It is essential to provide a variety of experiences to support children’s social-emotional skills and development. This lesson describes how you can create developmentally appropriate experiences that engage children in meaningful interactions to promote learning and growth.
Secondary tabs
- Detail examples of how you can embed opportunities for social-emotional learning and development in preschool classrooms.
- Discuss how you can support the social-emotional skills of all children in your classroom.
- Learn how you can promote friendships among all children in your classroom.
Learn

Know
The preschoolers in your care need daily opportunities to participate in activities that help them learn new skills and practice existing skills in fun, stimulating, and supportive environments. As you learned in Lesson One, children develop social-emotional skills in the context of their relationships with their primary caregivers and within their families and cultures. You also learned that social-emotional development in young children affects their growth later in life and therefore, it is closely linked to the development of other skills. You should embed opportunities for social-emotional learning and development through teaching language and communication skills. This is essential for promoting social-emotional competence in young children.
Embedding Opportunities for Social-Emotional Development in Preschool
The first step in embedding opportunities for social-emotional development and learning is getting to know the children in your classroom. Through observations, checklists, and other measures, you can gather information about children’s social interactions with peers or adults in your classroom. You can observe how and when they interact and how they express emotions throughout the day. Using this information, you can determine what is developmentally appropriate for the children in your classroom so you can provide appropriate models or needed supports. This information will help you plan what, when, and how to embed opportunities for social-emotional learning.
收集了关于儿童互动或自我表达的信息后,您应该使用它来决定您想要提供的经历或您想要使用的策略。在这样做时,考虑教室中儿童的社交情绪需求以及教室中的日常生活,经验和活动。例如,您可以计划何时以及如何使用发展适当的语言来促进儿童与同行的互动或有什么问题要求将孩子们参与关于思想或情绪的对话。在本课程的学习部分中,您将在日常学前惯例中找到规划和嵌入社会情绪发展的机会。万博体育全站app通过仔细规划,您可以安排课堂体验和程序,以确保您为您的一天提供社交情感学习和增长的机会。狗万app怎么下载
一旦你评估和计划opport嵌入unities for social-emotional learning, the next step is implementing your plan. In doing so, build on experiences in which the children in your classroom are already engaged. For example, during snack time, you can ask children to turn to the person seated next to them and ask how they feel. You may also provide them with pictures or labeled cards and have children talk about their emotions with peers at their table. During circle time, you can go around the group asking children how they feel and then make charts or graphs depicting the classroom emotions for that day. You may also place pictures of emotions around the circle time area and ask children to “find” an emotion.
With careful planning, you can adapt and embed communication strategies into multiple experiences and routines in your preschool classroom. You will need to continuously assess children’s progress and adapt your strategies to continue to nurture their development as the children in your classroom learn new skills.
Social-Emotional Learning throughout the Day!
Addressing the Social-Emotional Needs of All Children in Preschool
Children in your classroom with developmental delays or those who experience challenging life events or circumstances may also experience challenges with social-emotional skills. These challenges may influence the child’s ability to benefit from high-quality early education and to engage in positive social interactions with peers and adults. Even though challenging behaviors are typical for young children, some children show persistent challenging behaviors that may affect their overall school experience. It is important to provide children with the support they need so they can benefit as much as possible from their school experiences. For these children, you may need to adapt your curriculum, environment, and classroom experiences to enable them to be successful. Think about busy center or learning area work, large-group activities, transitions, lunch and snack time, potty time, free play time indoors and outdoors, or other classroom and program events. How do you ensure you address the needs of all children in your classroom during these times?
You will also have to work with children’s families to ensure consistency between school and home. Families may benefit from your classroom strategies that support children’s positive behaviors.
Some children in your care may have conditions that affect their social-emotional development, including developmental delays, autism, neurological and perceptual disorders, or language and communication delays. Children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) have a specific plan to help them meet their education goals. Very often, these children will need changes or adaptations to curriculum, classroom environments, and daily preschool routines.
