Episode Summary
In this episode, I speak with Stacy and Katie, the creators of Teacher Tricks Times Two, a resource platform for educators. We discuss the evolving challenges in kindergarten teaching post-pandemic, talking about the increase in extreme behaviors and the necessity of fostering a safe, nurturing classroom environment. Stacy shares her experiences as a newish to kindergarten teacher, while Katie offers insights from her 12 years in kindergarten. We explore the significance of social-emotional learning, effective behavior management, and the importance of unstructured play. Both Katie and Stacy provide practical strategies and activities to enhance learning and address behavioral issues.
I can’t expect a five year old to say, can I play with that when you’re done? If they’ve never been taught that or modeled that.
~ Stacy from Ep. 60 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast
In this episode we share:
- Discussing Classroom Behaviors
- Navigating Teacher Challenges
- Reintroducing Playdates
- Teaching Kids Social Skills
- Strategies for Handling Behaviors
- The Impact of COVID on Learning
- Advocating for Playtime
Resources:
- Felipe the Feeling Frog
- Helping Kids Play: A Social Emotional Unit | How to Play at Recess & Friendship
- Supporting Kids at Recess Kindergarten and First Grade
- Supporting Kids Who Fight at Recess [Ep. 5]
Connect with Katie and Stacy:
- Instagram – @teachertrickstimestwo
- Website – www.teachertrickstimestwo.com
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript
Zeba McGibbon [00:00:00]:
Hey everyone, it’s Zeba from Kindergarten Cafe and today I’m talking to two kindergarten teachers, Stacy and Katie. They are the co owners of Teacher Tricks Times two on Instagram and Teachers Pay Teachers. And they were. It was such a great conversation about just what we’re noticing and teaching right now that we can all relate to and some great teaching tips for our language and how we want to be teaching the social skills to our students. So I know you’re going to enjoy it and get something out of it. And let’s get right into the interview.
Zeba McGibbon [00:00:38]:
You’re listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast where kindergarten teachers come to learn classroom tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom. Right away. I’m Zeba, creator and founder of Kindergarten Cafe and I help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time, work smarter, not harder, and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone, ready to start saving time and reducing your stress, all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love. Let’s get started.
Zeba McGibbon [00:01:29]:
Today on the podcast we have Stacy and Katie from Teacher Trickstimes 2. So we have two kindergarten teachers for the price of one, which is awesome. So Stacy and Katie, I don’t know if you want to take a minute to just introduce yourselves.
Katie [00:01:42]:
Yeah. So Stacey and I met in college actually, and we have been very fortunate enough to work together our entire school career. We both started off at the same school teaching English language development, and then we transitioned to the school where we are now and we’ve been here for the last 12 years and we’ve always been at the same school. The last two years we’ve been in the same grade. So that’s been really fun. We started our Instagram page as a way to connect with teachers and moms because not only are we teachers, we’re also best friends in real life and we’ve raised our babies together. We have six boys together. Between the two of us, Stacy has four.
Katie [00:02:23]:
I only have two. But you know, we love to bounce ideas off each other when it comes to raising our kids. And so, yeah, we love kindergarten. We just now started. This is Stacy’s second year in kindergarten. I’ve been teaching kindergarten for 12 years, so I’ve kind of been. Yeah, I’ve been her mentor, helping her out. You know, kindergarten is a wild, wild world and I think it’s a really grade there’s no other grade I feel like that is at all comparable.
Katie [00:02:51]:
So, yeah, we are here. We’re ready to share all the fun stuff that we love to do in our classrooms.
Zeba McGibbon [00:02:57]:
Awesome.
Stacy [00:02:58]:
Hi, I’m Stacy. I’m the other half of Teacher Tricks times two. And like Katie said, I have four young boys at home. So Katie and I have had lots of fun sharing our teacher lives here at school, and then kind of our teach your mom lives at home sharing activities and ideas that just help make our lives a little bit easier with all of our students and kids.
Zeba McGibbon [00:03:23]:
I’m saying I’m a little jealous. Like, you guys sound like you have, like, the best friendship and that you go through everything together. Like, to have someone who gets every aspect of your life, that’s awesome.
Stacy [00:03:33]:
And the other thing we love to do is we like to run and work out together. So we actually took a girls trip to New York to do some peloton rides.
Katie [00:03:42]:
Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
Zeba McGibbon [00:03:43]:
You were in the videos. I can watch our videos.
