{"id":163,"date":"2008-10-30T18:16:03","date_gmt":"2008-10-31T01:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=163"},"modified":"2009-11-28T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T23:59:55","slug":"sociability-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/?p=163","title":{"rendered":"Sociability at School"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Is your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preschool classroom set up to teach social skills? The best way to assess the emotional climate of a classroom is to spend an hour or more as a visitor. Pay special attention to how teachers interact with children to promote the development of emotional and social skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Environment<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Here are just a few examples of what you might see in different interest areas:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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House corner: Props that represent different cultural groups; dress-up clothes that inspire children to reenact previous experiences.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Table toy area: Duplicates of favorites to minimize the demands for sharing; a sand-timer or waiting list so children know when their turn comes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cooking: A class cookbook of recipes the children have tried, with photographs of the cooks and illustrations by the children.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Library area: Books featuring people of different cultures, different kinds of families, people with disabilities, and stories on topics such as friendships, helping others, handling conflicts, and dealing with fears.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Art area: Paints and crayons in a variety of skin tones.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Teachers<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The most important indicator of a positive social climate is how teachers interact with children. When you visit, look and listen from the perspective of your child. It’s a good sign if you see teachers doing the following:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Bending down to talk with a child at her eye level.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Helping children to appreciate each other’s strengths and interests: “I bet Tyrone can help you with that puzzle. You know how he likes puzzles.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Accepting mistakes as part of the learning process.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Describing the behavior they want to see in positive terms: “Keep the water inside the water table. The floor gets slippery if it’s wet.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Encouraging children to help one another.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Demonstrating good manners.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Interpreting feelings so children learn to recognize how others feel: “Look at Andre’s face. Can you see how upset he is? Let’s see what we can do to help.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Welcoming families to visit at any time and encouraging them to participate and contribute to the program.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What You Should Not See<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Teachers focusing on children’s misbehavior without dealing with the problems that cause it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Children being sent to a time-out chair to sit and think about what they did wrong.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Teachers talking down to children or shouting at them from across the room.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Standards for behavior that are not age-appropriate, such as having children sit quietly or wait in line for long periods.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Questions to Ask<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What are your most important goals for children who attend this preschool?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How do you help children learn to get along well with others?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How do you help a child who is very shy or timid?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How do you handle a child who is very aggressive?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What rules do you have for your classroom and how do children learn about them?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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For what reasons would a child be disciplined and how?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How do you help children learn to solve conflicts?<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00c2\u00a0 Is your child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s preschool classroom set up to teach social skills? The best way to assess the emotional climate of a classroom is to spend an hour or more as a visitor. Pay special attention to how teachers interact with children to promote the development of emotional and social skills. \u00c2\u00a0 The Environment \u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,10,15],"tags":[184,390,296],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/mom\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}