We are enjoying playing and having music with Ms. Alexia on our playground this fall! We will be submitting our application for the Nature Explore Classroom Certification soon. The certification program is a national initiative that recognizes schools that have made a commitment to providing outdoor classrooms and comprehensive programming to help children use the natural world as an integral part of learning (Nature Explore, 2021).

During our Professional Development Days in October, the staff were trained in Supporting Students by Supporting Behavior by EPSY faculty. Part of this training was adopting center-wide expectations. The adoption of program-wide expectations provides a shared focus and shared language for describing behavior expectations to children, staff, and families. Program-wide expectations are posted in the program and classrooms and are provided to families. Staff acknowledge engagement in the expectations by providing developmentally appropriate feedback and reinforcement to children (National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations NCPMI, 2021). Center-wide expectations are few, stated in the affirmative with common, age-appropriate few words. Our center-wide expectations are:

Teachers have already introduced the expectations to the children so your child should know them by now (we hope ). After learning the expectations, the classrooms developed rules based off our expectations. Example: during work time we can be kind by gently touching our friends to get their attention. The teaching staff teaches the children the expectations by demonstrating, checking their understanding, practicing, and providing feedback. Feedback looks like, “Erica, you were such a good friend by giving Debbie a hug and using nice hands!” Visuals of expectations and rules are posted in the classroom and other spaces to help children remember. For instance, if a classroom is getting ready to go outside and the children are in line, the teacher can show the outdoor rules on the clipboard and say, “remember we use our words by asking for a turn on the bike.”

Lastly, since our children are young, we provide lots of reminders of the expectations like before and after transitions and after holiday breaks. This is done by telling the children what they should do right before they should do it. I personally used this with my children before eating out at a restaurant or going into a store. I would say things before leaving the car like “remember to hold my hand in the parking lot” or “remember in a restaurant we sit on our bottoms” or “today we are looking at the toys with our eyes.”

Be sure to check out the family article this month from NCPMI Teaching Emotions: Activity ideas to share with families.

December Special Dates:

Hanukkah: Nov 28th-Dec 6th

Bodhi Day: Dec 8th

Yule: Dec 21st-Jan1st

Christmas: December 25th

Kwanzaa: Dec 26th-Jan 1st

New Years Eve: Dec 31st- Jan 1st