Katie [00:03:45]:
Yes.
Stacy [00:03:46]:
Robin actually shouted me out, which was, like, a huge fan girl moment.
Zeba McGibbon [00:03:51]:
That is a dream.
Katie [00:03:52]:
Yeah. But we do have fun. I think it’s just we have such a unique relationship, and I know not everybody gets to, you know, work with their best friend every day. So it honestly helps when we have, like, really challenging moments or really challenging kids or really big behaviors just to be able to not only, you know, bounce ideas off a teacher, but also someone who gets you and your personality. It’s just. It’s so, so great. Both of us commute to work, and our husbands are always like, you know, you could find jobs closer to home, and we’re like, yeah, we could, but.
Stacy [00:04:22]:
We wouldn’t be working together.
Katie [00:04:24]:
We wouldn’t be working together. So we’re here. We’re stuck with each other until, hopefully we retire. I mean, who knows?
Zeba McGibbon [00:04:31]:
That’s how I feel about, like, my school. Like, it’s a commute now, but it’s worth it when you have the right people.
Katie [00:04:36]:
For sure. You really need a good system at your school.
Zeba McGibbon [00:04:39]:
Yeah. I just want to set the scene for everyone that’s listening because, like, you two are just in your classroom together. And I just want to, like, shout that out because I think that’s awesome. You’re not in separate screens. You’re together in the same classroom. But anyway, so you mentioned behavior, and I think that’s something that a lot of teachers want help with, want to talk about. It’s definitely the thing I hear the most in, like, Facebook groups and on Instagram that the behaviors have gotten out of control. And I’d love to hear your perspective on that.
Zeba McGibbon [00:05:07]:
I think people want to just hear from other teachers and what are you noticing and seeing and how are you handling it?
Katie [00:05:13]:
Yeah, I think it’s important to know that we aren’t alone. I feel like if you talk to every teacher out there, behaviors and lack of support is really what’s driving teachers out of the profession. I mean, and the lack of, you know, sufficient pay. But these really big behaviors are really causing us to have these huge issues in class, and we aren’t equipped to take those challenges on. You know, we aren’t trained to handle when children have these huge emotional outbursts. And we’ve really seen a huge change since. Kids have come back from, you know, when we had distance learning and we had Covid. The kids have come back, and there we see these extreme behaviors that we weren’t seeing before.
Katie [00:05:54]:
Kindergarten has always had behaviors. Kids who are figuring out how to be a student, how to play with each other. I mean, really, there’s so much learning that goes on in kindergarten, and it’s more just about this is what it’s like to be a student in a classroom, and this is what I have to do in order to be successful and to be a lifelong learner. And our job is really to make sure that students feel safe in their classroom. And I tell the kindergartners that all the time. Of course, I want you to learn. I want you to know your Alphabet, your letters, your numbers, letter sounds, and we’ll get to all of that. But more importantly, I want you to be kind, and I want you to love learning.
Katie [00:06:31]:
So I want them to show up every day and be excited to come into my classroom. And if you have a student with these really extreme behaviors that makes your classroom feel unsafe. And that’s our number one job. Right? We talk about keeping kids safe at school, and if we’re allowing these children with these big emotional outbursts where they’re throwing chairs or throwing supplies or they’re hitting or yelling or screaming, and we have to evacuate the classroom, we have no longer provided a safe space for our youngest learners to learn in. And what a disservice to these poor babies who they are five and six years old, to see something traumatic like that. You know, they’re going to remember that forever. That’s going to be something that sticks with them. And I think where we have our most issues is we see these kids with these behaviors, and we aren’t necessarily getting the Best support that we can.
Katie [00:07:26]:
And it’s not necessarily, you know, our administrator’s fault or even the district’s fault. A lot of times their hands are tied when it comes to being giving referrals or disciplining them. You know, everybody’s just kind of stuck. And so we’re all really trying to do the best that we can, but we really do see how these extreme behaviors are affecting classroom learning and also playgrounds. You know, we at recess all the time, you know, these kids don’t know how to problem solve with each other. They haven’t quite figured out those skills. So we really do have to. And I don’t know if it’s because of what happened in Covid or now everybody’s so used to technology and having access to screens.
Katie [00:08:07]:
What have we done to our little babies? I mean, it just is very sad.
