Chapter 2: The Transitional Kindergarten Student - Transitional Kindergarten Implementation Guide

Summary

The transcript discusses the importance of patience and understanding in managing transitional kindergarten (TK) classrooms, highlighting the unique developmental needs of young students. It emphasizes the significance of social-emotional learning, self-regulation, and the teacher's role in fostering these skills. The use of creative teaching methods, such as role-playing and puppetry, is highlighted to address conflict resolution and emotional growth. The script also touches on the benefits of TK for children's academic and social readiness, as well as the positive feedback from kindergarten teachers about the preparedness of TK graduates.

Takeaways

• 😌 Patience is crucial when dealing with young children, especially in a transitional kindergarten setting where children have diverse needs and behaviors.
• 👶 Understanding the developmental stage of four-year-olds is key; they may exhibit behaviors like rolling on the floor, which is a natural part of their growth.
• 🎓 Direct instruction can be effectively combined with movement and singing to cater to the physical and cognitive needs of young learners.
• 🌟 Social-emotional development is a critical aspect of education in transitional kindergarten, which needs to be deliberately taught rather than assumed.
• 🤝 Building social-emotional competency involves knowing each child's triggers and providing them with the necessary tools to self-regulate.
• 🏡 Connecting with families is vital to understanding a child's day and supporting their emotional well-being.
• 🛌 The 'hide-a-way' area serves as a recovery space for children to practice self-regulation and calm down during challenging moments.
• 🗣️ Encouraging children to use their words and engage in conflict resolution is a key strategy for fostering emotional intelligence.
• 📚 The classroom environment should be designed to support both academic learning and social-emotional growth, with rules that promote kindness, learning, and safety.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Role-playing and puppet theater are effective tools for teaching problem-solving and conflict resolution in a relatable and engaging way for young children.
• 🌱 Transitional kindergarten serves as a bridge for children who may not be ready for the rigor of kindergarten, providing them with a supportive environment to grow both academically and emotionally.

Q & A

What is the primary advice given for handling a classroom of young children?

The primary advice is to be patient, as young children have different needs and it's a new experience for them, the teacher, and the administrator.

How does the teacher handle a child who rolls on the floor during class?

The teacher allows the child to roll, understanding that he's not ready for school and needs to do that, and then he comes back to join the class.

What approach does the teacher suggest for direct instruction with young children?

The teacher suggests incorporating movement, singing, and varying activities like fine motor tasks at tables and floor activities to keep the children engaged.

Why is social-emotional development emphasized in transitional kindergarten?

Social-emotional development is crucial for young children as it's not something that comes naturally to them and is a skill that needs to be taught.

How does the teacher help children learn self-regulation?

The teacher provides time for children to grow and learn self-regulation, using the transitional-kindergarten year as an opportunity for them to develop these skills.

What is the purpose of the 'hide-a-way' area in the classroom?

The 'hide-a-way' is a recovery area where children can go to self-regulate, relax, and use deep breathing techniques when they need to calm down.

How does the teacher use role-playing and puppet theater to teach social-emotional skills?

The teacher uses role-playing, puppet theater, and felt board stories to act out scenarios and discuss problem-solving and conflict resolution, helping children relate and learn from the characters.

What are the three classroom rules mentioned in the script?

The three classroom rules are: be kind, help everyone learn, and keep everyone safe.

How does the teacher handle conflicts or difficulties among students?

The teacher encourages problem-solving and conflict resolution by discussing issues with the students, using strategies like role-playing and the solution kit for guidance.

What benefits does the teacher see in children who have attended transitional kindergarten?

The teacher sees benefits in children's social-emotional development, academic readiness, and foundational skills, which prepare them well for kindergarten and beyond.

How does the teacher support English language development in the classroom?

The teacher uses visual aids like pictures and provides additional support for English Language Learners by scaffolding the language, which benefits all students.

