Using Fidgets to Help with Attention and Sensory Issues

Creating an environment for children to be successful is a proactive approach to dealing with challenging behaviors.  Many factors must be taken into consideration when setting up your classroom space and schedule.

For many, whole group situations are a challenge.  Since our children are unique individuals, what works for one child, might not work for another.  As teachers, we need to look past the "challenging behavior" and get to know the child.  We need to know the child's interests, needs, fears, and situations that cause anxiety.  We also need to know if the child has had any prior experiences with sitting in a classroom setting.  This post is part of our Challenging Behavior book study. You can read more about it HERE.   If you like this blog post, remember to sign up by email and check out my blog HERE.

In the book Challenging Behaviors in the Early Childhood Classroom: Preventing, Understanding, and Responding Effectively, the authors suggest that your meeting spot or whole group circle time should be in a defined space.  Children that have difficulty in group time could have koosh balls or small objects to hold to help during whole group activities such as listening to a story.  

ENTER THE FIDGET BOX

 It can be a basket, bucket, caddy, or small decorated box.  Basically, it is a container which holds items to help a child maintain attention, get sensory feedback, or for calming. I am always asked if all children need fidgets. Answer:  No.  Do you ever give children fidgets when they really don't need them?  Answer:  Yes.   How do you make it fair?

I have a sensory center that includes many of the items that are in the fidget box.  Children have the opportunity to touch, feel, describe, and manipulate the fidgets during other times during the day.  I make everyone a fidget out of a pipe cleaner.

• Cut the pipe cleaner in half.
• Bend the ends around in a tight circle to cover the pointed ends.
• Pass out to all children.
• Let them fidget.
• Collect the fidgets and have a discussion about strategies for listening.
• Follow Griffin's Mantra for Listening Strategies.

ARE YOU READY TO CREATE A FIDGET BOX?

Ideas to remember when creating and implementing fidget boxes:

• Decide where you will put your fidget box.
• Teach the procedures for accessing fidgets.
• Teach the procedures for using fidgets.
• Create a visual cue as a reminder of using fidgets.
• Do not add new fidgets without discussing them first.
• Model, practice, role-play using fidgets.
• These fidgets should never go in children's mouths.
• If a child needs oral sensory input, consult with your speech pathologist and occupational therapist.  
• Some children like pictures of their family in the box.
• Some children like a visual schedule in the box.
• There is a difference between a fidget box and a calming place.
• Some children will need a calming place instead.

If you need ideas and strategies to use in the classroom, check out my Listening Strategies for the Early Childhood Classroom.

My favorite place to shop online is Therapy Shoppe.  I have been ordering from their online store for 7 years.  They have a wide variety of fidgets and other sensory integration items for your students.  It's also amazing for me to look through their online catalogue and see what is available for our students.  Suggestions for funding?  Ask.  That's what I did one year.  I had a classroom full of students who needed fidgets.  I presented my administrator with the problem and solution. You could also consider writing a small grant.  Or do as I do. Buy a couple of items every year and "grow" my fidget box.

Here are some more samples of fidgets from Amazon.  Links have been provided.




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Check out these other blog posts from the Challenging Behavior Book Study:

Phonics They Will Remember

Helping young children learn their alphabet, letter sounds, and phonics should be fun and meaningful.  Children need many opportunities to practice theses letter sound combinations.

I just got back from presenting at SDE (Staff Development for Educators) I Teach K, I Teach 1st, and DI (Differentiating Instruction) conferences in Las Vegas.  This was part of one of my sessions.  I'm receiving some emails and messages for directions, so I decided to give everyone a visual.

One way that I work with my students on these skills is to play a Battle of the Bands game.  We first learn the song and activity whole group.

You will need some flash cards of the ABC's, phonics pattern cards, and word family cards based upon the phonics skill you are teaching your students.  Sing the following words to We Will Rock You.  Are you ready to clap?  Slap, slap, CLAP! Slap, slap, CLAP! Slap, slap, CLAP! Slap, slap, CLAP!

Letter Bb, Letter B, says "b" (slap, slap) "b" (clap).

Letter Ss, Letter, s, says "Ss" (slap, slap) "s" (clap).

Sh, sh, says "sh" (slap, slap) "sh" (clap).

St, st, says "st" (slap, slap) "st" (clap).

My students make drum sticks out of large tongue depressors.  They decorate them with markers and make them their own style.  Then they turn their chairs backwards and sit facing the back of the chair.  This way they can use the back of the chair for their drums.  I also have back-up singers :)

at, at, says "at" (slap, slap) "at" (clap).

ink, ink, says "ink" (slap, slap) "ink" (clap).

op, op, says "op" (slap, slap) "op" (clap).

ay, ay says "ay" (slap, slap) "ay" (clap).

Once we have practiced as a group, we start our battle of the bands.  I divide my students into groups at tables throughout my room.  They name their band, create their own signs, and we are ready to go! They play their phonics as a group and then we rotate tables.  The goal is to go around the room and practice all of the letter/sounds, phonics patterns, or word families at each table.

