Problem Solving and Conflict Resolution Strategies

Problem solving and conflict resolution are some of the most important skills to learn in early childhood years. Parents of alumni often return later to tell us it is these skills that aided their child in the elementary school years. We strive to teach children that they can be problem solvers and resolve conflicts. Problems and conflicts are a normal part of life, from young children though adults. We aren't trying to teach children to avoid these conflicts. Instead we seek to teach them strategies to address them.

When a child graduates from preschool, we want them to be confident and competent problem solvers, with at least 5 strategies at the ready. We want them to know which to use for any given situation, and we want them to use them skillfully. This week, we'll introduce the poster below to the children and use a series of activities to support learning the strategies. We'll have games, dramatic play, and all sorts of activities designed to help your child internalize each of the strategies.

We invite you to join us by using the same language and strategies at home. Check you child's mail box for a copy of the poster, so you can post it at home and ask your children to teach you what they've learned. Be sure to let us know how you are using it.

Ellen and her BIG ZIZ!

Ellen dropped in with her friend Ziz today, to read us a Yom Kippur Story. The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules

You might be asking yourself who is Ziz? Ziz is the main character in the story, The Hardest Word. He is a big, big, bird. Ellen made Ziz out of cardboard and other interesting materials. I read the same story to the children on Monday without Ellen's amazing prop, the Ziz himself. It was clearly a very different experience today for both the teachers and children!

In short, the story is about a very hard word for all of us to say at times..."I'M SORRY." In our second circle, we talked to the children about how everyone makes mistakes (teachers, friends, moms, dads, grandparents, sisters, brothers, and you, too). But in these moments it is important to take responsibility for one's actions and make things right. It doesn't matter if you say "I'm sorry" or do or say something else that you are comfortable with, as long as you make it right with the person you wronged.

We asked the children if they could remember a time when they made a poor choice and then took responsibly for their actions. Max said, "Sometimes I wake up grumpy, and I am not so nice in the morning to my sister Alex. Today before school I licked her spoon and spit. I said I was sorry to Alex to make it better." Eli had some thoughts on the subject, "Sometimes Noah (his brother) plays with my toys without asking, and I don't like it! He should say he is sorry to me."

The Hardest Word is another great book for your home library! Ellen we can't thank you enough for stopping by with Ziz!

"Help Someone Today!"

Everyday Ali Fransblow says "Lauri will you please read my note." Today it said, "Help someone today." Ali's Mom always sends in a special note in her lunchbox, with an age appropriate message on it. We all look forward to Ali's message of the day!

I said, "Ali you did help someone today! You helped Alana take off her water shoes when she asked for help." She smiled and said, "Oh yeah I did." At the end of the day once again Ali offered to help Julia lead the group in a sing-a-long! Ali thanks for being such a great helper today! We really appreciate you!

Taking time to reflect...

I can't believe today was the last full day of school! Julia, the children and I took the opportunity to reflect and shared some of the highlights of Lunch Bunch with teachers and friends.

Mia- "The campfire was really fun for me!"
Aaron- "Singing that silly song with Alison was fun and funny."
Teddy F- "The science experiments were the best!"
Jay- "Playing with Mr. Clay!"
Ilana- "Making jewelry with beads."
Isaiah- "Everything and getting to play with my stuffed animal at peace out time!"
Eric- "I liked the cooking part."
Nathaniel- "Everything!"
Sam P.- "Everything!"
Sam R- " Building cool things and getting to bring a stuffed animal!"
Lauri- "Each and everyday having the opportunity to sit, talk and connect with the children at lunch and the Drama Stories were some of the many highlights for me!"
Julia- "The campfire was fantastic!"

Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?

"The author of Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? Carol McCloud first learned about bucket filling in a parenting workshop at an early childhood conference. The speaker an expert in infant brain research, said it is helpful to think of every baby as being born with an invisible bucket. The bucket represents a child's mental and emotional health. You can't see the bucket, but it's there. She went on to say that it is primarily the parents' or other caregivers' responsibility to fill a child's bucket. When you hold, caress, nurture, touch, sing, play, and provide loving attention, safety and care, you fill your child's bucket. Giving love fills buckets."

"However, in addition to being loved, children must also be taught how to love others. Children who learn how to express kindness and love lead happier lives. When you love and care about others and show that love with what you say and do, you feel good and you fill your own bucket too."

Today we read, Have You Filled Your Bucket Today? to teach the children how to be bucket fillers. After we read the book we discuss what they might say or do to fill someones bucket. They naturally grasped the concept of filling buckets. The children raised their hand to share how they have already filled buckets of family and friends!

• Isaiah -"I tell my Mom I love her every morning."
• Oliver- "I helped Aaron build today."
• Eric- "I always tell my Dad I love him."
• Aden- "I always tell my Mom I love her."
• Lauri -"Cooking for Rosie's Place is a great way to be a bucket filler!"

Tomorrow we will continue our discussion on how to fill buckets!

One- A Book for Everyone's Library!

One by Kathryn Otoshi

Blue is a quiet color who likes looking at the sky and floating on waves. Sometimes he wishes he was more like his friends Orange, Purple, Green, and Yellow but he's happy being Blue- except when Red comes around. Red is a hothead who picks on Blue. Although Blue's friends feel bad, they never try to stop Red until One comes along. When One stands up to Red, the other colors learn that everyone, even Red, matters.

