Ideas for Teaching and Documenting

Plan time for children to be engage in activities independently and in small groups. Note how children respond to changes in the routine.

Observe children interacting with each other.  Consider how they use their time and look at how they respond when they encounter adverse situations.

Read stories and record how children discuss the characters’ feelings and motives.  Read books about cooperation and act out puppet shows that demonstrate positive problem solving.

Engage children in discussions about their plans and feelings.  Some examples might include:
“I can tell by the way you are standing that you are angry that Tyrie took that cooking pot from you.  Let’s take a couple of deep breaths and then see if we can talk to him about that.”
“I see that you haven’t worked in the art area in a while.  Let me show you some of the new material we have and what I can make with it.  Then, you can decide if you’d like to make something.”
“It looks like you are having trouble stacking those tall blocks.  What can we do?” 

This information is also available in the ELS Guide Book for future reference.