Outlines

00:00

🧒 Patience and Understanding in Early Education

The speaker emphasizes the importance of patience when dealing with young children in a transitional kindergarten setting. They recount an observation where a child's unusual behavior was handled with understanding, highlighting the need to accommodate different needs of young learners. The speaker discusses the progression of social-emotional development throughout the year, stressing the importance of teaching these skills to four and five-year-olds. They also mention the use of a 'hide-a-way' area for children to self-regulate and the significance of knowing each child's background to foster social-emotional competency. The paragraph concludes with the idea of creating a classroom community where everyone shares their experiences and learning goals.

05:03

👥 Conflict Resolution and Social Skills in the Classroom

This paragraph focuses on strategies for conflict resolution and problem-solving with young children. The speaker shares examples of how to guide children through sharing and taking turns, using a 'stop area' to ensure fairness. They discuss the evolution of children's communication skills over time and the use of class meetings for role-playing and discussing problem-solving strategies. The speaker also introduces a 'solution kit' to help children with social interactions and mentions the use of puppet theater and stories to teach moral lessons. The benefits of the transitional-kindergarten program for children who are unsure about entering kindergarten are also discussed, emphasizing the program's role in easing the transition from home to school and preparing children academically and socially.

10:04

🌟 Success and Confidence through Transitional Kindergarten

The speaker discusses the positive outcomes of the transitional-kindergarten program, particularly for English language development. They describe how the program helps children build confidence and self-esteem, as observed through significant improvements in a short period. The paragraph also covers the benefits for kindergarten teachers who receive well-prepared students from the program, academically and socially. The speaker shares a parent's perspective on the satisfaction of enrolling their child in the program, knowing it sets a strong foundation for future success. The feedback from kindergarten teachers is overwhelmingly positive, praising the foundational skills and academic preparedness of the students who have gone through the transitional-kindergarten experience.

Keywords

💡Patience

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. In the context of the video, it is emphasized as a crucial trait for educators and administrators dealing with young children in a transitional kindergarten setting. The script mentions that children in such a class have different needs and behaviors, requiring educators to be patient and understanding as they navigate various classroom situations.

💡Social-emotional development

Social-emotional development refers to the process through which children and adolescents learn to understand and manage their emotions, form and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. The video underscores the importance of this aspect in the early years of education, particularly in a transitional kindergarten class. It is not something that naturally comes to young children and needs to be taught, as exemplified by the story of a child who learns to self-regulate after a year in the program.

💡Transitional kindergarten

Transitional kindergarten is an educational program designed for children who are not yet ready for a full kindergarten experience. It serves as a bridge between pre-school and kindergarten, providing a more developmentally appropriate curriculum. The script discusses how this program allows children to develop at their own pace, focusing on both academic and social-emotional growth, which is vital for their future success in school.

💡Self-regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to manage one's emotions, behavior, and attention. It is a critical skill for young children as they learn to navigate social situations and academic tasks. The video provides an example of a child who initially struggles with self-regulation but improves over time due to the supportive environment of the transitional kindergarten class.

💡Direct instruction

Direct instruction is a teaching method in which the teacher provides clear and explicit guidance to students, often using a structured format. The script mentions that even in a transitional kindergarten setting, direct instruction can be adapted to be engaging and interactive, incorporating movement, singing, and various activities to cater to the diverse needs of young learners.

💡Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution refers to the process of addressing and resolving disagreements or disputes in a constructive manner. The video highlights the importance of teaching children how to resolve conflicts effectively, which is a key aspect of their social-emotional development. Examples from the script include using role-playing and discussions to help children understand how to express their needs and negotiate with peers.

💡Hide-a-way

A hide-a-way, as mentioned in the script, is a designated area in the classroom where children can retreat to when they need to calm down or self-regulate. It serves as a recovery area rather than a punishment zone, allowing children to practice self-soothing techniques and regain control over their emotions before rejoining the class.