Zeba McGibbon [00:08:11]:
Yeah. And I. So a lot of. I can resonate with everything you’re saying, and I think every teacher out there can. And I think because we kind of expected things to go back to normal when Covid was over, I think it really coming as a total shock to teachers of, like, and. And, like, year after year, like, okay, maybe this is this one kid, and it’s a tough year. And then it’s like, oh, my gosh, like, is this, like, every year? Or, like, oh, other teachers are feeling the same thing? Like, I can’t even. I feel like I can’t even go complain because this other teacher had the exact same thing happen or, like, had it worse or, like, I’m calling for help.
Zeba McGibbon [00:08:46]:
And they. All the administrators or the social workers or the counselors are tied up with 10 other kids that are a higher priority. And I feel like one. We as teachers want to help. And when it’s helping, that goes beyond what we can do in the classroom while we have other kids to also need to help. It weighs on us that we can’t be enough.
Katie [00:09:09]:
Absolutely. You feel it. You feel guilty. Yeah. You feel like you’re not doing enough. And we already are going above and beyond. And so you. Do you feel this sense of helplessness that you’re not doing the best that you can.
Stacy [00:09:22]:
I’m trying to help the 22 or 23 other students have a safe learning environment. So balancing. I think that was my hardest thing last year was like, the balancing act between teaching and doing the social emotional with one or two kids. Like, do we take time? Do we stop the whole class and do we focus on these couple kids right now? Do we keep the learning going and do we, you know, do you come back later? Like, that was a struggle coming from the upper grades.
Zeba McGibbon [00:09:51]:
Yeah.
Stacy [00:09:51]:
Knowing, you know, the time, where to spend the most time.
Katie [00:09:56]:
Yeah.
Zeba McGibbon [00:09:56]:
The balance of I need to help this one kid, but I also am responsible to help all the other kids at the same time. And you do have to make choices. And I’ve learned to kind of let go and it feels really bad, but like the only way to help the whole class is sometimes meaning, like I have to let go of helping this one kid out individually all the time and like, do what I can when I can.
Katie [00:10:21]:
Right. I think something else that always resonates with me when we think about these kids with these really extreme behaviors is you’re spending 95% of your energy on 1% of your class. Or, you know, one student is getting all of these teachers, all these extra support staff to help them. What about the kids that are doing what they’re supposed to be doing? They need friendship groups too because of course we’d love to spend all of our energy and resources on these kids with these extreme behaviors, but every five year old needs social, emotional, learning skills. They, if they don’t have that. And I think that’s where this, this kind of disconnect has happened, is that when Covid happened, everybody was home. And I know when we were growing, when we had our littles growing up with our friends, you know, we would just have play dates and the kids all together, different age ranges and it was just, that’s how they learned how to interact with their peers. And when Covid happened, obviously none of, none of that was happening.
Katie [00:11:21]:
And so I feel for these kids because it’s not their fault that this is their world that they’re living in. And so it’s our job to teach them. And I don’t think parents model enough at all how to have conversations with their kids.
Zeba McGibbon [00:11:35]:
Yeah, they hand them the technology. They hand them the iPad at the restaurant. Like, I see it and I cringe and I’m. Yeah, I’m not a parent, so I don’t want to judge other parents. And like, I get it, you just need a minute to yourself or you just want like to have a nice date with your partner. But like then the kids literally don’t know how to talk to each other at snack or at lunch.
Katie [00:11:53]:
I noticed too, they, since they get everything instantaneously on their iPad, right. They can pick like, I want this book, I want to play this game. So in the classroom, when they see, you know, my smart board with all my you know, oh, there’s all these fun videos. They’re, you know, telling me, oh, do that one. And I have to say no. And then they look at me like, well, why not just think they’re going to get everything they want instantaneously. They have no more patience.
Zeba McGibbon [00:12:20]:
One, they’re not used to waiting or having any kind of unstructured downtime that they have to fill themselves. I made an entire curriculum for, like, how to teach kids how to play at recess because literally, kids did not know how to play at recess with each other because they’ve never had unstructured playtime. And I’m teaching the parents in my class about what a play date is and how important it is. Like, I’m like, there’s no homework. Your homework is play dates. And they’re like, what is that?
Stacy [00:12:49]:
And I’m like, going to the park. Yeah. And just let them play.
Katie [00:12:54]:
Really?
Stacy [00:12:54]:
We tell parents that all the time. We’re really fortunate. Right across the street from our school is a public park, so it’s very convenient for school. Lots of families can just walk right across the street and play. Yes.