Peer-mediated干预策略参与which teachers purposefully pair children who have advanced social-emotional skills with children who are working to develop these skills. These strategies ensure that children have multiple opportunities to practice social skills during daily routines and activities. For example, you can pair children to support practice and learning of skills, such as sharing toys with a friend, reading a book with a friend, taking turns during games or activities, or responding to a friend’s request to play. Remember when considering using these strategies, you should choose peers who are socially competent, have good language and play skills, are compliant with adult requests, are well-liked by other children, and like to take on the “teacher” role with peers (Strain & Odom, 1986). You can teach these children to lead their peers who are practicing and learning social skills by: responding to a peer’s request to play, helping a peer play with a game or activity, suggesting an idea for pretend play, prompting a peer to share a toy, prompting a peer to select a game or activity, or prompting a peer to take turns with an activity or toy.
有些患有自闭症或发育障碍的儿童将能够从事具有言语提示和方向的游戏和其他社交互动,但其他人将需要视觉支持,例如视觉计划,使活动,例程或说明可以理解和有意义地制作活动,惯例或指示。
For children who need support understanding social situations, events, or circumstances, you may consider using social stories or scripts. These are short stories that describe social activities or behaviors to support children in learning and using appropriate social skills. They can be written by family members or teachers and are specific to an individual child’s particular needs. Social stories and scripts may be used to support children with situations like sharing, waiting in line, playing at the park, participating during center time, using the bathroom, and getting on the bus. In the Learn section of this lesson, you will find information about writing such stories.
您护理中的其他儿童可能面临贫困,护理人员滥用,护理人员分离,疾病,暴露于暴力,虐待,忽视或照顾者部署的挑战性生活环境。这些儿童可能需要独特的社会和情感支持,这些支持将解决自己的特殊需求,并帮助他们建立在处理这些压力事件方面的恢复力。
When working with children who face challenges and their families, it is important to acknowledge that sometimes these challenges have multiple causes and these children may require help beyond what you can provide at school. It is important to recognize that some challenges may require a wide range of services and you may be one of several professionals supporting a child and their family.
关键是你要知道我的孩子们n your classroom to be able to support their successful participation in your program experiences. Make sure all children and families feel welcome and involved. The Kids Included Together (KIT) program can be a valuable resource for ideas. You can also consider Building Blocks and Kara’s Kit. These resources from the Council for Exceptional Children Division for Early Childhood provide practical, real world ways to help children succeed in their environments.
看
While it’s important to provide many opportunities for children to develop their social-emotional skills, also consider that not all children learn social-emotional skills in the same way. See the following video as you think about how you might provide systematic opportunities for all children to grow and develop these important skills. The last video in this lesson discusses ways to promote friendships among all children.
Addressing the Social-Emotional Needs of All Children
Promoting Friendships among All Preschoolers
Friendship skills begin developing in young children and change over time. Friendships are important for learning social, cognitive and communication skills, and for emotional regulation. During the preschool years, children learn important social skills through their interactions with friends that will affect their social-emotional competence. They observe their peers, play near their peers, talk with their peers, take turns and share with their peers, and ultimately cooperate with peers in games and pretend play. Children who have at least one friend are more socially competent. When children play with friends, they display more positive attitudes, engage in more sophisticated play, and use more effective problem-solving strategies (Guralnick, Neville, Hammond & Connor, 2007). Consider the following strategies to promote friendship skills among children in your classroom:
- Include plenty of toys and materials that promote social interactions in interest areas (e.g., dress-up clothes, blocks, balls, puppets, cars and trucks).
- Arrange your classroom so there is enough space for two or more children to play side-by-side with similar toys.
- Read books about friends, cooperation, helping each other, emotions, and empathy.
- 练习共享和轮流,成人支持,在零食时间,圈时间和其他日常惯例。
- Model and ask children to help or compliment each other throughout the day.
- Make positive comments and praise children who are playing together, sharing toys, or taking turns.
- Include the shared interests of children in your classroom interest areas and help children take turns and play together.
- Model talking about your own emotions and support children who are talking about their own emotions.
- Make suggestions to small groups of children about play themes or what they can do during play.
- Include playground equipment and toys that involves children working together (e.g., tricycles for two children, large dump trucks or cars, wagons, sand toys).
- Place at least two of most toys in each center or activity to encourage children to play near each other with similar toys.
