Before children can attend to learning, they need to be emotionally regulated. There are many opportunities for children to practice regulating their emotions at school (see my blog posts about mindfulness in the classroom.) In my classroom, the first steps involve teaching students how to control their bodies, manage strong emotions, and learning prosocial skills.
For a detailed example of a lesson I do annually to teach children how to be friends, see the document below.
Your Name:
Veronica Underland
CSU-G Course:
OTL 565- Cultural Responsiveness in the Differentiated Classroom
Subject / Course:
Social Emotional Development
Topic:
Making Friends
Lesson Title:
Bucket Fillers vs Bucket Dippers
Level:
Preschool
Lesson Duration:
15-20 minutes of whole group instruction provided each day for four days
Common Core or State Standard(s):
Comprehensive Health, Preschool Standard 3—Social and Emotional Wellness
3.1: “Children develop healthy relationships and interactions with adults and peers (Colorado, 2020).”
Per the Colorado Department of Education, the following list (copied from CDE website with my comments added in blue) provides examples of ways teachers may support learners in this subject:
1. Model positive ways to interact with others. (Often done by role-playing, acting out scenarios with puppets, or videos demonstrating prosocial skills).
Provide opportunities for children to understand and discuss their feelings and those of others (i.e. show empathy). (Ask, “How would you feel if someone did __________ to you?” Example can be positive or negative interaction)
Help children see the effect of their behavior on others and help them resolve conflicts. (i.e., If child hits another, point out how sad or hurt the peer looks, offer choices of ways to make the peer feel better [apologize, ask ‘Are you okay?’, give a hug, return toy].)
Model asking for and understanding viewpoints and opinions of others. For example, a teacher may kneel between two children in conflict over classroom materials and comment, “I’m looking at Jason’s face and I notice his tight lips and wonder if he is angry.”
Embed learning of friendships skills such as taking turns, exchanging toys, entering a playgroup, and resolving conflict daily in the classroom. (Pair with problem solving cards hung around room, direct them to “teasing shields” where visuals are placed when there’s a conflict)
Comments on a specific behavior using positive descriptive praise. (“You stayed with the puzzle until you finished! That is great persistence-sticking with a difficult activity.”) (Add in writing actions of student on raindrop, place in bucket. Make sure to tell/show student they earned a raindrop for their actions.)
Description of Lesson (Learning Task) as currently taught without attention to personalized learning:
-In order to support students in building interpersonal skills between peers and staff, children will learn how to demonstrate positive social behaviors (“Bucket Fillers”) and types of interactions that damage relationships (“Bucket Dippers”). After four days of instruction, students will be able to differentiate between being a “Bucket Dipper” and being a “Bucket Filler.” They will also have opportunities to demonstrate positive social practices (such as complimenting friends, sharing toys, assisting with clean up, helping a friend who is upset), for which they will be rewarded a “rain drop” that goes in our class bucket. When students fill the bucket with rain drops (typically after one month of instruction), we will have a Bucket Filler party.
Learning Target
At the end of one week of instruction, students will differentiate between positive and negative peer interactions. At the end of one month, they will know how to demonstrate positive peer interactions. Students will also learn the colloquialisms “bucket filler” and “bucket dipper.” At the end of four weeks of instruction, they will have internalized the meanings of both and will begin using the terms themselves.
REVISED Learning Task
Learning Task Differentiation Details
Academics:
Day 1: Read book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. Introduce bucket poster and raindrops. Demonstrate adding raindrops for each student who demonstrates appropriate listening bodies (eyes watching, ears listening, voices quiet, bodies calm). Ask children to tape raindrop into the bucket as a way to add ownership over the process and as a way to increase engagement and excitement.
Day 2: Review book, then show a video of a read-aloud of the same story in Spanish (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_m_Y-rzT9o ). Not only does this allow Spanish-speaking students to hear the same story in their home language, it exposes non-Spanish-speaking students to another language. It has the potential to promote empathy and tolerance by showing how books can be adapted into a variety of languages; it will also show them that they can associate the illustrations from the English text to the Spanish video in order to understand content. Additionally, adding technology into the classroom promotes STEM engagement and enables the lesson to become interactive and multisensory (American, n.d.).