💡Problem-solving

Problem-solving is the process of identifying, analyzing, and addressing issues to find effective solutions. The video script describes various strategies used in the classroom to encourage children to think critically and collaboratively solve problems. This includes using a 'solution kit' with visual aids and engaging in class discussions to explore different approaches to resolving conflicts.

💡English Language Learners

English Language Learners (ELLs) are students who are learning English as an additional language. The script discusses the importance of providing additional support for these students, such as using visual aids and scaffolding, to ensure they can fully participate in the classroom and develop their language skills. The transitional kindergarten program is highlighted as particularly beneficial for ELLs, as it allows them extra time to build confidence and fluency in English.

💡Academic success

Academic success refers to the achievement of educational goals and the mastery of academic content. The video emphasizes that while academic success is important, it should not come at the expense of a child's social-emotional development. The transitional kindergarten program aims to balance both, ensuring that children are well-prepared for future academic challenges and have the foundational skills necessary for success in school.

Highlights

Patience is crucial when dealing with young children in a transitional kindergarten class.

Administrators should expect a different experience with four-year-olds in a classroom setting.

Observations reveal unique behaviors in young children that require understanding and accommodation.

Direct instruction can be effectively combined with movement and singing for young learners.

Social-emotional development is a key skill that needs to be taught to young children.

The importance of allowing children time to self-regulate and grow emotionally.

The impact of transitional-kindergarten on a child's ability to write and read.

The significance of knowing each child's individual needs for effective teaching.

The value of open-ended morning routines for understanding children's daily emotional states.

The use of a 'hide-a-way' area for children to self-regulate and recover emotionally.

The role of conflict resolution and nurturing peer relationships in social-emotional competence.

The importance of teaching children to express their needs and wait for their turn.

The pride in nurturing the whole person, not just academic skills.

The significance of classroom rules in fostering a kind, learning, and safe environment.

The concept of a 'suitcase' metaphor for sharing experiences and learning goals.

The benefits of problem-solving and conflict resolution through natural classroom settings.

The use of a solution kit with picture clues to help children solve problems with friends.

The effectiveness of role-playing and puppet theater in teaching social skills.

The relief parents feel knowing their children have a two-year kindergarten experience.

The benefits of an extra year in kindergarten for children's social development.

The responsibility of transitional-kindergarten to ease the transition from home to school.

The dual focus on academics and social-emotional growth in transitional-kindergarten.

The positive impact of transitional-kindergarten on English language development.

The improvement in children's confidence and self-esteem observed over time.

Kindergarten teachers' positive feedback on the preparedness of students from transitional-kindergarten.

The pride and confidence of parents in the success of their children due to transitional-kindergarten.

Transcripts

I think you need to be patient. That's the first thing. You're going to have a different

type of student than you're used to, even in a kindergarten class. To have that many

four-years-olds in one classroom is a different experience, it's different for them, it's

different for the teacher, and it's going to be different for you as an administrator.

They have very different needs.

Prior to transitional kindergarten class and as a former principal I'd be doing an observation,

and a student, I can still recall a student one time all of a sudden just goes rigid lays down

on the floor, rolls across the room, rolls back, I'm thinking, "Hm, that's interesting."

She didn't even budge. She made no comment at all, and so later when I was talking to

her I said, "Well, tell me about the little boy that was rolling." And she said, "Well,

he just needs to roll; he's not really old enough for school, and so he needs to do that.

I just let him roll, and he comes back and joins us."

When you're doing direct instruction you can do it moving and singing and then maybe to

the tables for something more fine motor oriented and then back to the floor to something else.

They get better at it as the year progresses; because at first it's challenging, but if

you just go in with the frame of mind knowing that this is just the way it is; and you need

to be patient, and you need to be understanding, then you'll see it payoff in the end.

Social-emotional development is so crucial for TK kids, and it's a skill we really have

to teach. It's not something that naturally comes to the four and five-year-olds.