I am the conductor of this whole game and when I press the pretend "pause" button, they all freeze.  Just like a video game.

Have fun!  Thanks for stopping by!

Helping Children Self-Regulate Their Emotions

Happy. Sad. Excited. Mad. Afraid. Worried. Angry.  Learning to self-regulate emotions can be hard for young children.  Emotions can esculate quickly in young children which can further isolate them from their peers.  Since children learn social skills from playing and working alongside their peers, the impact of negative behaviors and emotions can make getting along with others more difficult.

Teachers deal with students who have trouble self-regulating their emotions in the early childhood classroom daily.  In most cases, they usually have more than one.   This post is part of our summer book study on dealing with challenging behavior.  You can find more information about it HERE.

So what can early childhood teachers do to help our children learn to self-regulate in their classrooms?  I love the book Challenging Behavior in Young Children: Understanding, Preventing, and Responding Effectively because it gives a well-rounded view of what our young students need.

WHY TEACH SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS

Chapter 7 is devoted to the area of teaching social and emotional skills.  The book discusses reasons why some children may struggle with self-regulation and encourages teachers to address it in the classroom setting.  Here are a few suggestions that will help you create a classroom community that supports children with challenging behaviors.

1. Be proactive in teaching social and emotional skills. Teaching social and emotional skills will benefit everyone in your classroom.

2. Teaching social and emotional skills will keep the child who is struggling from being isolated even more.

4. Plan fun engaging lessons which include puppets, songs,  and stories to discuss emotions and feelings.  Students learn from stories about characters who struggle with the same emotions and can relate to their characters' experiences.

5. When emotions arise, name them and talk about them.  Help children put into words how they are feeling.

6. Acknowledge their feelings by restating them.  This helps young children feel validated with their intense emotions and gives them the words to use the next time they encounter them.

MORE TIPS FOR TEACHING SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS

7. Be a role model for the other children.  Young children will follow your lead on how to deal with a student who is struggling with challenging behavior.  The teacher sets the tone for building a respectful classroom community where children feel comfortable discussing their thoughts and feelings.

8.  Use strategies such as self-talk to empower the child to work through these emotions without reacting on them.  When a child encounters a situation that leads to negative emotions, provide words to help the child work through the situation by naming the emotion and give solutions for dealing with the problem.

9.  Role play different scenarios that arise which lead to negative feelings.  Use puppets to show how to handle conflict and being upset, mad, or angry.  Include suggestions for how to "cool down" or find a quiet place to gain composure.  It is also important to help a student with challenging behavior re-enter the classroom community.  Learning how to overcome these emotions and find acceptable ways for engaging in play and classroom activities is equally as hard.  Model acceptance of the child as they re-enter.

10.  But most importantly, build a relationship with the student.  When students with challenging behavior  know you care about them, they will feel more at ease in discussing their negative feelings.

Thanks for stopping by the book study.  You can link up below with your blog posts.

Dollar Store Birthday Books

It's time for "Bright Ideas" for the month of June.  Do you need a cheap, easy way to make your students birthday books? I went to the Dollar Tree this week in search of some dominoes, when I passed these birthday sacks.  Well, these sacks were too cute,  so I bought 2 packages ($2.00) along with a basket full of other fun things.   Who can leave the dollar store with just 2 items?  Not me!  

 Option #1 (See top 2 photos)

1.  Open up the sack and remove the bottom part of the sack.  You can use scissors to cut it off or just pull on the bottom tabs and open them.

2.  Cut around the fold around the bottom on the sack.

3.  Fold the sack in half by laying flat at the natural fold. You will have 2 choices for the front cover. (See top 2 pictures).

4.  Cut on the side fold and open.

5.  Place paper inside the book.  I use 2 sheets of folded copy paper, but you can also use lined notebook paper too.

6.  Staple on the left side.

Option #2

1.  Follow the steps 1-3.

2.  Cut on both sides of the paper sack.

3.  Cut the thin side off of one side and save for later.

4.  Put paper to fit inside of book.  The inside binding will make the book sturdier.

5.  Staple on the left side.

Laminate the leftover sides of the sacks and make birthday bookmarks.

If you choose Option #1 or #2, you can make 20 books for $2.00 without using any color ink.  They are bright, colorful, and fun!

When your students have a birthday, let them choose a birthday book and bookmark. They can write about their birthday in their book and share with the class.  Another option is to have your class write "Happy Birthday" and sign their name to give to the birthday student. If they are older children, they can write a birthday message and even create the birthday books by themselves.  Just place them in your writing center.

If you like this "Bright Idea,"  please stop by these other amazing blogs to find more.

An InLinkz Link-up

Getting Rid of the Wiggles, a Book Study, and a FREEBIE

Classroom management and dealing with student behavior is an crucial part of every teacher's day.  If your day is filled with disruptions, then teaching can be difficult.  Learning how to be proactive to your students' needs is the first step to diffusing a difficult situation.

