As preschool teachers, we hear a lot about kindergarten readiness. Academic skills are often at the forefront of those conversations, however research indicates the social and emotional skills are crucial to social and academic success. Within this topic are modules and resources related to:
- Creating a healthy classroom climate for children.
- Social and Emotional activities, lessons, and strategies for the classroom.
Understanding the Social Emotional Climate of Your Classroom
Online Professional Development Module:
Activities
Book Kit
- "The Way I Feel" by Janet Cain
- Emotion Charades Activity Children need opportunities to learn how to express their emotions in a healthy way. By acting out the emotions and talking about them, in a fun interactive way, children can practice how to deal with their emotions and behavior responses within the context of a safe and supportive activity.
- Feeling Cards This printable can be used to facilitate the Emotion Charades activity, and provides children and teachers with the names of 10 common feelings and corresponding faces to match. Use these cards for children to either demonstrate an emotion, and or to help them guess which emotion their peers are demonstrating.
- "I Like Myself" by Karen Beaumont
- I Like Myself Activity Children will identify something unique about themselves and create a self-portrait. Use this activity to help children celebrate both their own individuality as well as the uniqueness of each of their peers.
- I like myself portrait page Using this printable, children have to opportunity to write and draw something they like about themselves.
- "Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon" by Patty Lovell
- I'm special activity Children will identify and verbalize a unique, special characteristic in themselves, which they can celebrate with their peers. This activity builds positive self-concept, self-confidence in sharing ideas with the larger group, and self-regulation skills.
- I'm special because prompt In this printable resource, children will write and illustrate what makes them special.
- "Giraffes Can’t Dance" by Giles Andreae & Guy Parker-Reese
- Kind-Unkind Activity Children will identify kind and unkind words, phrases and actions from the book in a playful way, which will help them show regard for the feelings of their friends in class and help them understand what kind words sound like.
- Kind-unkind activity resource This printable resource provides pictures of a kind and unkind monkey that children can hold up while completing the Kind-Unkind activity.
Related Lesson Plans
- PJ Masks Superpower Hour- Scholastic Lesson Plan
Resources
- Booklist: Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) created a booklist to help teachers and caregivers provide social emotional support through book read alouds
- r4s-behavior-documentation: One way to support a positive social emotional classroom climate is by carefully observing and documenting changes in children’s emotions and behavior. Observation and documentation helps to build an awareness and determine what the child is trying to communicate through his or her behavior. When attempting to determine the cause of a behavior or strong emotion, it can be helpful to document when the behavior or strong emotion occurs, where it occurs, and what occurs after the behavior or strong emotion.
- Feeling Chart: This feeling chart is a tool both for educators and children to use to visualize and identify feelings.
- Scripted Stories: CFEFEL provides scripted stories to embed social emotional learning within the classroom.
- Social Emotional Milestones: This document, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides information on typical social emotional milestones for children birth through five years of age.
- CDC Skills Development Chart: Produced by the CDC, this document provides milestone checklists birth through five for social emotional development and other critical developmental milestones.
- Social Emotional Environment Checklist: This checklist is a tool to help teachers self-monitor and reflect as they think about the social emotional environment in their classroom.
Related Video Links
- What is Social Emotional Development
- How do we assess Social Emotional Development
- The Importance of Nurturing Relationships Through-out the Day
Related Research
- Peer Model Article: This article provides strategies and examples for providing positive peer interactions within your classroom.
Module 2: Challenging Behaviors
Online Professional Development Module:
Related Video Links
- Pyramid Model
- Redirecting Behavior
- Teaching Preschool Children Conflict Resolution
- Behavior Support Plans
Resources
Documentation Charts
Online Community Resources
- Ohio Help Me Grow
- Nationwide Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Services
- Mid-Ohio Psychological Services
- Directions for Youth and Families
- Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities
- St. Vincent’s Family Center
- Nisonger Behavior Support Services
- Crisis Prevention Intervention
- Pyramid Overview