Team Building Games!

The children are learning life skills via playing games!  Balloon-o is a team building game that challenges two children to work together to place all the free floating balloons on the floor into the baskets, using only a noodle or stick.  The children are asked not use their body(hands, feet,head) to place the balloon in the baskets.  The whole group is asked to work together with their partner to collect the balloons and beat the clock!

Build and Crash is a great team building game!  The children are asked to work together to build tall structures with the whole group.  Before they start building they are asked to pick one or two children to be the crashers.  The crashers are the people that knock down the structures.  They can choose the method in which they want to knock the structure down...rolling on their belly on a dolie head first, then crashing into the structure, throwing bean bags or rolling a ball.  Once the structure is knocked down the children are eager to work together to build again so the crashers can do their part!  Everyone takes turns being the crashers!

A Peek into the Kohavim Class

Take a peek into a morning in the Kohavim class.

First the children were invited to find a dance partner. As they sang, they followed the movements in the song, switching partners with each verse.  


Jump, jump, jump just so.
Nod your head, shake your head,
And tap your toes,
Round and round and round we'll go,
'Til you find another partner and you jump just so.

As you can see, this dance is challenging and involves self regulation as the children control their bodies to fit with the directions in the song. An added challenge is hunting for a new partner with each verse.
The next game was a circle game where the children had to cooperate to allow the children acting as the birds space to fly through the arms. It was also a challenge to decide on the spot which color bird to be. Zack and Molly chose to be grey and purple birds.

Then it was Ezra, Noah, and Sabrina's turn to be the birds. It can be hard to wait for your turn, and the children were all so excited to be the birds.
 

As the children chose activities around the room, a small group formed on the rug for yoga and another small group gathered on the makeshift communication center (the tables had been moved aside for the Thanksgiving feast).

Hannah and Noah took off their shoes and prepared for yoga. Hannah decided to teach the class and asked Jesse and Noah to stand across from her.

The stretching lesson then evolved into a joyful jumping lesson!
A drawing and writing project turns into a sharing of activities the children did with their families. Watch as they teach Maria about a movie.

And chat about their drawings and lives.

They worked with such focus and concentration.

Self Regulation: Cause & Effect

It is easy to assume children understand the connection between their behavior and the result. In fact, most young children are just beginning to connect their actions with the consequences. Once they make this connection, they can begin to control their impulses, predict the results of their choices, and use that information to more deliberate decisions about what actions to take.

At school we reflect on children’s actions, calling their attention to cause and effect. You can use this simple sentence template at home: “You (action) and (result.)"
 

“You turned the crank and the clown popped up.”

“You mixed red and yellow and look what you got.”

“You wiped up that spill and now the table is all clean again.”

Adapted from Beyond Behavior Management: The Six Life Skills Children Need to Thrive in Today’s World by Jenna Bilmes.

Self Regulation: My Behavior Affects Others

In order to help children develop self-regulation skills, they must first understand that their behavior has an impact on the feelings of others. It is important not to encourage children to think they can control the feelings of others. At school we use the language below to help children understand that while feelings are reactions to events, no one can make someone else feel something.
 

Instead of using the word MAKE…	Try “When you ____, I feel _____.”
“Tell Raymond how he made you feel.”	“Tell Raymond that you don’t like it when he calls you names.”
“Don’t make me call your mother.”	“When I call and you don’t come in, I feel very frustrated.”
“Look at his face. How did you make him feel?”	“When you told Benjamin he couldn’t play, he felt bad.”

Adapted from Beyond Behavior Management: The Six Life Skills Children Need to Thrive in Today’s World by Jenna Bilmes.

Self-Regulation: Feelings are Responses

Most young children don’t know where their feelings come from. The first step in managing emotions is to understand where they are coming from. At school we help children understand that their feelings are responses to events outside themselves. Just as events and people affect each of us, we have an impact on the feelings of others. By weaving this language into every day conversation, we help children begin to make these important connections:

When…	Template…	Example…
Outside events have an impact on their feelings	You feel (emotion) because (event)	“You feel excited because Marge is coming for supper.” Or “You feel tired because you worked so hard on the climber.”
Other people’s actions have an impact on their feelings	When (person) (action), you felt (emotion).	“When Margaret said you couldn’t go to her birthday, you felt sad.” Or “David shared his blocks and you felt good.”
Their actions have an impact on other people’s feelings	When you (action), (other person) felt (feeling)	“When you pushed Denise, she felt angry.” Or “Jose liked it when you asked him to sit by you at circle.”

Adapted from Beyond Behavior Management: The Six Life Skills Children Need to Thrive in Today’s World by Jenna Bilmes.

What Does Self Regulation Look Like?

As we consider a child's developing self regulation skills, we are looking for the four building blocks:

1- Taking ownership for the consequences of our own actions.  Developing a sense of cause and effect and of how our behavior affects us, others, and our environment.

2- Understanding limits and expectations.  Learning some guiding principles of behavior and knowing there are some things that each of us is expected to do, whether we want to or not.

3- Learning to manage one's own powerful emotions.  Learning that although all feelings are ok, we must think before acting.

4- Figuring out time, space, and transitions and being able to move in a predictable way through the day.  Learning how to wait, how to share space, and how to deal with changes.

Adapted from Beyond Behavior Management by Jenna Bilmes

Self Regulation: An Introduction

Over the past two months, teachers have engaged in an intensive study of self regulation, understanding the latest research, thinking about to help children develop in this area, and incorporating specific teaching of the skills into our daily curriculum.  We began by reading the text Beyond Behavior Management by Jenna Bilmes.  We invite you to join us in this study.  Look for a series of blog posts (marked by the brown life skills logo) on the topic, and come ask us about it.

"One of the most troubling challenges for [parents and] early childhood teachers is the child who lacks emotional self management skills.  These children might hit before they think, can't wait for a turn, or cry and have tantrums easily.  Teachers might observe that these kids seems to be controlled by their emotions, much as newborns are.  When newborns are hungry, they cry.  When they are colicky, they kick their legs and scream.  When they sense a nipple, they root and latch on.  No thought goes into this behavior.  Newborns feels and then do.  Children who lack emotional self management skills appear to behave in a similar way."  Beyond Behavior Management by Jenna Bilmes, page 7.

So what can we do, both at home and at school, to help our children develop self regulation?  Later this week, we'll introduce the building blocks of self regulation, and then we'll focus on specific strategies you can use at home. 

What makes kids successful in elementary school?

"[G]ood executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, "Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain." (NPR, February 21, 2008)

Did you know imaginative play is a critical part of how children learn self regulation skills? And that learning self regulation skills is critical to their school success going forward?

Listen and read the NPR article on the topic: Old Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills