Conscious Discipline Super Stars

There are many days that at the end of the day I think ” YES!  Today was a great day. ”  Today ranks pretty high in my book .   My daily goals are based on personal growth with each of my littles .  We don’t set  goals like ” today everyone will count to 20″ or ” we will learn to line up today. ”  The goals we meet usually sneak up and tap us on the shoulder and say ” Look at me.. I am here.  You waited patiently and quietly encouraged me.    I did it. ”  As a teacher this is more difficult.  Life is the test.  There isn’t a worksheet or assessment I can use to make sure we are getting where we need to be.

Here are some of the amazing things I noticed in our classroom today.

1.  A friend wanted playdoh. There was not a space available. Another friend noticed his friend was sad and got up to allow him to play. That was helpful.
2. A friend withdrew from our preschool family and in a hurry I asked him to join me.  Sometimes we get so caught up in routines that we forget to pay attention.  My little friend said ”  Look at my face. I am angry and sad. There is no room for me. ”  It hit me in the gut.  I don’t slow down often.  This time I did.  As he said ” look at my face ” he pointed to his face.  I helped him through the moment and he joined our preschool family with a smile.
3. During family time one of our friends made up a new calm down technique.  LOVE!
4. Outside one of our friends accidentally hit another friend with a loose part.  As we talked about it the friend that made the oops got upset. I reminded her she wasn’t in trouble.  Still, as soon as finished talking she made a b-line for the calm down spot outside.  She needed time to self regulate.  After sitting for a few minutes she joined the group on her own.

This is just a few of the instances that conscious discipline is transforming our classroom. Our littles are turning into people that not only recognize their own feelings but those of their friends.  Goals.  Check.

We also did a few fun things that help us with our academic readiness too.

We made a book called ” How to Cook a Turkey. ”   Doing activities like this helps the children learn that print has meaning.  It expands their imaginative and creative side of the brain. As I am dictating what they say I am talking about the letters I am using to write.  ”  Put… P…. P… What is that letter ?”  We also looked at some numbers as we wrote steps and used mathematical terms like First , next and last .

The older children started a book we will send to our partner teacher Mrs. Oyler.  ” What I Want to Know About Kindergarten. ”

Surveys help us understand math language as well.  More, less than and tally are words we use when collecting data.

Cooking !   I had planned for pumpkin pie in a cup.  I forgot to get the instant vanilla pudding. We changed the recipe to pumpkin muffins that were more friendly for our friends that have allergies.  Win !

We aren’t serving the whole apple. I just wanted you to see the delicious muffins the littles cooked for snack and the apples aren’t cut yet.

It was a good day.  Focusing on the important things since August like self regulation and people skills give us calm days that allow for more activities and learning with our school family.