Master List of Social Emotional Skills to Teach Preschoolers

We, as preschool teachers, are the experts of social and emotional behaviors. Just think about how many times you may have intervened in a squabble, comforted a crying child, calmed an angry one or helped a child solve a problem.

Probably quite a bit, huh?

But, in all honesty, sometimes doing these things over and over again makes you feel insane. Why can’t these children just play nice?! You are putting out fires left and right. Sometimes being a firefighter is all you do in a day… there has GOT to be a better way!

Here is what I do when I feel that insanity coming on…I flip my script…

I remind myself that I work with children and children aren’t born knowing.

Are children born knowing how to zip their coats? No. Just like they aren’t born knowing how to handle emotions, conflict or social situations.

So, what do we do- we teach them to zip their coats… and we teach them to handle emotions, conflict and social situations.

Funny thing is though that social emotional skills aren’t usually deemed important, because…well they aren’t academic skills. Plus, they aren’t as easy to put onto paper. There is no test that can accurately measure how good we are at social emotional skills, there is no score on a grade-card.

Therefore, social emotional learning gets pushed off.

But, might I argue that learning how to handle one’s emotions and interacting with others in a positive way is a HUGE part of being a successful human being? Just think about later in your preschooler’s lives… they will need to handle their emotions without hurting others or themselves. They will also need to be able to interact with others at their job, in their relationships and with authority figures. Knowing how to count to a million or tie shoes isn’t going to keep them out of trouble when, as an adult, they use their hands instead of their words… just sayin.

So, my preschool teacher friends - it starts with us!

We can help teach our littlest learners about social emotional skills. We can be that catalyst.

But, what types of Social Emotional Learning skills might we need to teach?

Check out my Master List:

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Teaching Preschoolers to Write their Names

Teaching preschoolers to write their name is an essential task for life in kindergarten.  But, did you know that teaching children to write their name is so much more than just writing? Important prerequisite skills have to come first before successful name writing can begin. So, let’s dive in- how to teach preschoolers to write their name…

Fine Motor Skills

Before children can begin to tackle writing their name, we need to provide ample opportunities for children to use the hand, finger and eye muscles needed to complete this task.

By doing activities with pinchers, pipettes, finger puppets and small parts we are encouraging children to build up those fine motor muscles… another big benefit of play driven learning.

But, there are also some other considerations we should take in when observing a child’s fine motor skills

• Object Manipulation-Can the child manipulate the writing utensil once in their hand?

• Does the child have any visual concerns that might hinder the practice of fine motor skills?

• Are there any sensory concerns when it comes to using fine motor tools?

• Hand Division- Does the child have the ability to separate some finger sfor different tasks?

• Crossing the mid-line- Can the child reach his/her right hand to left foot?

• Hand Dominance- Child may not choose a dominant hand to write with until age 6.

Name Recognition

The ability to see one’s name and know that it is theirs.

Before any name writing takes place, be sure that each child can find their name out of a sea of names. Can he/she find his/her labeled cubby, coat hook or name on the wall?

If the child is unable to identify his/her full first name, start with recognition of the first letter.

Orally Spelling

Helping children to spell their name aloud, while touching the letters in his/her name is helpful. When you do get to name writing, it is good to have an oral reminder of what letters come next. By having children practice looking at and saying the letters in their name you are helping them learn what that letter is called and what it looks like.

Constructing Names

This is where students put the letters in their name in the correct order.

To start, help the child match up the letter in his/her name first. Have a paper with their name written on it and individual letters in their name. Have them match the individual letters to the letter on their name paper. Be sure to say the letters aloud as the child matches them.

Then, help see if the child can place the individual letters in order without having to match them up, like a name puzzle.

>>When all the above areas are observed, it may be time to start teaching children how to form the letters.

Some considerations about handwriting and preschoolers…

• Since children’s hands are smaller, use smaller writing utensils like broken crayons or golf pencils.

• Provide a whole sheet of paper for students to begin writing on. No lines to start.

• Help each child find a functional grasp that works for them

• Teach children how to start letters at the top, not the bottom.

• Teach children about starting at the left and moving to the right when writing.

• Teach how to hold the paper with the non-dominant hand.

Name Tracing

Begin with having children just trace the first letter in their name. This gives them a feel for how the letter is formed. Be sure to be next to the child, walking through the steps of forming that letter. For example, if we were working on the letter ‘M’ I would say “The first letter in your name is M, let’s trace it. Start at the top, big line down, pick up your pencil, slide down, slide up and another big line down.”

Once the first letter is done, continue with the rest of the name!

A note on tracing: I prefer to write student’s names with a highlighter first and have them trace over it. I am not a fan of dotted lines and little arrows. It just looks confusing and could inadvertently teach children to from letters out of dashes and not strokes.

Name Writing

When starting out on the name writing journey, make sure to just start with the first letter of the child’s name. Use a full piece of paper, as young children may not have the control to stay within lines just yet. Use the dialogue you used when practicing tracing and encourage the child to make the letter on his/her own. Slowly make the paper the child is using smaller and smaller or create a box for children to try and write their first letter in.

