There are 2 parts to this assignment. In the first activity, you will read a one page article that describes several tools that may be used to encourage and support the social and emotional developmen

There are 2 parts to this assignment. In the first activity, you will read a one page article that describes several tools that may be used to encourage and support the social and emotional development in young children. In the second part, you will see a variety of examples of specific activities you can try with young children. You will choose one activity in each category or area to try with young children. After doing each of these 3 activities, you will write a short paper describing which activity you chose for each category, what you did, the children's response, and your overall assessment of the activity. This is due October 26th. 

Part 1: READ: Practical Strategies for Teachers: This short article describes tools that encourage young children's social/emotional development. For article, click HERE. 

(http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/pdf/practical_strategies.pdf)

Part 2: Go to the CSEFEL website:  http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html

Choose one activity to explore in each of these three areas: 

1. Scripted stories for social situations

2. Book Nook

3. Teaching Social Emotional Skills

Under "Scripted Stories for Social Situations," you will find the scripts and power point slides with pictures and scripts for stories that talk about social situations that most young children experience. For example, all children need to learn to use their words appropriately. If you have a child who is having difficulty doing this, you might choose this scripted story. You can print off the power point slides to use as a book to read with children. At the end of each scripted story there are suggestions for how you can use the script to make your own book by pasting in photos of children in your classroom. If you'd like to make your own book based on one of the scripts, this would be fine. 

Under "Book Nook," you will find guides that give you ideas and activities that help support social/emotional development using some popular children's books that you may already have in your classroom. If not, these should be available in local libraries, as well as online. (Go to YouTube and search for the name of the book you wish to find.) For example, here is a link to Mouse Was Mad by Linda Urban. Click Here.

The guide for Mouse was Mad gives discussion suggestions for before, during, and after the reading of the book. It also gives suggestions for outdoor games, art activities, and dramatic play ideas that can be used as a follow-up. If you were to choose this guide under "Book Nook," you would try as many of these suggestions as possible. 

Under "Teaching Social and Emotional Skills," there are resources that you can print off and use to help young children identify how they are feeling, to reinforce them for positive social behaviors, or to help them know what steps to take in problem solving. You will choose one of these resources to use with a child or a group of children. 

Over the next 2 weeks, you will try each of your chosen activities with young children and write a short report describing what you did for each area listed above, the response of the child/children, and your assessment of the activities you did