Here are some frequently asked questions that I receive about classroom management and working with students who have challenging behaviors.

- How can I keep my students' attention during group time?
- What do I do if a student does not want to participate?

- What strategies can be used to help young children with transitions?

- What can I do when my students don't stay on task during centers?

- What strategies can I use to help my students regulate their emotions?
- How do I teach my students to stay in their place of learning?

- What do I do when my students refuse to follow the rules?

- What type of behavior management plan should I use?

Because we all struggle with these areas, I'm excited to participate in the "Challenging Behavior" book study being hosted by Vanessa at Pre-K pages and 3 other amazing bloggers.  Here are the list of bloggers participating.  Click on the "Challenging Behaviors" picture above to learn even more about this book study.

Vanessa from Pre-K Pages
Karen from Prekinders
Deborah from Teach Preschool
Mary Catherine from Fun-a-Day
Kathy (me) from Kathy Griffin's Teaching Strategies

The focused areas will cover preschool to 1st grade; however, many of the strategies and discussions will carry over to other grades.  If you are a parent, they will be helpful for you too. The book study will begin on June 23, 2014.  Make sure and follow these bloggers by email (ME TOO), so you don't miss out on any of these posts.  Whether it is August, December, or May, these discussions will provide you with many strategies for dealing with challenging behaviors.

And YOU can participate too!  Look for updates on how to join the linky and add to our discussions.  Don't have a blog?  No problem.  Just leave your comments for our bloggers in their comment sections.  If you are interested in earning graduate credit from Concordia University, click HERE.  It is not a requirement, but is available for those who are interested.

Here are the books we will be using for our study. We hope these books will be valuable resources for your classroom.



So HERE WE GO with your first strategy!  Here is a FREE song and music video from ME to help your students get ready for group time.



If you like the video, you can check out my "Listening Strategies to Get Rid of the Wiggles" packet HERE.  I just updated it on June 10, 2014.  I added 4 mini-videos, including the one on YouTube, 4  books, and listening strategies posters.

I am very excited about this book study on "Challenging Behaviors." As always, I look forward to reading your comments.

Let it Go: End of the Year Teacher Tips for Staying Positive

Teachers can become overwhelmed and stressed at the end of the school year. This "Bright Ideas" blog post contains a "How To List" of teacher tips to help make your end of the school year a more positive experience.

If you are feeling the demands of the job from end of the year assessing, changing grade levels, getting reassigned, adopting a new curriculum, adjusting to ever-changing standards, or dealing with a full moon, I hope you find some strategies that will help you refocus on the positive.

But just for fun let's look at some strategies that are usually suggested to help people stay calm, happy, positive, and healthy. I'm going to apply them to teachers.

I made light of the chart above, but in all honesty, I understand why we sometimes aren't as cheery as other times. After all, the end of the school year is busy, stressful, and emotional.  Sometimes that leads us down a negative spiraling path. How do I know that?  I've "been there done that."

How to Stay Positive During High Stress Situations

My youngest daughter has Down Syndrome, Type 1 Diabetes, and Celiac Disease.  Each one of these can be stressful on its own.  Put them all together on a bad day, and it can be overwhelming and isolating.  Raising a child with special needs for 21 years has taught me to not sweat the small stuff and to always try and reframe the negative into a positive.  So let's apply these same strategies that I learned from raising a child with special needs and tweak them a little for our role as teachers. 

Tessa's life can be challenging due to the medical complications of diabetes and celiac disease, especially when we prepare for transitions to new experiences and change.  But the most important thing my family has learned is:

Surround yourself with as many positive friends that you can.  That way, when the job gets overwhelming, one can be the cheerleader for the other and continue on your journey.  We just got back from Special Olympics this week.  The planning of gluten free meals, medication, and scheduling can be exhausting.  I could complain.  I could be negative.  I could say it's not worth it.  But if I reframe it, I realize very quickly that moments like these are only possible when we believe in our hearts that they are truly worth it and keep smiling. After all, I have the greatest role model below as she never complains through it all.

We have "Tessa-isms" around our house.  We keep track of her favorite words, phrases, and quotes.  She says this one to everyone, including me.  :)  She wants everyone to be happy, and she is quick to remind us to . . . "Be nice to the people."   As you finish out your school year, remember that emotions run high when we are tired.  We can overthink things.  We have enough negativity to deal with in our teaching lives from some who have never stepped into our classrooms.  Let's stand together. Remember to breathe, laugh, smile, enjoy your last days with your students, and always, always . . . 

Thank you for visiting my blog.  If you have enjoyed today's post please consider following me on Face Book, Pinterest, or Teachers Pay Teachers for more ideas for the early childhood classroom.

The graphics in my pictures above are from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs and Whimsy Clips.   The fonts are by Hello Literacy.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful summer!  

For more Bright Ideas, please visit the AMAZING blogs below.  

An InLinkz Link-up