It is a valuable learning experience to involve children in creating/defining the classroom rules. They become invested in those expectations. Teachers should use the following umbrella when creating classroom rules:
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Classroom Teaching Strategies for Positive Interactions and Prosocial Behavior
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Instruction is more effective when it is embedded in the meaningful activities and contexts that occur throughout a child’s day (Katz & McClellan 1997). Here are suggestions and examples for teaching social skills within classroom activities.
Modeling
. Demonstrate the skill while explaining what you are doing. As you pass a block to a child, say, “Look, I am sharing my blocks with my friend.”
Modeling with puppets
. Use puppets to model the skill while interacting with a child, an adult, or another puppet. A puppet can explain to the teacher and the class how she became angry and hit her brother to get a toy. You can ask the puppet to consider other solutions and then discuss what a child might do when he or she wants a toy that another child is using.
Preparing peer partners
. Ask one child to show another child the skill or to help the child use the target skill. You can prompt the peer by saying, “Carmen, Justin is still learning how to wait and take turns. Since you know what to do, can you help him? Show him the line-up picture while you wait for a drink at the water fountain.”
Singing
. Introduce a new skill through a song. To teach children to trade toys, pass out small toys during a large group activity, then sing the following song to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and practice trading:
I can be a problem solver, problem solver, problem solver, I can be a problem solver, let me show you how.
Maybe I can trade with you, trade with you, trade with you, Maybe I can trade with you; let me show you how.
Children then practice trading toys with each other.
Doing fingerplays
. Introduce the skill with a finger- play, then follow up with a discussion or story. While showing fingers, have children recite this rhyme:
One little friend cried, “Boo-hoo”; a friend gives a hug and then there are two.
Two little friends share with me; we play together and that makes three.
Three little friends ask for more; they all say “Please,” and then comes four.
Four little friends take turns down the slide; another comes to play, and that makes five.
Five little friends have fun at school, because they follow every rule.
Using a flannel board
. Introduce a new skill using flannel board activities and stories. For example, to teach turn taking you could have flannel pieces for Humpty Dumpty and change the rhyme so that “All the king’s horses and all the king’s friends / Work as a team to put Humpty together again.” As you say the rhyme, have the children take turns putting the pieces (castle, bricks, Humpty Dumpty pieces, horses, and friends) on the flannel board. When you finish the rhyme, extend the activity by talking about how Humpty felt when he sat on the wall; when he fell; and when his friends helped put him back together.
Using prompts
. Give a child verbal, visual, or physical prompts to use a skill during interactions and activities. When a child who has difficulty with initiating play interactions moves toward a group playing together, you might say privately, “Remember to use your words and ask to play.”
Giving encouragement
. Provide specific feedback when the child uses the skill. For example, describe what the child did: “You asked Joey for a turn. I saw that you two had a good time playing together.” Encouragement can be verbal or a signal (a thumbs-up or high five).
Using incidental teaching
. Guide the child to use the skill during interactions and activities. Quietly say to the child, “Quan, I see that you are very angry that all the trucks are being used. What can you do when you are angry? Let’s go over the steps.”
Playing games
. Use games to teach problem solving, words that express feelings, identification of others’ feelings, friendship skills, and so on. Place photographs of each child in a bag. Have the children take turns pulling a photo out of the bag and offering a compliment to the child in the photo.
Discussing children’s literature
. Read books to help teach friendship skills, feeling words, problem solving, and so on. While reading a story, pause and ask the children how a character in the story might feel or ask them to suggest ideas for solving the character’s problem.