Day 3: Bucket Fillers vs Bucket Dipper sorting game
-Each student will be given an image illustrating peer interactions. They will each have a turn to place the image in the Bucket Filler or Bucket Dipper category on the board (both columns will have written label accompanied by visuals for each; Bucket Fillers are associated with a happy face, while Bucket Dippers are paired with a frowning face.) After each child’s turn, ask them to explain why they placed the photo where they did. Offer coaching and guidance for incorrect answers. Work towards each student correcting themselves and placing the image in the proper column. Images will show interactions such as sharing, hitting, screaming, sitting by an unhappy friend, helping someone who is hurt, assisting with clean up, and demonstrating good listening bodies. Include enough images so each student will have a turn.
Day 4: Writing Thank-you notes
In order to address literacy and language, students will participate in a new way to be a Bucket Filler by sending a thank-you note to someone who’s helped them. In whole group, we will work together to write a note to one of the sped providers who supports our classroom. I will take dictation of what the kids want to tell them, then model writing exactly what they tell me. At the end of the lesson, each student will be given a marker to sign their name (any level of writing is acceptable, ranging from scribbles, intentional marks, mock letters, partially accurate name, to fully accurate name). Emergent writing skills, such as the development of name-writing proficiency, are important predictors of children’s future reading and writing skills (Byington Yaebin Kim, 2017).
Small group extension: students will write their own thank-you note to someone of their choosing. They will draw a picture or “write” the note. When they’re done, I will take dictation about what they want their note to say. When they’re done, they will place the letter in an envelope and seal it. They will take it home at the end of the day and give it to the person they selected.
*extension: for students who are able to accurately write their full name, challenge them to copy the opening salutation themselves. I will write “Dear Mom/Dad/Grandma/Sibling” on a separate piece of paper and ask them to copy the letters.
Health and Wellness:
Incorporate children’s songs that relate to building relationships. Encourage students to participate by dancing or by singing along and acting out fingerplays. Examples:
Sharing Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96fq4YmYjzQ
Whole Body Listener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ77Nr6TgZo
Ask for Help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urb3GYD63og
Cooperation Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kihZUsADQTQ
Make New Friends Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyTdVFa-Fws
Music is an effective teaching tool for young children. Music “ignites all areas of child development and skills for school readiness, including intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy (Bright Horizons, 2022).”
-consider developmental portfolios of each student, reference the Ages and Stages Questionnaire parents filled out prior to school starting; eliminate moves majority of students have mastered, spend extra time discussing concepts that most are struggling with
-One of my students has trouble hitting his peers. As a way to model that this is an inappropriate way to communicate frustration, demonstrate hitting and consequences using puppets. Puppets can be used in all areas of instruction. They are especially effective in terms of “developing listening and attention, phonics and math, and personal development (Early Impact, n.d.)”
-If possible, find hard copy of book in Spanish
- photocopy books and fasten together for students needing their own copy to attend to book
- pair key vocabulary words with movement (such as thumbs-up and smile for Bucket Filler and thumbs-down, headshake, frown for Bucket Dipper) (Ferlazzo, 2022)
-provide option for students to choose who they want to write a thank-you to. Do not tell them to write to specific person (such as parent or sibling).
-pair all instructional materials with consistent visuals, symbols, and written words
-clear clutter from instructional area to avoid overstimulating students
-reduce lighting
-give advance notice for changes in activity
-provide wait time for students to process info (about 10 seconds)
-add PEC cards for nonverbal students
(CDE, n.d.)
Assessment Method
In lieu of a formal assessment, I will gather formative assessment data. Most of this will come in the form of anecdotal records. Each time I fill out a raindrop for a student, I can use that note as a piece of documentation. I will upload them into our documentation platform, Teaching Strategies Gold. I have entered and leveled students based on their baseline social emotional skills taken during their first few weeks of school. At the end of the month, I will compare their baseline data with their new scores. I will present the differences in a table.
Class being bucket fillers:
Examples of raindrops I’ve written:
“C. let K. ride a bike outside even though it was still his turn.”
“A. helped clean up the snack table even though she had already put her garbage in the trash.”
“A. drew a picture of himself playing with Ms. Veronica and gave it to her.”
“B. sat nicely and participated during group time.”
“M. cleaned up after choice time.”
“L. played nicely in Building with A. for 15 minutes.”
Problem solving cards I use:
References
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