I Can!

One of my favorite things to focus on in my classroom is helping kids to think more positively about themselves and their abilities.

I get so sad when I hear kids say "I can't do it."
And sadly, I hear negativity like that all too often.

One way that I talk about this with my students is through using learning goals. Although most have been to preschool, Kindergartners are experiencing a more structured school environment for the first time. As such, part of my job is to teach them how to learn and be a student in that environment. I use 5 "I Can" statements that are a part of what I call "High-Five Learning."  To be High-Five Learners in my classroom, we work on these things:

1. I can try hard things.

2. I can stick to my work.

3. I can make mistakes count.

4. I can help others. 

5. I can celebrate my learning.

I like to use I Can language with rules and other objectives as well to help replace negative thinking with an I Can attitude.

I love using literature to show them examples of developing an I Can attitude. 

This book, Bobbie Dazzler, is one of my favorites. We read this book at the end of the year, and then made I Can books as a way to celebrate our learning, and ourselves!

The results were so great. 

As a new year is fast approaching, I'm reminding myself to have an I Can attitude as I think about everything I need to do and accomplish. I'm looking forward to another great year of learning wonders!

Book Love: What is a Scientist?

Title: What is a Scientist?

Author: Barbara Lehn

Why I Love This Book: I used this book with my Kindergartners last year to introduce what it means to be a scientist. I love the way that the author breaks science down into very simple concepts. For example, "a scientist is a person who asks questions and finds different ways to answer them" or a "scientist learns from her senses." Each of the simple statements could be used as the foundation for a lesson on their own, and all of them could be used in an anchor chart to refer to during scientific exploration. The photographs might feel a little dated now (the book was printed in 1999), but they still offer young readers a sense of connection with the kids in the book. The book also helped me as a teacher to break down the subject of science into meaningful components. This is a great book for the classroom, but it could also open the door for scientific conversation and exploration at home! 

Pete the Cat Love

I LOVE children's literature. If I had a lot of money, it would be very easy for me to spend it buying books. But, I'm a teacher, so I don't have a lot of money. I almost always look for books at thrift stores, where I can get a lot more for my buck.

This summer, I had some extra gift money, and decided to splurge.....on Pete the Cat.

Pete the Cat is really trendy right now among teachers, and for a long time I resisted the urge to jump on the bandwagon. But as I wrote about on this Book Love post, one day the music teacher used the book with my kids during music time and they were so engaged it was ridiculous...and I was singing and laughing right along with them. I was hooked.

 I love Pete the Cat.

As part of building my Pete the Cat collection, I decided to get the stuffed toy as well. One reading incentive I'm going to try this year is having the students earn the chance to read with a "reading buddy" like Pete the Cat during Read to Self. I have a few other toy characters from books that I will use, but I have the feeling Pete will be pretty popular.

Behavior Tools: Understanding Behavior

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines behavior as "the manner of conducting oneself."

Simply put, behavior is what we say or do in any given situation. 

And what we do or say is always influenced by something else. We do what we do for a reason. 

Think about that for a second. Everything we do or say, we do for a reason. 

Sometimes those reasons are obvious...

I eat because I'm hungry. 

I tie my shoe so it won't fall off when I'm walking.

I wear a jacket so I won't get as cold.

Sometimes those reasons are not as clear...like when we say something mean to a friend when we are feeling hurt or angry or defensive. 

The point is, there is always something behind the way we choose to behave, and that is just as true for kids as it is for adults. 

Understanding the why behind a child's behavior can help us to behave more appropriately in response. The why or function of a behavior can typically be generalized into two categories. We do things because we want to obtain something tangible (i.e. attention, validation, item) or we do it to avoid or escape something (i.e. avoid shame, attention, punishment, etc.)

As adults, we have had a lot of experience and practice with behaving in certain ways to either get what we want or avoid things we don't want. Even still, we make mistakes and don't always make the best choice.

The thing with kids is that they haven't had those years of experience and practice to always know what the best choice of behavior is in any given situation. As such, they are constantly trying out different behaviors to see what works and what doesn't. If a behavior gets the result they are looking for, then they are very likely to continue using that behavior to get what they want- even if it is considered inappropriate by adult standards. 

That's where the importance of teaching comes in. We can't expect kids just to know how best to behave- even if we've told them or punished them for a certain undesirable behavior. So often I hear the phrase: "They know better." I'm sure I've even used this phrase before. But the truth is, if they are still using a negative behavior to get what they want, then they really don't know better. And that's probably because we haven't given them the right kind of teaching and practice to learn a better behavior. 