Katie [00:13:07]:
Let them play for an hour.
Stacy [00:13:09]:
Unstructured. You know, you don’t have to invite people over if you don’t want to, which I understand. Let them just play for a little bit of time and then everybody can go home.
Zeba McGibbon [00:13:19]:
Yeah, I think that, like, meeting in a neutral spot is a great introduction to play dates. That’s what I’m always suggesting.
Katie [00:13:26]:
Yeah. And let them. Let the conversations happen naturally. Like, kids will open up when they’re ready to start talking. And so it might in the beginning just be parallel play and they’re just kind of following along. But eventually, you know, the more you have them together, the more those conversations will happen. And I think parents need to let their kids, even their siblings, like, they have to be able to fight a little bit and have, like, a little bit of conflict revolution.
Zeba McGibbon [00:13:49]:
Yes.
Katie [00:13:50]:
Parents are stepping in too soon, or, you know, the grownups are stepping in trying to solve problems. Problem is, they have to do that themselves because if they don’t, they’re never going to figure it out. Of course, step in if things start escalating. But if you give them the tools, you have to let them practice. Otherwise they’re not. And they’re not going to learn it the first time. We have to give them more opportunity.
Zeba McGibbon [00:14:10]:
They. They have so much learned helplessness. And yeah, like you said, all the adults in their lives, like, even teachers can be guilty of this if, like, it’s just Easier for me to just do it for you.
Stacy [00:14:21]:
Or, you know, if they’re having a little conflict on the carpet, sometimes it’s, you know, you find yourself like, oh, please don’t do that. It’s like, no, you need to. We try to model saying the person’s name, the other child’s name, please move over. Or I’d like to have a turn. Or when you’re done, can I play with that? Like taking the extra time to really, like model those things for the students.
Zeba McGibbon [00:14:46]:
Yeah.
Stacy [00:14:47]:
So they can say it themselves and.
Zeba McGibbon [00:14:48]:
Give them the language because they don’t know it.
Stacy [00:14:51]:
Right. Yeah. I can’t expect a five year old to say, can I play with that when you’re done? If they’ve never been taught that or modeled that. So instead of I need that, or they just kind of take it away from them, it’s giving them the tools and the language. I’d like to play with you or please move out of the way. I’d like to get this big.
Katie [00:15:13]:
Yeah.
Zeba McGibbon [00:15:13]:
Katie, you mentioned something I say all the time, which is, it’s our job to teach them. If they’re having misbehaviors, like, that’s communication. They’re saying they need to be taught these social skills. Like, that’s our job. And it is more intense in kindergarten than in other grades. But that’s why I love it.
Katie [00:15:30]:
Right. Like I said, it’s such a special year. And I really do feel like, you know, every year, I mean, obviously I loved it. I’ve been doing it for 12 years. But it is hard. It’s a very demanding job. And I don’t think people realize how physically exhausting and demanding it is day after day. You know, it’s a lot.
Katie [00:15:50]:
These, they take up a lot of your energy, these little five and six year olds.
Zeba McGibbon [00:15:55]:
Yes. But then you get the glimpse of kindergarten magic where you’re like, oh, this is why I’m here. They’re learning so much. Like, you can see the, you see the switch flip and you’re like, oh, like they just learned that. I just watched that. Like, that’s magic.
Katie [00:16:09]:
When they come the first week of school and you’re like, oh my gosh. Remember, this is what they’re like. And then thinking back to the end of the school year and really how much growth they make, it’s. It is. But you have to take the time to remember what they’re like at the end of the school year to really make sure that you love them in the end of the school year that they get Back to the good times.
Zeba McGibbon [00:16:28]:
I tell teachers all the time, like, yeah, no, I want you to be aware, the first month just stinks. And it does get better.
Katie [00:16:36]:
It does.
Zeba McGibbon [00:16:37]:
But so, you know, we could talk about why the behaviors changing all day long and all of our theories, and I think we’re spot on with all of them. But I’m sure there’s more we haven’t thought about. But what are you guys doing about it? Like, what’s working for you right now?
Stacy [00:16:52]:
So we both, in our school, we do kimochis and character strong, which we both like. And I think we’ve slowed down a. This year, we’ve been super intentional about our social emotional learning and our lessons. Like, with our students. Meeting new to Kinder. Last year was just. It was just. I don’t know what it was.
Zeba McGibbon [00:17:11]:
Yeah, your first year is like that.