I had a little boy he could probably write two sentences independently with periods and spaces,

and this is in a transitional-kindergarten class. But if his fair stick didn't get pulled

out of that can for his turn, he was on the floor crying, and he was gone for an hour.

He needed that time. He needed the time to grow and learn how to self-regulate, and the

transitional-kindergarten year gave him that time. He still had the opportunity to write

the sentences he wanted to write, read the books he could read, further his academics,

and then walk into a kindergarten room and the rest of his school career with an emotional

capability that he wouldn't have had if he hadn't had that transitional-kindergarten experience.

But much of the social-emotional competency that we want to build in children comes from

knowing your kids, knowing what makes them work, knowing what makes them happy, knowing

what makes them snap out of things also connecting with family and knowing, at the beginning

of the day, how they left home. Was it a happy moment leaving home today or was it a struggle?

Many teachers also have a very open-ended morning routine which, I think is really

helpful in terms of greeting families and getting that check-in time to really know

how that child is doing that day.

I use a hide-a-way, and the hide-a-way is a recovery area, it's not a time-out area per se,

but a place where they can go and get a hold of themselves. Use their self-regulation

skills that they are learning and just relax for a few minutes, take some deep breaths.

I keep scripted stories in the hide-a-way so that they can remember what to do in certain situations.

Another really critical approach to developing that social-emotional competence in transitional-kindergarten

allows the teacher time to listen in on conversations, to help with conflict resolution, to nurture

peer relationships, which is really very pinnacle, in terms of children socializing and developing

self-esteem and interest and empathy for other children.

And learning how to pause, take a turn, and how to express that, "I would like a turn

and I would like it to come quickly, please." You know, those sorts of things.

I feel proud that I'm part of nurturing their whole person. We're at such a crucial

age right now, where we're molding this little being into kind of becoming what they will be.

You know, those are skills that are life skills, that will go on and they will benefit them greatly

Okay, so, here we are, we're going to have more kids rolling on the rug, but amazingly,

they still know the letter A, because we're doing it in a way where they are learning

the letters, and it's okay.

We have sort of three classroom rules. One is be kind, one is to help everyone learn,

and the third is to keep everyone safe. I was purposeful on setting out at the beginning

of the year, talking to my class about how we were all sort of on this journey together,

and that each one of us came with a different suitcase. And in our suitcases, we have all

the things that we knew about from home or other experiences that we had, and that we

were going to be opening our suitcases and sharing those things with each other, and

that I might take something from another person's suitcase because I need that now, and that

we were each going to have our learning goals. And if I see that there's starting to be difficulty

because too many people want to play in one area or they all want to play with one thing,

that's a great opportunity to do problem solving together with the kids and conflict resolution.

So, I try to dive in and help apply strategies with them. Sometimes I get there in time.

Sometimes I don't. "We have a stop area and we do that so everyone gets their turn."

But again, those are real natural settings for kids and I think helping them to apply skills

in that setting is what's going to stick with them much more so than me reading a book about

somebody else doing that.

Sometimes we'll have a student just stomp their foot and they're done. And so we encourage

that student to come back, take that time to do that resolution, that conflict resolution

with them, and repeating, repeating, "Use your words, let's find out what's wrong

and then sit down and work it out," and doing that with them routinely is really

helping them. I can see a huge difference from the first month of school till now; how

they're starting to use their words more.

I do class meetings, where we do a little bit of role playing. We talk about how we might solve a problem differently.

TEACHER: "Who do you need to take care of mostly?" CLASS: "You." TEACHER: "You need to take care of you, and how do you do that?" STUDENT: "By not thinking of others." TEACHER: "What does that mean when we don't look at other people, what do we call that?" CLASS: "Ignore." TEACHER: "Ignore, everybody say ignore" CLASS: "Ignore."