Our Discussion About the Book:

• What does Blue think of himself? Sometimes he wishes he was another color but overall he likes being blue.
• How did the other colors respond to Red's hurtful words? They comforted Blue but didn't ask Red to stop.
• What happened to Red when no one asked him to stop? He became bigger and picked on all the other colors.
• How did One stand up to Red? He said "No!"(Or "Stop" which is one of our 5 problem solving strategies we use in the classroom and at home) when Red asked him to stop laughing.
• What did One show the others? To stand up and say "NO or Stop!" if someone picks on them.
• How did everyone help Blue when Red tried to roll over him? They stood up to Red and said, "No or Stop!"
• When was Red asked to be part of the group that "counts"? When he stopped being mean.
  

Next week we will continue to read and explore ONE! We will discuss with the children what "taking a stand" sounds and looks like. Brainstorm words that may be heard when people "take a stand."e.g."no" and "stop."  We will cut red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and orange circles and numbers from one to seven. The children will be asked to use the shapes to act out the story of One. Then we will discuss how they felt acting out the different colors and numbers.


It is an easy step from helping children understand how bias hurts, to helping them plan how to "stand up" against it. All of the children will experience bias in their lives-aimed at them and at others. To give them tools to deal with bias BEFORE they have experienced very much of it, is an invaluable gift they will use the rest of their lives.

Stand Up and COUNT!!!

It is imperative that we, as teachers and parents empower our children to believe they CAN make a difference in their world NOW and always as they mature.
On Wednesday we read this very powerful book about making a difference.

Blue is a quiet color.
Red is a hot head.
Red likes to pick on blue.
Red gets BIGGER and BIGGER, gaining strength, as all the colors move away afraid to take a stand.

Yellow, Green, Purple, and Orange don't like what they see, but what CAN they do?
Here are some of your children's responses:

" Please stop picking on blue because he doesn't like it."
"Please stop, don't worry we will help you, we will be nice."

It really only takes ONE to affect change. The message in the book is two fold: one is to take a stand. As human beings, but particularly, as children of Jewish descent, history demands it.

There are many messages in this book, which I hope to explore more: embracing who we are and really liking who we are, taking a stand against injustices, and also how to forgive, and how that power of forgiveness promotes inclusiveness.... How could RED be cool too?? Stay tuned.

We proceeded to create draw our colors to remind us of the book's message. Becca, Lucas, Jayden, Jonathan, and Naomi will be exploring these messages further, and creating their own books. Sooo stay tuned (: !

"The Littlest Tree"

The Littlest Tree

By Sylvia Rouss
Illustated bt Ari Binus

"The littlest tree is surrounded by thick, tall trees. They're always bragging about how great they are. They block out the sun and make the littlest tree feel bad about himself. One day people from the village come into the woods to choose the trees that will be used for the new synagogue. The mighty oak tree is to become the Bima, the strong pine tree is to become the walls, and the sweet smelling cedar tree is to become the Ark. But what's to become of the wood of the littlest tree? One of the villagers spots the littlest tree and has a wonderful idea. The wood of the littlest tree is very, very special. It's perfect for one of the most important items found in the synagogue..." Ask your children what the littlest tree was used for?

After we listened to the story we had a discussion about the meaning of "bragging" and why it is not socially accepted. We also talk about how the trees in the story showed their feelings without using any words. We explained that we can show feelings with our bodies, and when we do, we are using "body language."

IsraElla to the rescue

The Unicorns welcomed a new friend to our room. Her name is Israella and she is a kid-sized doll who came from Israel to America.

The first thing Israella noticed about her new home in Needham was how cold the winters are here. IsraElla didn't know anything about dressing for snowy weather, however her Unicorn friends were very helpful and eager to teach IsraElla how to get dressed for winter in New England. We all talked about what do you need to put on first and what's next, in order to stay nice in warm in Boston’s winter months.

Thank you so much Unicorns for your help and thank you IsraElla for coming to visit us!

IsraElla left to visit with our friends next door and she will be back to visit us when we go to "pretend Israel". I am sure she can help us learn about things to do in Israel, just as she learned new things while she visited with us.

Unicorns Go High-tech

This week the Unicorns used some high-tech ways to communicate with friends around the world. The Unicorns used the Internet program named Skype to have a video chat with Ellen, who is visiting in Israel. All the Unicorns were very excited to see and speak with Ellen in Jerusalem over the computer in our classroom.
Ellen told all the kids about her trip to Israel with her travel companion Flat Stanley. We also found out that she saw Zack and his family, while just walking around the streets of Jerusalem. The kids had so much fun seeing and speaking with Ellen. It is really a small world and with amazing technology like Skype connecting people, it is getting even smaller!
By the way, Skype is free and all you need to speak and see anyone in the world is an Internet connection. It is a great way to connect with friends far away, without any long distance charges! Just go to Skype.com and download the software and have the person you want to speak to do the same. After you set up a free account and choose a Skype user name, your friends can look you up and start a conversation. Have fun!

Persistence

One of the life skills we are cultivating at school is initiative. Children with iniative can persist, focus, and complete a task, even when frustrated. Our daily interactions with children help them develop positive attitudes about themselves and their potential. By choosing our words and actions carefully we help children persist at tasks even when things become challenging. Every day provides opportunities for us to recognize children for their persistence. Dylan was ready to wash his hands. For a three year old, that can be a challenging task, involving motor planning, sequenceing, fine motor skill, and concentration. Think of the number of steps: climb onto the stool, locate the soap, figure out how to turn on the water, ignore your reflection in the mirror, descide which water knob to try...and that is all before you've even gotten your hands wet! Research shows that children who are consistently recognized for persisting at a task are more likely to persist again in the future. By using descriptive phrases such as, "You've been working a long time" or in the case of Dylan at the sink, "You can do this" we help children develop persistence. Our talk becomes their self talk, which in turn becomes their reality.