Stacy [00:17:13]:
Yeah. First year of Kinder. But this year, we both decided to really slow down and go back to the basics with them and talk about what it is to be a good friend. Really modeling all those great things that good friends do and really taking the time to show them.
Katie [00:17:31]:
Komochis do a really great job of, like, attaching. They have stuffed animals attached to different character and personality traits. So, like, cat, she can be bossy. And so cat has very specific skills that she’s learned. Right. She’s learning how to talk nicely so kids can resonate. Like, oh, sometimes I can be like, bossy cat. So we teach the kids, if someone is being a little bit bossy, then you can say, like, talk nicely, Stacy.
Katie [00:17:56]:
Remind them instead of saying hey, or that’s not very nice. We try and teach them very specific skills, very specific, intentional words to tell that person, I’m feeling happy or I’m feeling sad because you are doing this. But we the komochi. One of the my favorite things that komochis does and we teach the kids is that all feelings are okay, but all behaviors are not. So it’s okay to be mad, but it’s not okay to be mean. You can be mad. And I always tell kids when they’re frustrated, like, I see that you are angry and telling them, validating them. I see that you are upset.
Katie [00:18:37]:
That’s okay. And once they’ve calmed down and they’re regulated, then you can come in and kind of repair. I see that you’re angry because you didn’t get to play in kitchen. That’s okay. It’s okay that you’re mad. You didn’t get playing kitchen. Next time, maybe it will Be your turn, you know, because sometimes. Just yesterday, I had a girl throw a huge fit because she didn’t get to play in kitchen, and she just starts screaming hysterically, crying loudly.
Katie [00:19:02]:
Because that probably works at home.
Zeba McGibbon [00:19:04]:
Yeah.
Katie [00:19:05]:
And so me. Well, I’m not going to. I’m not going to even address you. I’m going to tell you when you come down. I can talk to you as soon as she turns off the waterworks, then I can go in and kind of connect with her. But it’s hard. You have to have a lot of patience to be able to ignore the screaming and the crying. Yeah.
Katie [00:19:23]:
So kimochis have been wonderful for that. Just, the kids really connect because the stuffed animals, they all love. I mean, who doesn’t love a stuffed animal, you know, Hugtopus. And Hugtopus gets a little bit silly with his arms. And so we have to remind Hugtopus to have a calm body or. Please stop. You’re in my personal space. So those komochis have been wonderful for our young learners.
Zeba McGibbon [00:19:45]:
Yeah. So three things about what you said. The first was that I think people, like, don’t realize just how specific and explicit you have to get with kindergarten, even with older kids, too, I think. But we can’t just say, be kind. They don’t know what that means. And so when we’re teaching them how to be kind, we need to get as specific as, like, give a smile, because that shows you’re being kind. You know, say good morning to someone. That’s a way to be kind.
Zeba McGibbon [00:20:13]:
Like, very specific examples. And all of, like, the examples you were giving where I was like, yep, those are the very specific examples that.
Katie [00:20:21]:
They need, for sure.
Zeba McGibbon [00:20:22]:
The second thing is, I like what you said about you not talking to her when she’s screaming and upset. We need to calm down, and then you can talk. Because she’s not going to be taking anything in that you’re saying when she’s upset like, that. It might even become like a tug of war, like, negotiation battle. And, like, no, we’re not doing that. But also, like, she’s.
Stacy [00:20:42]:
She’s disregulated.
Zeba McGibbon [00:20:43]:
She’s dysregulated. Exactly. And she’s just not going to take anything in. And so the priority at that moment is getting her maybe even away from the group of the kids calming down, and then you can address the situation.
Stacy [00:20:57]:
Yeah, yeah.
Zeba McGibbon [00:20:58]:
The third thing was I was smiling when you were saying, we teach our kids. All feelings are okay. Because that is the message of the children’s book that I wrote, which Is literally all feelings are okay as long as we handle them in the right way. So I was just smiling. I was like, we are, like, on the same wavelength here.
Katie [00:21:13]:
Well, I think it’s such an important skill, and clearly we dropped the ball along the way. And now we see these second and third graders who are having these behavior issues out of recess. And there’s probably lots of factors in that, that they’re having these issues, but I don’t think they ever had the opportunity to really learn how to be a good friend and what it means to have a positive relationship. A lot of those kids, when they were in kindergarten, they still had masks on. And that was the hardest year. Harder than distance learning, because even myself wearing a mask, not only trying to teach letter sounds and cinemake awareness skills, I mean, not even happening, but they could not read my face. And so when I was mad, you know, they’re only seeing half of my face. And so I’d have to be like, these are my.
