[Sadie]

I love starting by hearing what questions or comments children have about a book after we read! It almost always leads to interesting conversations in my opinion. Sometimes I like to start with prompts like: “if you were like Harold and had a magic crayon, what color would it be?” Or, lead with social emotional prompts such as “why are the other toys being mean to the velveteen rabbit?”

[Sadie]

One of my favorite things to do with the kiddos in my classroom is go on “mindful walks”. This is where we turn off our voices and only can use our ears to listen, our eyes to see, our noses to smell and our fingers to touch. Once we are back in the classroom we discuss as a group all the things we discovered using our senses during our mindful walk!

[Sadie]

I can do this by modeling behavior that I want to see in the classroom. When there is a conflict, I can guide the children through a conversation to help them learn how to resolve said conflict.

[Sadie]

Emma is at the sensorimotor stage, so I would encourage sensory based play/exploration in the classroom. And since she is showing understanding and interest in colors, finger painting and talking more with her about color during play. Liam is in the preoperational stage, I would make sure to encourage him to do imaginative play with building block, magna-tiles, locks and keys, train tracks etc.

[Sadie]

Hanging up near our classroom’s circle-time rug, is a white board with pictures magnetized to it. The pictures are connected to the different rules in the classroom. Whenever we go over the classroom regulations, the children know how to identify each rule when I show them each picture. For example, one picture is of an ear, I would take that off of the board and show it to them, while asking “what kind of ears do we use?” and they will respond with “listening ears”. And so on!

[Sadie]

For handwashing we sing a handwashing song! We also see how bubbly we can make the soap on our hands before rinsing with water.

[Sadie]

I love that!

[Sadie]

Hi Kate,

I completely agree. Communication and respect with families is key! It feels great when all families have reached an understanding and trust that the children’s safety and health is first priority at school.