| Aggressive Play | Hallie | We had great conversations around this, I am just summarizing here. What is the purpose of preschool? (Teacher goals for children) - Teaching children how to be prosocial. To learn. To make friends. To learn how to function in school environment.
- This purpose should drive all rules and choices in the classroom. Circle times are a good place to create those and revisit them.
Behaviors - Only stop behaviors that are breaking a rule. Ask child why they think they were asked to sop action. Relate it back to being at school (making friends, being safe, etc)
- Acorn Example: Herb hut materials going all over playground, not just in the hut. Explain that the materials stay there, but create an alternative to it. Idea: create a scavenger hunt, hide clues with pictures to find hidden acorns. Idea: give child a basket to go around a find acorns on the playground.
- Flowers Example - To stop children from picking the flowers, created cards with images of flowers on the playground and children could go find them, matching.
Weapons - Always an issue, but they do not belong at school. Weapons are scary and dangerous and go against the safety rule. Relate it back to that!
- PD would get a basket and have children put their imaginary weapons in the basket, they could collect them on their way out of school.
- Hallie has walked children out into the lobby to show them the 'No Weapons' signs posted around.
Pro Tips - When retiring a dramatic play center inside, can be good to move it outside (post office, space, etc)
- In general, children are at school to learn to be collaborative and prosocial. Alone time, weapons play, etc can be done at home. But at school, they're learning to be inclusive! Keep this in mind when redirecting children.
- The classroom environment and setup will show children how to play without telling them how to play. Think about what could go wrong, if it's inviting, is it clear, thoughtful, etc.
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