Then, move onto forming the rest of the name. It is a big debate in early education on whether or not to teach children to write their names in all capitals first or to use lowercase letters after the first capital letter. I am in the camp of teaching students to write the name with a big letter first and little letters after. When teaching first grade I saw too many children that just could not break the habit of writing in all capitals. Everyone has an opinion- so you do you!

Practice, practice, practice

When children are first learning to write their name it takes lots of practice! But, pencil and paper aren’t the other ways to practice. Try these ideas out…

• Large bulletin board paper on the wall with crayons for writing BIG names!

• Salt tray and dry paintbrush

• Sidewalk, water and a paintbrush

• Chalk and a chalkboard

• Dry erase board and markers

• Wet cotton swab on a chalkboard

• Shaving cream in a tray

• Small paintbrush and paint

While children need to practice name writing, please observe them to know when they are done. No good work happens when a child is frustrated, tired or just plain done with an activity!

Wow, that was a lot of information! Need a checklist to take into the classroom with you? Me too.

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Check out the Name Writing Notebook to help with teaching name writing!

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Classroom Procedures Checklist

Procedure: a series of actions conducted in a certain order or manner.

As preschool teachers, we do procedures all day long.

It may not feel like we’re doing some super technical medical procedure, but we often find ourselves carrying out a series of actions in a certain order day after day.

Take hand washing for example, there is certain way to do it. If we dried our hands before adding soap, the soap would be less effective. Just like those kiddos that wash their hands before using the bathroom <huh?!

Procedures are a way of life when teaching preschool. We stick to a schedule and with that schedule comes things we do everyday, the same way.

In the past, I have always taught procedures. I modeled how, we practiced together, I reminded a lot. But, last year I decided to finally take the time to create visuals to go along with my procedures.

Why, oh why did I not do this sooner?!? Ya know when you say the same directions over and over again and you feel like you might just lose your mind? Or, maybe you even put those directions into a little tune and sing them, which totally helps- but then one day you up and forget the tune and make a new one up that is totally less effective <yep- do this a lot.

Visual procedures solve this. By giving students a place to look for the answer, we are encouraging independence (bonus: you aren’t having to say the directions over and over again). By using visuals students can see it- not just hear it and they take themselves through the steps.

Now, don’t get me wrong…. I didn’t just put these visuals around the room and POOF children were doing everything by themselves. They aren’t filled with any sort of magic… sadly. I still had to teach the procedures, using the visuals. It wasn’t any less work up front. But, I will tell you- it was less work on the back end.

To start, I hung the visual where it made the most sense. Bathroom procedure in the bathroom, entering the classroom procedure right outside our door (kid-eye level) and carpet time procedures by the… you guessed it.. carpet.

Then, as the procedure arose during our day, I took time to walk through the steps on the procedure cards. I still modeled them. I still said them aloud. But, now I also had a visual component for my non-readers.

I ran through the procedures by modeling, saying them aloud and pointing out the pictures for several weeks. Like I said, it is still work on the front end.

But, a couple weeks in and they had it down. Just like the did the years before. But, the difference now was that with the visuals, if a procedure was forgotten (say over a long break) it could be easily picked back up by pointing out the visual procedure.

You know, something else interesting happened when I put up these procedure cards…. I found some of my students were using them as little checklists. “Ok, I did that… now I need to…”. Um, how awesome is that? Seriously- as a list maker myself I understand the value of checking something off a list. These procedure cards had given that to some of my more type A personality kiddos! And…. they were doing it independently (ie: without needing me and my guidance through every step- whew!).

So, needless to say I am now a big fan of visual procedure cards. I had always had a visual schedule and knew the importance and benefits of that- so why it took me so long to implement visual procedure cards- who knows… But, I’m glad I did!

Let’s dig into the nitty gritty-

Why?

I’m pretty sure I dove head first into the WHY of visual procedure cards above. But, to give a cave man definition as to why: Less work- more independent children. Need I say more?

What activities need a visual procedure?

Well, if it has more than 1-2 simple steps and happens often- then, it might need a visual procedure. Do you find yourself saying the same thing again and again everyday during the same time of day? That time of day probably needs a visual procedure.

What procedures do you teach?

Um… a lot of them. #truth. But, in all honesty- I like to make my life easier later in the year- so I visual procedure up a ton of things!

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Need visual procedure cards already done? Here to help.

Editable Meet the Teacher Forms

Does your school host a Meet the Teacher or Back to School Night? Getting a chance to meet our little learners before they start on the first day of school is exciting! The room is all fresh and organized, you are feeling ready to jump back in- it’s back to school excitement! But, let’s not sugarcoat all the things here- Meet the Teacher type events can also be stressful for us teachers.

Meet the teacher night is the first impression. Parents and children are meeting you and figuring out how this whole preschool world that we live in works. Parents are nervous- understandably- this may be the first time their child has been in someone else’s care! We, as the teachers, have to make this a time for building relationships and making parents comfortable. It’s our show and we’ve gotta be ready for it!