Katie [00:22:01]:
These are my masks. Like, I am like. Like they could not read my face and they couldn’t read each other’s faces. So they ran around the playground, not really understanding. Are you happy? Are you scared? Are you sad? It was really tough. And so really talking to them about reading each other’s faces is, you know, such an important skill for them.
Zeba McGibbon [00:22:22]:
That’s a great point, too, because this school, like you said, we’re at a kind of a standstill. They’re putting out fires in the older grade. And so then when we call for help, because we have situations where we need help, they’re busy dealing with bigger fires because, yeah, the fourth and fifth grade fights bigger issues, obviously, than kindergarten temper tantrums, like, I get it. But then we’re not being preventative at all. And that’s where I have the issue is no one has the capacity to be preventative right now. And I get that we’re human and we don’t have the capacity. But then we have problems down the line where we have bigger issues. And right now, I think a huge part of the problem with the behaviors in older grades is that they don’t have enough time to play in the younger grades.
Zeba McGibbon [00:23:05]:
I don’t know about you, but our play time is getting like, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop to every. And I’m always, like, standing firm. Like, no, I’m advocating for play, but it’s just a nationwide thing. I’m feeling like that play is being taken away. And then we’re like, well, why don’t these fourth graders have any social skills?
Stacy [00:23:21]:
Yeah, because their recess really. So they have a morning recess that’s 15 minutes. But a lot of the time by the time they walk out, they go get a snack and they eat. They have maybe 10, 8 to 10 minutes to really play. And then sometimes the yard duties will blow the whistle a minute or two early so that they can take a knee and then walk to their line. So when I was teaching second grade, their recess, which should have been 15 minutes, was now down to about 12. And then if they’re eating and going to the bathroom, they’re really only playing for eight to 10 minutes.
Katie [00:23:53]:
And that’s not a lot.
Zeba McGibbon [00:23:55]:
Not when you, especially not when you have to make a plan for what you’re playing. And you’re not used to having unstructured time because you’re. Or not having anyone tell you what to do. So then you’re just wandering around and then you’re saying, I’m bored. I hate recess. And it just breaks my heart.
Katie [00:24:09]:
Yeah, well, I had, we had morning tubs out today, which is just fun stem activities, all open ended play, you know, nothing. And a little girl like came up to me holding one of the little rods and was like, I don’t know what to do. And I was like, you just play, honey. There’s no wrong way to play. They just think that there’s always a right and a wrong way. And so the creativity we have lost. I know we could come on again and talk about play because me too, I am like adamant. We get activity time every day.
Katie [00:24:39]:
And even today my principal walked in in the middle of activity time. It’s chaos. The kids are allowed, they’re noisy, they’re all playing, they’re all having so much fun. And she’s like, this is so needed. This is so necessary. So we are lucky that we have good advocates at our school and admin that supports play. I know that’s not the case in every grade. Kindergarten is obviously a little bit different, but yeah, we see without.
Katie [00:25:02]:
I mean they’re learning so much social and emotional skills during planning.
Zeba McGibbon [00:25:06]:
Yeah, I think that the kids need that time to kind of flounder a little bit in order to be creative because they have kind of learned there’s a right or wrong. And like I’ll put out open ended materials. And they’re like, yeah, what do I do? And I’m like, what do you want to do?
Katie [00:25:21]:
Yeah, I don’t think they get enough of that. So much of their day is structured and you know, they’re asked to do specific things after school. And so. And I know my own son, like, he asked, can we have time at the house so that I can go home and play? Like, he needs to recharge that way, and he’s able to communicate that with me. And I. Some kids aren’t able to say that I really want to spend time at home with you. And you have to teach your kids, like, when you’re feeling like. When you’re feeling like you’re not safe and you need to, like, recharge.
Katie [00:25:50]:
Help them figure out how they can regulate themselves. Help them figure out what’s a good way for them to calm down. My boys play very differently, so they calm down in very different ways. And so you have to kind of help your kids figure out what’s going to be their thing that’s going to help them calm down when they’re feeling like they need to be synced.