研究表明,有特殊需要的孩子s are less likely to develop friendships than their peers who are developing normally. Many young children with special needs have difficulty with peer interactions (Brown, Odom, McConnell, & Rathel, 2008). If these children are not supported in social and friendship skills when they are young, they are at risk for social isolation, rejection, further social-emotional delays, and academic failure. As early childhood classrooms become increasingly inclusive, it is critical to create supportive environments that promote acceptance and tolerance for all children and their families. In the Apply section of this lesson, you will find a list of children’s books that promote acceptance and positive attitudes about children with special needs. Consider including some of these books in your classroom and school library. You should also consider the following strategies and adaptations to address the needs of children with special learning needs in your classroom and program:
- If a child is having a difficult time completing a task or activity, ask another child who has finished the task to help.
- Provide multiple opportunities for a child to practice using social skills and offer the child supports as needed.
- Often, children with social-emotional difficulties have difficulties with play skills as well. If a child is having more difficulty than his or her peers playing with toys or materials, take time to teach the child how to play with the toys or materials.
- Use visual props, large pictures, or other materials for children who are working on social skill development.
- Set up “buddy” activities, and prearrange so that two children are paired up and go to an activity or center together. Pair a more socially competent peer with a peer who is working on social skills or pair two children who are developing a friendship.
- Use “buddies” for children who may have a hard time with transitions or self-care routines (e.g., hand washing, getting dressed).
- Embed a child’s interests or preferences into social games or activities and support the child in taking turns, sharing, and talking to other children. When appropriate, use the child’s interests as reinforcement for play (e.g., “The balls are for two children to play with. Let’s ask a friend to play with you!”).
- 让孩子们经常赞美和鼓励全天使用适当的社交技巧。
- Give a child classroom jobs or roles that involve social interactions (e.g., passing out props during circle time, passing out snacks or utensils during mealtimes, passing out name tags during arrival or collecting them at departure).
- If a child uses a daily visual schedule, embed social interactions by having an item on the schedule such as “Ask a peer to play” and support the child in asking a peer to play.
- 有些孩子可能需要特定的口头线索(例如,“询问托马斯为红卡车”)或对戏剧的建议(例如,“艾拉,你可以成为宝宝的妈妈和Maia,你可以成为医生”)。
- Encourage family members to arrange play dates with other children from their classroom.
- 邀请家庭成员到你的课堂或器官ize special family events to support and encourage friendships among families.
Promoting Friendships among All Preschoolers
Involving Families
As highlighted in Lesson Three (Promoting Social-Emotional Development: High Quality Environments), families are central to their children’s social-emotional development and growth. In your daily work, make it a habit to reach out to families, work at establishing relationships, and engage in ongoing communication with families. Above all, respect their preferences and be sensitive to their unique needs and circumstances. In the Apply section of this lesson, you will find resources for families regarding children’s social-emotional development. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with these resources and consider sharing them with families of children in your classroom and program. In the Apply section of this lesson you will find resources for promoting family involvement in children’s social-emotional development.
Do
Children need daily opportunities to practice social-emotional skills. In your daily interactions with preschool-age children, consider the following:
- Be responsive to children’s attempts to use social skills or express emotions. Build on what they are saying or doing.
- 通过日常活动和惯例提供频繁,发育适当的模型。
- 遵循儿童的暗示和偏好。
- Embed activities about emotions into daily routines. For example, during center time, have children play an activity with sorting, matching, or identifying emotions with friends or peers.
- Ask children questions about their feelings, actions, interests, or life events. Reinforce them for using emotion words, appropriately sharing emotions, or demonstrating appropriate social skills. Consider creating a reinforcement system where children can earn stickers, tokens, or points for labeling their own emotions.
- Provide puppets or stuffed animals to act out situations or events in which children were experiencing big emotions (e.g., feeling mad, sad or excited). Ask children how they think the puppets or stuffed animals are feeling. Talk about these emotions and ask children to practice using these emotions throughout the day.
- Identify times of day when a child, or group of children, seems to be experiencing big emotions. Create small books or simple stories with pictures about these times of the day using appropriate feeling words and responses. Read the books or stories to children throughout the day and remind them to use the appropriate emotion words during these times of the day.
- Tell families about some of the activities, experiences, or strategies you use in your classroom to help children practice social-emotional skills at home.