For me, understanding the why of behavior helps me to be more patient with teaching appropriate behavior. When I understand that B (for a boy) is really shy and gets anxiety in whole group situations, I recognize that his behaviors of laying down on the rug and poking other kids is a way for him to escape the anxiety that he feels. Perhaps then, instead of being offended that he is not paying attention to my lesson and constantly nagging him to sit up and keep his hands to himself, I can focus on teaching him strategies to participate appropriately and deal with his anxiety, while also doing what I can to make him more comfortable in that situation. It completely changes the way I handle the situation, which is the only thing I have control over anyways. 

Behavior Tools is a series about understanding and managing behavior with young children. The more we understand children and their behavior, the better we are able to teach them how to make good choices and build a solid foundation of self worth and confidence. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to helping a child learn appropriate behavior, which is why we need a lot of different tools and strategies to draw upon when we work with young children. 

Behavior Tools: The Toolbox

Building Your Toolbox

Building positive relationships is the foundation for teaching, and should be applied with every child, regardless of their behavioral abilities. Beyond that, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching appropriate behavior.

That is why you need a behavior toolbox. 

You need to have a lot of different kinds of tools and strategies to use with children, because every child is different, and their needs and abilities will change as they continue to grow. That is one reason that building a positive relationship with kids is so important, because knowing their personality, interests, and needs can help you to decide what tools will be most effective and necessary for them. 

There are basically 3 types of tools that you will need. Just like a hammer serves a different purpose than chainsaw, these tools have different functions but all of them have the goal of helping kids to be successful.

1. Preventative Tools

These are the tools that help to prevent misbehavior. These tools are basically the things that adults have control over, such as environment and scheduling. Most kids will be very responsive to these kinds of strategies. 

2. Supportive Tools

These are the teaching tools. We cannot expect kids just to know how to behave in different settings or how to manage their emotions. We also can't expect that just telling them what to do or punishing them is going to teach them the appropriate behavior. For example, spanking a child may temporarily stop the behavior from occurring, but it does not teach them how to behave correctly. (Spanking also teaches a child to do things out of fear, rather than to do things because it makes them feel good inside...but that is a whole different can of worms.) We need to explicitly teach children how to follow our expectations and give them opportunities to practice being successful within those guidelines. 

3. Corrective Tools

In my opinion, these tools build upon supportive tools because they continue to teach appropriate behavior, while also providing consistent consequences. In the education world, we call these tools interventions, and they are really only necessary for a small percentage of the children we work with. These tools are used in response to consistent misbehavior, after preventative and supportive tools have been put in place. 

Learning about these different kinds of tools was empowering to me as a teacher, because it helped me to realize that while I ultimately have no control over how a student chooses to behave, there are many things that I can control and change to help that child be more successful. I am always anxious to learn more about child behavior and teaching strategies, because it gives me more tools to draw upon as I work in an environment that is often unpredictable due to the diversity of students I encounter. In later posts I will discuss some of the individual strategies that I have found to be successful within these categories.

**One last additional note: As a teacher or a parent, you have to find tools that work for you! This past year, I began the year convinced that I wanted to use a certain strategy, because I watched another teacher use it so successfully. But when I tried to put it into practice, I just could not make it work and it bombed because it did not feel authentic to me. Just like children are going to be more receptive to strategies that fit their needs, we are also going to be more effective with using strategies that fit with our abilities, personalities and belief systems.



Behavior Tools is a series about understanding and managing behavior with young children. The more we understand children and their behavior, the better we are able to teach them how to make good choices and build a solid foundation of self worth and confidence. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to helping a child learn appropriate behavior, which is why we need a lot of different tools and strategies to draw upon when we work with young children. 

Book Love: Stars

Title: Stars

Author: Mary Lyn Ray

Illustrator: Marla Frazee

Why I Love This Book: I think I was drawn to this book because I find stars fascinating, and the night sky is such a great backdrop for imagination. This book goes beyond the stars that you see in the sky however, and is a beautiful look at nature in general. Hands down, my favorite part of this book is the illustrations. They are enchantingly beautiful. The text is very simply, but also thought-provoking, which gives it the opportunity to be a meaningful read for a variety of ages. I just love the deeper message of finding light in the darkness: "A star is how you know it's almost night. As soon as you see one, there's another and another. And the dark that comes doesn't feel so dark."

Side Note: My husband and I recently went camping down in Southern Utah, and we enjoyed taking some night photography. There really is something so awesome and beautiful about a sky full of stars!