I use a solution kit for problem solving and it has picture clues of what strategies they might use to solve their problems with

their friends. They might need to ignore their friend. They might need to say, "Please Stop!"

And the last page of that book says, "get a teacher," because I want that to be the

last thing that they do.

A lot of role-playing, a lot of puppet theater, books, felt board stories. Things like that

that you can build in with these characters' problems and resolutions.

The puppets act out the scenario of what's happening for the day, and then we go on and

discuss it. I think the children really relate to puppets.

And the children know what the right answers are. But it's whether, when they're in that

heat of the moment, do they know what the right answer is?

Some of the parents have those children that they weren't sure whether they should

go to kindergarten or not. And their birthdates fell within that range and so they were very

relieved to find out that there was a program for their children that would be a two year kindergarten experience.

On the other hand, I've had some children, who had that same birthday, whose parents really felt were ready

for kindergarten, and I had to show them the benefit of having that extra year.

Prior learning leads to success, so having a child be able to spend one additional

year gives them that leg up, so when they do step on that campus for kindergarten,

they know why they are there, what they are there for, and really have a much better chance

of being successful.

My son socially, he had a lot of development that he needed, and had I put him in kindergarten,

I don't think he would have been as successful because I think he would have had to been

worrying; I think he would've had that anxiety. Academically, he would have been okay, but

I think socially... that's a big part of life.

And children come to school these days with many issues, and worries, and anxieties, and fears.

And so, our responsibility in transitional-kindergarten is to help ease that transition from home

to school. And also within the school setting. We have, oftentimes, put tasks out for children

without thinking that sometimes, children are worried about that task. They are worried

about having to master something. And they are worried about what happens if they don't.

They've been to pre-school, and they're not quite ready for an academically rigorous kindergarten year.

So, by attending transitional-kindergarten, they get the best of both worlds. They are

getting academics, but they're getting it in a way that's made just for them. They have

the time to master when they're ready to meet them where they are right now.

And even though I'm teaching the same standards in Transitional Kindergarten I really appreciate,

for the children's sake, that there is this time and space for them to have a little bit

longer to develop that fluidity with those particular requirements. And so working on

the social emotional growth as an equal importance to standards based learning. I think is one

of the things I like best about it.

We also believe that it's a wonderful program for English language development for the younger

students to be able to really come in and get exposed to language and have created a

foundational experience for our students that have really had benefits not only in kindergarten

but also in the years to follow.

When we are going over vocabulary, I'm sure to have a lot of pictures or I'm able to

put it into perspective for them so that they not only hear the word that I'm saying because

the English only children might understand just with the word; however, the English Language Learners

might need a little bit more scaffolding and so I make sure to include that, which

is beneficial for all the kids anyway.

And I have seen children that have started, with this program in September, it's January now,

and I have seen an immense improvement in their confidence, in their self-esteem.

It's been fantastic.

When my kids go to kindergarten, last year's class, the kindergarten class this year, the

teachers are just amazed to get my kids. They're just, "Can I have the TK kids? Yay! I love 'em."

I observed one, that someone cut in front of him, and in the previous year, he would

have reacted inappropriately for sure, throwing a tantrum. And he basically recited that wasn't

a very nice thing to do. And that was inappropriate and that's not the way we line up, and left

it at that. That wouldn't have happened the year before. So, you see that. You see kids

that are actually working in the classroom independently, in a group, cooperatively

and on very academic tasks. They are at the appropriate level because they've already been through

the transitional kindergarten. They understand all the rules, they understand what the teacher

is about, what helpers are about. They understand the system.

The feedback that we've received is that the kindergarten teachers are very, very happy

with the kind of students that they're getting. Students that are really well prepared academically.

But mostly the foundational skills that they need coming into kindergarten, how to respond

to a teacher, how to work socially, how to cooperate with others, and really how to access

learning has just been very impressive.

It makes me feel great as a parent, knowing that I put my child in this transitional-kindergarten

class and that she is going to succeed.