Compliment Tic Tac Toe

Some of my kindergarten students are having trouble being nice to each other. So we they are learning how to play Tic Tac Toe on the Smartboard. Everyone gets to play one round. When you place your X or O, you must compliment the other person. For example, when I put my X in the middle square, I might say, "I like your shirt." The other child says, "Thank you." Then when the child puts his/her O on a square, he/she gives me a compliment. The game proceeds like this until someone wins or the game ends.

I have also played Tic Tac Toe to add details to conversations. For example, for each X or O you move, you must add another layer/sentence to the conversation. If you are talking about your favorite movie and you move your X, then you must say something about the movie. When your partner moves his O, he/she must continue the conversation about the movie and so on.

Conversation Months

October/November is Conversation Month

During these two months, I teach the children how to expand on their conversation skills. Many parents bring their children to SK to seek help in "How to have my child have a conversation  with another child.?" We teach many skills at SK on how to help your child come out of his/her shell.

I will share one lesson with you today you could use at home. Practice using the 5W questions with your children. Make the 5W questions on notecards: who, what, where, when, why (and/or how). Make up role play situations with your child. He/she has to pick a 5W question from your pile and act out the first scene wrong.   Then give your child the cards again and let he/she practice again doing it the correct way. Give lots of praise for doing it well.

- TeachersPayTeachers.com

Coping Bags/Boxes

Coping Bags/Boxes

See what our new schedule looks like for the fall. We are offering NEW after school classes. I have created a flyer on a new website I have just discovered called SMORE. Click the link to see what my flyer looks like. Smore if a very simple website and it's free! Anyone can use it and make a flyer for anything! Try it out! https://smore.com/7jhf

Parent Tip: We made coping bags with the children at our Summer Fun Club this week. We used dot paint to decorate the fabric bags. I bought them at a fabric store. But you can use brown paper bags or shoeboxes. We suggested that the children put different items in their fabric bags that make them happy. When the children get upset, have them take out their coping bags and sit in a quiet place to calm themselves down.

For older children we have had them write down coping strategies on index cards: ie I like to listen to music, I like to draw and glue these ideas on their coping boxes/bags as a reminder of what to do when the kids are upset. It is a visual reminder for them during the "heat" of the moment. 

They can use their deep breathing that we practiced (smell the flower, blow out the leaf technique we learned) to help calm themselves down. We even made flowers out of pipe cleaners to help our visual learners. We also cut out leaves and had the children practice blowing them in their hands. (This is a great activity to do when the leaves are falling from the trees in the fall.)

Self Esteem

Self Esteem:
I want to share with you some ideas to help at home this summer with promoting self-esteem.

First, I am a very big believer in complimenting children. Wouldn't it be nice if someone complimented you each day? So we like to compliment our kids numerous times at SK. We are constantly saying, "Yeah Susan! You did a great job at coloring," or "Good job, Susan!"
To see a child's face light up is wonderful!

So here's a tip I give to my clients: make positive compliments on small pieces of paper at home or type some on your computer  so you can use them again and again. Customize them for your own family. Cut them out and put them in a small container in your kitchen. When you catch your child doing something wonderful, pull out the paper compliment and give it to your child. You will see a smile form on his/her face. Your child can collect all of his/her compliments in his/her pockets daily. Before bed he/she can clear out his/her pockets and read the compliments from the day. Your child can make a compliment tree for the compliments earned by posting them on a Fathead tree (see http://www.fathead.com/custom/) attached to his/her wall, put them in a shoebox for a rainy day or post them on a bulletin board.

It is sometimes hard for parents to remember to be positive. Being a mother of four boys, I know this to be true. Many times my boys are trying to get my attention. But they will try to get any kind of attention even if it is NEGATIVE attention. I find by giving compliments, the negative behavior lessens and turns positive.

Keeping compliments in my kitchen is a reminder to not only catch them in the act of "putting their dishes in the dishwasher" or "putting their napkin in the garbage,"  but is also a reminder that I need to compliment them more in order to keep a positive behavior.

I use the kitchen because that is where we spend most of our time as a family. You could make compliments for your family rooms, bedrooms, cars, etc. Differentiate them for your family!!!

Here are two books I love to read at SK and in my own classroom with the children. It teaches them how to be positive and gives more examples of positive compliments. It even explains what bucket dippers are to the children.

I teach the children how to give and receive compliments. The children learn how to verbally give compliments and how write their own compliments and exchange them.

 For my teacher friends, I have included samples of different compliments I have used at SK. Here is also a picture of my compliment tree.

Every time the students write a compliment to another classmate, they can add it to the tree. 

WELCOME TO OUR SOCIABLE KIDZ BLOG

Welcome to our first Sociable Kidz blog! We will be posting news from Sociable Kidz and helpful activities that parents, teachers, and the community can use to build social skills outside of Sociable Kidz. Follow this as well as our Facebook page: Sociable Kidz and our Twitter: @SociableKidz.




Visit our website at www.sociablekidz.com for more information about Sociable Kidz.
We are also running a Summer Fun Club through August 9th. Visit that website for more information at www.sksummerfunclub.com.