Respecting Children is how we are a Kinder Classroom

The title of my blog is a play on words. We are indeed a Kinder Classroom, as in Kindergarten. However, we are also a Kinder Classroom, as in being Kind to each other. In my classroom, and in my school, we utilize the teachings of Jane Nelson in her book Positive Discipline. In Positive Discipline, we learn how to speak to the children respectfully and teach the children to also talk to each other respectfully. By doing so, we are able to work on the true issues at hand verses creating new issues such as hurt feelings for feeling misunderstood. For instance, if a child is crying, we might say (without Positive Discipline) “Stop crying! You are disrupting our classroom!” With Positive Discipline, we first reflect to the child “You are really sad.” Most children will respond with “Yes, I am.” Then they are better able to listen to our helping to problem solve their situation because they have been heard. This is my favorite suggested strategy “Connection before Correction.” It works! This summer, my ECE team will be preparing for a Fall book study with the parents in our classroom using the book Positive Discipline in for Preschoolers. Since strategies with children under 7 need to be different than for children in the grades, we want to be sure parents know which strategies to use with their youngest children.

In case you would like to learn more, here are a few links:

http://www.positivediscipline.org

http://store.positivediscipline.com/positive-discipline-for-preschoolers.html