to put them on a lesson plan, it can be difficult to come up with a planned experience that it actually valuable for your particular group of children. Over the years I’ve created a number of social emotional activities for my students simply because I couldn’t find anything else out there. When I started sharing activities…
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Discussing Opinions with Preschoolers
One of my favorite things about working with preschoolers is that they are just starting to form their own opinions about everything – from what they want to wear to school to how they feel about vegetables. While this makes for interesting conversations, it can also create some friction between classmates as they learn that others don’t necessarily share their opinions. I love to use a question of the day, and I strive for questions that require an extended response because I want my students to think about their answer as they practice the language required for this type of answer. Often, the children get very passionate about their answers.…
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Building Friendships in the Preschool Classroom
For a preschooler, the scariest thing about starting school can be not knowing who you’re going to play with. It’s a very real fear that can cause a lot of anxiety for little ones. This is why I spend so much time throughout the year encouraging children to continue getting to know each other and making sure that they work with people that they may not have chosen to work with on their own. I like to start by helping the children find common interests. We talk about the kinds of toys they enjoy playing with, sports or activities that they participate in, television shows that they like to watch,…
