Tag Archives: social/emotional development

Creative Expression and Social Connections

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The South Carolina Early Learning Standards are incorporated into the Sunflower class curriculum.  This week’s focus is: Cognitive Development (CD).

‘Tis the season to celebrate all of the ways we can express ourselves during the holidays!  The Sunflowers are able to demonstrate self-expression and creativity in a variety of forms and contexts within the school (Goal CD-5).  Routinely changing out the materials in the room allows the students to explore endless possibilities in their play and visual arts. Role play has taken us out of the southeast and up to the North Pole, where the students pretend they are Santa Claus delivering presents or flying off on an adventure with the reindeer.  

We provide many opportunities for the students to show their appreciation for different kinds of artistic expression (Goal CD-4).  From dancing to holiday music to creating unique crafts, the students can participate in and inquire about a variety of art forms. The Sunflowers enjoyed making decorative gifts for their loved ones at home.  They made cards that were multi-faceted and included gluing, folding, glittering, signing names, and dictating a sweet message for the recipient.

We brought warmth to the cool winter air during our exploration in baking.  The students rolled out and decorated sugar cookies with a variety of cookie cutter shapes and sprinkles that allowed everyone to use their creativity.  The Sunflowers also baked fresh loaves of bread from scratched and shared their hard work with their school community. Activities such as this help the students recognize that they are members of different groups (Goal CD-7) and encourages helpful community habits.  The Sunflowers continue to add their creativity and cheer to the ECDC hallways!

Self Control: We Practice Early and Often

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Child: “My turn! Me! Me! I wanna go! My turn!”

Teacher: “Everyone please sit down. You will all have a turn, you just have to wait,”

As a parent or teacher of a preschool age child, these words are all too familiar.  Teaching young children to control their impulses is something worth being taught — in fact, it is essential.

Caption: After reading a book about about sharing, the Seashells are given an opportunity to practice sharing blocks just like in the story.

What is Self-Control?

Self-Control is also called inhibitory control and is “the skill we use to master and filter our thoughts and impulses so we can resist temptations, distractions, and habits and to pause and think before we act” (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2011). Inhibitory control is a crucial component of executive functioning skills, which help us plan, focus attention, switch gears, and do multiple tasks at once.

Why is it important to teach Self-Control?

As children get older and attend school, they will have to increasingly work with others and will need to have self-control. While self-control means waiting for your turn, it also can mean having restraint from lashing out at others if you don’t get your way, or ignoring distractions to stay on task. These are essential skills needed for success later in life, and children need support and practice in building these skills.

How do we practice Self-Control in the Seashell class?
  • Songs and Games: The “Popcorn” song, “Sleeping, Sleeping” song, “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” are action rhymes and songs that we use in the classroom. In each of these songs or games, the children have to quickly stop an active activity and stay still until the cue is given to move again. Though they may have the desire to continue moving, over time, they learn to control these impulses.
  • Build in wait time: We never dismiss children from our circle time all at once. The teacher asks questions about colors, letters in name, or identifiable attributes to stagger their dismissal. For example, the teacher may say, “If you’re wearing blue, you may go wash your hands.” Over time, the children become accustomed to not all jumping up at once and have practiced waiting, thus gaining self-control.
  • Dramatic Play and Modeling Language: After reading Should I Share My Ice Cream?”by Mo Willems, the Seashells practiced asking one another if they would share their pretend ice cream, and then carefully maneuvered the “ice cream” onto the other’s cone. During this game, the children had to wait for their turn to play, practice sharing vocabulary (ex. please, thank you, here you go), and use patience and control to carefully transfer the ice cream.

S.C. Early Learning Standards:

ESD-5: Children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups

ESD-5e: Follow social rules, transitions, and routines that have been explained to them, with reminders and practice.

ESD-5i: Wait for a short time to get what they want (a turn with a toy, snack), with guidance and support.

References and Further Reading:

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011). Building the Brain’s “Air Traffic Control” System: How Early Experiences Shape the Development of Executive Function: Working Paper No. 11.

Retrieved from

www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-ways-to-help-young-kids-develop-self-control-donna-wilson-marcus-conyers

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/help-your-preschooler-gain-self-control

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/activities-guide-enhancing-and-practicing-executive-function-skills-with-children-from-infancy-to-adolescence/

Emily Watts

Graduate Assistant in the Seashell Class (age 2-3)

Developing a sense of self and a sense of self with others

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The South Carolina Early Learning Standards are incorporated into the Sunflower class curriculum.  This week’s focus is: Emotional and Social Development (ESD).

The Sunflowers are now settled into the classroom routine and we are seeing each child demonstrate a positive sense of self-identity and self-awareness (Goal ESD-1) through individual, small, and large-group activities.  Children of this age place great importance in their name, especially the first letter. As a way to emphasize this display of self-identity, we incorporate many activities involving the spelling of their names, such as making letter cookies!

The students are able to identify the many things that make them unique, such as eye color, skin color, and food preferences.  In addition to self-identification, the children are able to express positive feelings about themselves and confidence in what they do (Goal ESD-2).  One morning at circle time, we passed around a mirror and the students were able to share their favorite thing about themselves! Our day is filled with little moments of problem-solving and confidence boosting.  We encourage our Sunflowers to try things on their own before a teacher comes to help- everyone is always happily surprised to see what they are capable of!

As their self-awareness grows, their sense of self with others develops, too.  The Sunflowers are nurturing friendships, learning to interact positively with other children, and showing the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups (Goals ESD 4 & 5).  Some ways that we incorporate this in our classroom is through cooperative games and activities, which encourage sharing and collaborating.

two girls playing a game two girls painting handprints

Time on the playground presents lots of opportunities to work with others; the children push each other on the swings, maneuver bikes to accommodate their friends, and together, create imaginary worlds far beyond the playground equipment.