So, what can we as do, as teachers, to make our Meet the Teacher night super successful? Here are some quick tips:

• Always greet each student, at their level and ask their name, introduce yourself and welcome them into the classroom. Then, introduce yourself to the parents.

• Have some center areas open for students to play in. This helps them see that preschool is enjoyable and will ease the nervousness of the first day.

• While children are playing, make a point to connect to families. Ask questions, like ‘Is this {child’s name} first time at preschool?’ or ‘How is {child’s name} feeling about coming to preschool?’. Having an open dialogue about where the child (and parents) are at can be a big rapport builder.

• Be organized. Have a sign-in sheet so you know for sure which families came. I even like to have my families give me the email addresses they want used for communication.

• Provide information that families can take with them. Have you ever been to the doctor and wish you would have wrote down all the things you needed to remember. It’s kinda the same thing. Don’t make parents try and remember what you expect for your classroom. Send them home with the info you want them to have.

  • Here is what I give to parents on our Meet the Teacher Night:

    • Meet Your Teacher: a little blurb about me

    • Class Info: a bulleted list of important things I need them to know.

    • Getting to Know Your Child Questionarre: Super helpful info on here!

    • Our Schedule and Our Yearly Calendar

I usually talk to parents about the most important info from these documents (just in case they don’t read it later). Then, I always point out my contact information and encourage families to contact me if they have any questions or concerns throughout the year.

Once Meet the Teacher night is over- you’ve made your first impression! The very first step of rapport building is done- just don’t forget to keep it up :)

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***Please open in Adobe Reader - these forms will NOT be editable if you don’t! Adobe Reader is free program that is most likely already installed on your computer, but if it’s not you can download it from the internet.

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How to Set Up a Preschool Classroom

Setting up your preschool classroom doesn’t sound that daunting… at first.

But, year after year I find myself determined to find the perfect (as if it exists) flow. After changing my mind about a billion times, I usually land on a setup that seems to work for me, but (more importantly) is conducive to little learners that learn through play.

Maybe I’m just weird… but, the thought of drawing out a diagram with all my centers and such is super exciting. Sometimes I want to just jump right in!

But, I’ve found that creating a successful layout isn’t just me drawing squares and labeling them on my ‘map’. Making the environment conducive to my little preschoolers takes some planning.

Here are the steps I now take to map out the physical space in my classroom:

1. Inventory the furniture: Yep, I really do. What pieces of furniture do I have to use for centers? Tables? Shelves? Pull Out Drawers? Tubs?

2. Decide on the areas needed: Which centers will I have this year? I need a carpet area for whole group and circle time. I also need a large table for snacks and small group. I need a quiet/calm area. Oh, and I need an area for my things.

3. Considerations: I take the list of areas I need and decide if any considerations need to be taken when planning where to put them. More about this below.

4. Draw it out: Then, I draw it out. A map of my classroom. I analyze it (like 5,791 times) and when I think it is just right- I bring it to life in my real classroom.

Considerations to take when setting up your preschool classroom:

• The NOISE Factor: How noisy is each center/area? If it’s the block center, drama center or a music center it is going to be loud! How about areas that encourage calm and quiet? Like the library, calming corner or a listening center. Those noisy and calm areas really shouldn’t be in close proximity.

• The POPULARITY Factor: Which areas of the room or centers will most likely be the most popular? I can tell you from past experiences that the Drama Center, Art Center and Block Center are by far the most favorite places. Therefore, I try to make those centers larger in size.

• The SUPERVISION Factor: When you are sitting down with a small group at the table, can you visually see children playing in all the centers? Or, is there a blindspot? For safety and supervision reasons you want to be able to see everything. No back to the kids!

• The BOUNDARY Factor: Children know no boundaries…anyone that has had a little hand on their bum knows this. So, they certainly will not know where the specific centers begin and end. Make this easier by either using tape or by sectioning off using furniture.

• The PROXIMITY Factor: This really relates to centers. Are there any centers that need a close proximity to you during free play? If you are doing a small group lesson at the table, which centers might need your assistance the most? For me, it’s the blocks and drama.

• The SPACE Factor: How much space do you really have in your classroom? If your answer is ‘not much’, then maybe a mobile center might work. My playdough center is actually a rolling cart that students can bring over to our main table (I model this). I don’t need an extra playdough table - which is saving space. Another idea is to combine centers. Math and Science easily lend themselves to a combo center. Last year, I combined my alphabet center with the library… all the activities for the alphabet center were calm and quiet so it worked.

• The RACE TRACK Factor: I saved the best for last! You know how sometimes when you thought you had the perfect set up, but you lacked seeing the circular path you created? Well, children will see this circular pathway and race around it as fast as they can. Running + Kids + Confined Spaces = no bueno. Don’t be like me- check the race track factor.

I know, I know- that is a long list of considerations… but trust me here- every last one of them is important.

Does this process seem daunting? Did I just suck the fun out of your classroom mapping?

I’m sorry.

Let me make it up to you….. introducing the How to Set Up a Preschool Classroom Workbook!

Work through this puppy and you’ll have the perfect (well, maybe just ‘better perfected’) classroom flow.

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