During our first month of kindergarten, a big part of our day has been learning how to be a member of a classroom community. In Advocacy, we intentionally practice the skills students need to build friendships, solve problems, communicate their needs, regulate big feelings, and take care of themselves and others.

Kindergarten comes with lots of new experiences! Sharing materials, waiting for a turn, navigating friendships, and solving disagreements are all skills that take practice. Rather than expecting students to already know what to do, we are teaching and practicing these skills together.

🌱 This month, we are learning about:

• Being a kind classmate and what kindness looks and sounds like.
• Asking before taking and waiting for a turn.
• Personal space on the carpet, in line, and during play.
• Using our words to communicate what we need.
• Taking turns and sharing materials during Purposeful Play.
• Big problems vs. small problems and deciding, “Can I solve this myself, or do I need an adult?”
• Solving small problems by trying a strategy before asking an adult for help.
• Calm-down strategies, including taking deep breaths, asking for a break, getting water, using our calm-down corner, and asking an adult for help.
• Building our kindergarten community by caring for our classroom and classmates.

🗣️ Words We're Practicing

You may hear your kindergartner using some new phrases at home! We are practicing:

“Can I have a turn?”
“Can I use that when you are finished?”
“Please stop.”
“I need space.”
“Can you help me?”

When a small problem happens, we encourage students to first think: “Can I solve this myself?” They might use their words, take turns, choose something different, try again, take a breath, or wait. Students are also learning that there are absolutely times when they need adult help, especially if someone is hurt, they feel unsafe, or the problem continues.

⭐ RISE in Kindergarten

Throughout our day, we recognize students demonstrating our RISE values:

R — Respect
I — Integrity
S — Safety
E — Empathy

Students may receive RISE tickets when we notice them putting these skills into action. We love celebrating moments when students use kind words, advocate for themselves, solve a problem, help a classmate, make a safe choice, or show empathy.

🏡 Try It at Home!

One of the best ways you can support us is by using the same language at home. When your child brings you a small problem, try asking:

“Is this a big problem or a small problem?”
“Can you solve this yourself, or do you need adult help?”
“What words could you use?”
“What strategy could you try?”

Our goal isn't for kindergartners to solve everything independently. Instead, we want them to build a growing toolbox of strategies, learn when they can handle something themselves, and feel confident advocating for adult help when they need it.

We are already doing so much learning about what it means to be a kind, safe, and caring member of our kindergarten community. Thank you for reinforcing these skills at home! 💛