Zeba McGibbon [00:26:09]:
That is why we can’t just teach one strategy of anything. Because what works for one kid doesn’t work for another. And, like, even, like tools that we give them to help them focus or this or that. It doesn’t always help every kid. So you just. Teachers need to be super superheroes and just have a million tools in their toolbox that they can pull out because you just never know what’s going to work. And that’s where it comes to knowing your students and just trial and error, like being a detective and figuring out what works.
Katie [00:26:37]:
I think, and I don’t think enough teachers do that. You have to really just be willing to try stuff. And if it works, great, and if it doesn’t, then next year you just don’t do it. And, like, be okay with the failure. Be okay with it not working out, because you’re never going to learn unless you try. You have to just throw yourself out there. This year we tried some new things for the first week of school, and they went great. But if they didn’t, then next year we won’t do that.
Katie [00:26:59]:
So you just have to keep trying.
Zeba McGibbon [00:27:02]:
Yeah. So do you guys have, like, everyone loves to compare schedules. Do you guys have social emotional block in your schedule? Play time in your schedule?
Stacy [00:27:10]:
We both do, and we do it on the fly as well. But we try to do it before or after recess, like a really quick kimochi lesson or character strong lesson. This month is all about kindness. So there’s some cute videos the program that we can show. And then we both do activity time at the end of the day.
Zeba McGibbon [00:27:29]:
So how long for each.
Stacy [00:27:31]:
So I’d Say, between five and ten minutes of komochi time, and then, like, maybe a quick activity, and then if we do character strong, the same, like, about five to 10 minutes. We have to keep it pretty short at this point of the year.
Zeba McGibbon [00:27:45]:
Yes.
Stacy [00:27:46]:
And then activity time is a little longer now just to get them learning how to play and showing them all the bins and buckets they can play with.
Katie [00:27:55]:
That’s been about 20 minutes.
Stacy [00:27:56]:
20 minutes, yeah.
Zeba McGibbon [00:27:58]:
That’s great. Yeah. I think that’s key, though, is, like, being responsive to where the kids are when you’re teaching them, because. Yeah, at the beginning of the year, attention spans were really low, and we need to build their stamina, and, like, we can do that through play. Yeah, that’s great.
Katie [00:28:11]:
Both of us. Also, we have a ton, I mean, a ton of books that help support social emotional learning. And most of the books in my library this first couple weeks are really, you know, books about being friends. Today we read Stick in Stone, which is the book about friendship. You know, we read a lot of. A lot of books based around friendships and differences or issues that come up, you know, now that we’re all in a classroom with other students. Yes. These are your classmates.
Katie [00:28:35]:
They’re going to be with you the rest of the year. Year. We have to learn how to get along all together as a family. So. And I think they also realize, like, I tell them when I’m frustrated and I’m very honest with them. If I’m having a moment where I need to take a breath, I’m always honest with them. Like, hey, guys, look at my face. Do I look frustrated right now? Yes, you look frustrated.
Katie [00:28:56]:
Okay, so let’s all take some calming breaths. In order to help us get back on the right track. They need to see me struggle with my feelings so that they know it’s okay for them to struggle with theirs and that it’s okay to bounce back. Right. Like, we can have a really crummy morning, but we need to bounce back and not let that ruin the rest of our day. So we use that phrase a lot. You know, let’s bounce back.
Zeba McGibbon [00:29:16]:
I like that.
Katie [00:29:17]:
And not let this one small thing, you know, make us have horrible day.
Zeba McGibbon [00:29:22]:
Might have to start using that. I like that. Yeah. Yeah, I always do. Like, we have to be flexible, and I do the little wave motion.
Katie [00:29:28]:
That’s good. That’s a good thing for them to learn, too, but I like it.
Zeba McGibbon [00:29:32]:
Awesome. Well, thank you both so much. I think teachers are really going to enjoy, like, just relating to other teachers on a human level and getting some nice tricks to help with behaviors and everything. Do you want to tell any everyone where they can find you and like what to look for?
Katie [00:29:48]:
You can find us. We’re Teacher Trickstimes too. Everywhere. Our website, both our TikTok and our Instagram. We’re mainly on Instagram. TikTok is really not our forte. Same.
Zeba McGibbon [00:29:58]:
We got same.
Katie [00:29:59]:
We share ideas all the time on our Instagram page, so come check us out there.
Zeba McGibbon [00:30:03]:
Awesome. Thank you.
Katie [00:30:05]:
Thank you.
Zeba McGibbon [00:30:12]:
Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more Kindergarten tips. See you then.