In a brief article,All Children Need Friends那originally published inTeaching Young Children那the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) makes the following suggestions to help preschool children develop the essential skills they need to cultivate friendships with peers:
Encourage Friendships to Form
1.阅读带有主题的书籍,包括分享,妥协和听取,为儿童提供具体知识,了解成为朋友意味着什么。
2。Assign partners for various activities, such as classroom chores, so children can get to know each other.
3.制定一些积极的指导指导方针,以帮助孩子知道朋友的表现;例如,“手用于建筑,不击中”。
4.。Talk about what it means to be a friend. For example, ask, “What would a friend say to a friend who is crying?” Children could illustrate their ideas, and you may want post them in your classroom.
Concentrate on Feelings
1。Help children learn to express their own feelings and empathize with how others may feel.
2。Share observations about emotions to help children understand how behavior affects others. (“Moxie, Joaquin feels happy because you asked him to play trucks with you.”)
3.。Give personalized help when kids need it. You may need to ask questions, make suggestions, set limits or encourage empathy, as all kids may need a little help managing strong feelings.
Make Sure Your Learning Environment is Friendly
1。Make sure you model respectful ways of interacting, paying attention to the tone and volume of your voice.
2。Create comfortable areas for smaller groups (such as a reading nook) because some children may be most comfortable making friends in small group settings.
3.。Remember to still use group activities to encourage friendships. Children need many opportunities to develop friendships and working as a group toward a common goal helps builds a sense of community.
For more ideas about experiences and activities to develop social-emotional skills, visit the links below:
- https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/cooperative-games-for-younger-students/
- https://teachpreschool.org/2013/07/08/five-activities-that-promote-teamwork/
You can also review the articles attached below.
Explore

What are you currently doing to promote the social-emotional development of children in your classroom? In this section, you will find resources that will help you examine your current practice.
Download, print, and complete the attached documents. Then, share and discuss your responses with a trainer, coach, or supervisor.
Apply

使用本节中的资源来了解有关支持课堂和计划中儿童的社会情感发展的更多信息。有关更多资源和实践策略,您还可以访问社会和情感基础的中心,以便早期学习。狗万app怎么下载http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html.
Glossary
Term | Description |
---|---|
Developmental delay | When a child is not meeting developmental milestones at the expected times; delays can occur in any area of development |
Peer-mediated interventions | Strategies in which teachers pair children who have advanced social skills with peers who are learning social skills |
Social stories or scripts | 描述社交活动和行为用于支持儿童学习和使用适当的社交技巧的短篇小说狗万app怎么下载 |
证明
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Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.资源:幼儿园培训模块万博体育全站app。Retrieved fromhttp://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/training_preschool.html
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Gray, C. A., & Garand, J. D. (1993). Social Stories: Improving responses of students with autism with accurate social information.Focus on Autistic Behavior那8.(1), 1-10.
Guralnick, M. J., Neville, B., Hammond, M. A., & Connor, R. T. (2007). The friendships of young children with developmental delays: A longitudinal analysis.Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,28,64-79。
Hanson, M. J., & Carta, J. J. (1995). Addressing the Challenges of Families With Multiple Risks.Exceptional Children那6.2(3), 201-212.
Head Start Center for Inclusion. Social Stories. Retrieved fromhttp://depts.washington.edu/hscenter/social_stories
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Hemmeter,M.L.,Ostrosky,M. M.,Artman,K。,K.(2008)。向右移动:规划过渡以防止具有挑战性的行为。Young Children那6.3.(3), 18-22, 24-25.
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National Association for the Education of Young Children. Helping children get to know each other.Teaching Young Children/Preschool。
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2014).Principles of Effective Practice: Two Way Communication。Retrieved fromhttps://www.naeyc.org/pruciples-ymily-boragement.
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奥尼尔,B. E.(2013)。即兴发作干预:促进包容性教室的社会情绪发展。Young Children那July 2013, 62-69.
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Ostrosky, M. M., Mouzourou, C., Dorsey, E.A., Favazza, P.C., & Leboeuf, L.M. (2013). Pick a Book, Any Book: Using children’s books to support positive attitudes towards peers with disabilities.Young Exceptional Children。DOI:10.1177 / 1096250613512666。
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