Building Self-Regulation in the Early Months

Self-regulation is a term heard often in the world of kindergarten and in the world of educational research.  Essentially, it speaks to a child's ability to regulate their emotions, focus, body, etc.  It also involves appropriate responses within various situations and when stressors may be present.  In fact, research indicates that a a strong ability to regulate oneself is a huge predictor of later success in school.  If a child struggles to regulate himself or herself, he/she is not taking in the necessary information in learning.  If a child is challenged by regulating in social situations, support is needed to ensure they are able to foster relationships with peers.  If a child is working on regulation in the area of decision making, it is important to assist to ensure they grow to be independent decision makers (while being aware of expectations) instead of relying on others.  It is a skill that impacts every single area of a child or adult's world.

(Above a great deal of skill in building self-regulation takes place as we interact with Baby Josie for the Roots of Empathy program and know that we need to allow her to feel calm and welcome.)

The immense importance of this skill is precisely why we slow down at the beginning of the year to really dig into fostering self-regulation and why our daily schedule throughout the year reflects many opportunities for skill building in this area.  Many of the decisions that we have made about the classroom environment reflect the importance we place on self-regulation.  Low lighting, calming music, neutral colours, organized materials, and a feeling of home all contribute to a child feeling welcome and calm in our space.

Below we are sharing some of the explorations taking place over the first couple of months at school and we link them to the building of these self-regulation skills.

There are many opportunities for children to develop regulation outdoors.  The first comes when it's time to make a decision about what to wear.  Educators always ensure safety is a priority (for example, if a child was choosing not to wear a coat in winter, we would discuss why this is a necessity).  If it begins to warm up on mild days and a child is running around, often they begin the year by saying "I'm hot".  Educators prompt them to list some things they could do to assist with this.  We notice very quickly that the words turn into "I'm hot!  I'm going to unzip my coat!".  Children then need to make a decision about a good place to place their belongings if they are taking items off.  They also need to remember to bring it back inside when it's time and educators provide reminders to do so.

Children also need to make decisions about what they can do outside based on what they are wearing.  For example, rubber boots are perfect for puddle walking but Crocs are not!  Standing in the puddle allows us to explore and have fun but putting other parts of our body in makes us feel wet and yucky.  Then comes making the decision to change pants or socks inside when wet.  The thought process moves to "I'm wet.  I could change my socks!".  Again, with safety being a priority, in cold weather educators would discuss the dangers of being wet when it's very cold out so that a child understood why they can't go in the puddle on those days.

Another area which we have discussed in a past post is self-selected snack time in the morning.  Instead of saying "I'm hungry" and pushing through the morning because snack time is officially at 10:30, children are invited to thinking "I'm hungry" and then make a decision about what to do.  Ensuring we are eating when hungry also allows us to have adequate focus in our learning and calmness in our interactions with peers.

The kindergarten curriculum support large blocks of uninterrupted time for exploration and investigation at centres.  The sheer time allows educators to observe and model appropriate social interactions (sharing, cooperating, communicating needs/wants, compromising, etc.) which takes a great deal of emotional regulation.  In fact, the personal/social section of the curriculum is purposely placed at the front of the document as a message about how pivotal these skills are for all other learning to begin to take place.  Because these skills set the stage for learning, we focus on this area of the curriculum for our first set of parent conferences.

A great deal of regulation is involved in making choices in the classroom and the Full Day Kindergarten program supports a great deal of choice within the classroom.  Children have choice about centres, about joining in particular small group activities (such as going outdoors with one educator for an exploration or staying indoors with the other), and around where to sit during story time whether it be on a chair, couch, floor, stool (and they begin to choose a place where they are able to listen well).  Throughout the day, there are countless decisions to be made and as we have said before, children learn to make good decisions by being given the opportunity to make decisions and not always being instructed what to do.

 Above some children chose to take part in co-constructing our number posters with an educator.

 Above a small group of children explore outdoors with an educator while another group chose to discover indoors.

The concept of self-regulation is science.  Children require many opportunities to physically build pathways in their brain to allow them to regulate.  If a child is having difficulty sharing with others, they need countless opportunities to build this skill.  If a child finds it difficult to use their words when frustrated, they require multiple opportunities each day to build strategies.  If a child struggles to calm themselves when upset, they need appropriate supports from adults and the opportunity to be able to build this pathway in their brain.  The majority of these brain-building requirements come through large blocks for investigation and interaction in the classroom as well as many opportunities to make decisions.  You will continue to see strategies for supporting self-regulation to be infused into our program for the entire year as it holds it's pivotal place in learning in the early years.