Preschool Focus: Social Skills II

In this once-weekly class we'll focus on developing and practicing social skills in a fun interactive format!  This is an ongoing class, so feel free to drop in and out as it suits your schedule.  

In preschool, children learn social skills like taking turns, listening to one another, learning how to ask for help, and understanding they don't always get their way (and that's okay!).  They learn executive function skills like sitting still and following directions.  They'll develop social-emotional skills like understanding how to recognize and express their feelings, how to make friends, and many more.  By being in an ongoing class, students will make friends and form a school community.

We will touch on listening/following directions, waiting our turn, and how to calm down in every class, but we will focus on one particular skill per week.

Our schedule may look like this:
- Week 1 (June 7): Listening and Following Directions
- Week 2 (June 14): Waiting our Turn/Impulse Control
- Week 3 (June 21): How to Make Friends
- Week 4 (June 28): Let's Be Honest
- Week 5 (July 12): Self-Confidence (and When to Ask for Help)
- Week 6 (July 19): Be a Good Sport, Win or Lose

Each week in class we will have 20 minutes of instruction with games and fun activities.  Every student will have opportunities to ask/answer questions and offer their own thoughts and stories - this is a very interactive class.  The last 5 minutes of class will be an open-ended time for chatting and socialization.  The students are invited to bring something to share with the class during this time (a favorite toy or stuffed animal), and this helps them each come up with something to talk about or ask each other about.  This is where they can start incorporating some of the skills they are learning in class. 

Note: I also offer a Social Skills I class that focuses on different social skills topics; these classes do not need to be taken in any specific order.  Listening/following directions and Waiting our turn/Impulse Control are covered in both classes as they are such important topics and the more we practice them the better.

*All music and songs are used by permission from Dr. Jean Feldman.
*All read-aloud story books are read by permission from Macmillan Publishers, Candlewick Press, Free Spirit Publishing, or author Elizabeth Verdick.  
- Books that may be read include: "How to Share with a Bear" by Eric Pinder, "Some Monsters are Different" by David Milgrim, "One Golden Rule at School" by Selina Alko, "You Belong" by Rachel Platten, "Guess How Much I Love You" by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram, "My Friend Bear" by Jez Alborough, "Quiet Loud" by Leslie Patricelli, "Interrupting Chicken" by David Ezra Stein, "Calm Down Time" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Words are not for Hurting" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Listening Time" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Waiting is not Forever" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Try Again Time" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Manners Time" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Voices are not for Yelling" by Elizabeth Verdick, "Peppa Pig: Learning to Share", and "Peppa Pig: Peppa is Kind".