Nap Time Challenges: Tips for nap time misbehavior in the ECE classroom

Nap time is basically sacred for early childhood educators. 

It’s a rare moment where the adult can sit down for a consecutive 10 minutes.

And unfortunately, in the ECE field many educators only get a 30 minute lunch break, so by the time adults are able to decompress they have to go right back in the classroom again, so nap time is an opportunity to process and relax a little bit. 

Even if not all of the children fall asleep, it’s dedicated time to sit down and slow down in the classroom, which is often needed for everyone in the room. 

So, it’s understandable when teachers are frustrated by nap time challenges and perceived misbehavior. 

Things like children whose behavior keeps others awake (or wakes them up), needs constant attention which means the adult gets little to no time to get much needed admin/cleaning done, or just behaviors that siphon the little energy educators have left. 

So let’s talk about common nap time challenges and what to do about it.

In many classrooms the transition can be pretty tough for educators.

Logistically, especially in younger classrooms, trying to get everything done is a momentous task and that often leaves pockets of time for little ones to get into a bit of mischief like running around, arguing, etc. 

If a child is struggling to transition to nap time:

• Give them extra, individual warnings about the transition to napping. 

• Use a visual schedule and visual aids/timers. Fifteen minutes is a hard concept for young children and how long that time frame feels can depend on their mood and how engaged they are in an activity.

  A visual timer can help them better conceptualize the passage of time and how much time they actually have left. 

• Empathize with their frustration, and let them be sad about having to stop whatever they were doing to transition. There’s nothing wrong with being sad, frustrated, or even angry.

  This isn’t something we need to “fix”. Our goal is to help them recognize and appropriately express these feelings, but not to stop feeling them.

• Brainstorm solutions to preserve a work in progress. Maybe they were building something important, coloring, or intently working on a play task. Just like when we get frustrated about being interrupted while “in the zone”, children can feel that way too.

  Work together to find ways to preserve their progress. Some examples could be taking a photo, moving their activity to an empty table to be finished after their nap, or even allowing an extra five minutes to finish. 

• Let them go to sleep sooner or a few minutes later. A child that is overly tired could be more irritable, making transitions more challenging, so it could be beneficial to make sure they’re one of the first to be laid down for a nap.

  Or likewise, they might not be as tired, so letting them stay up a few extra minutes to help sweep or letting them be the last to be changed before nap can give them some extra time to wind down. 

Child won’t lie down. 

This one can be tough, because these children could be keeping other children awake. The advice educators are usually given is to give the child something to do on their mat.

You might hesitate to let the child read or play with soft blocks/toys because other children might want to as well, but children are surprisingly understanding that when it comes to meeting needs, it doesn’t look the same for everyone.

A confident explanation that one child doesn’t nap because their body no longer needs it, is usually enough. 

But if it continues to be a concern you could ask the child to “rest their body” for 15 minutes before being allowed to get up from their cot. 

If the child is having a hard time with volume control, remember 60 minutes plus is a long time, so they’re likely bored. Include them in things like wiping off the table, allowing them to play with special toys, or getting to try challenging activities like sewing. 

Also remember that they should use a softer voice, but it’s unrealistic to expect them to remain silent for the whole time.  

If they’re older and grew out of nap, if ratios allow it, you could also allow the child to visit their future classroom during nap time. This could be part of helping their future transition into the class too! 

If you’re having a hard time keeping a child on their mat after they’ve woken up:

• Pick your battles and consider if they actually need to be on their mat. They could likely play just as peacefully at the table as they would on their mat. 

• Is their nap too long? Every child is different, and even if it feels a little early, some kids simply grow out of naps sooner than others, and forcing them to try and sleep is just opening an unnecessary power struggle.

  When considering if they’re growing out of nap or not, be really honest with yourself. Do you want them to lie down because they truly need to keep resting?

• Plan ahead. If you have a child that is consistently waking up 30 minutes before their peers, consider it as part of their routine. Maybe they clean up their sleep area and get to use that extra 20 minutes doing a social emotional activity with your co-teacher. 

If you know the child can fall back asleep try to get to them before they fully wake up. As they start stirring, go pat their back or cover them with their blanket if they’ve kicked it off.

Child running around the classroom or being disruptive before nap.

Usually when children are getting into mischief, it’s out of boredom. Reduce idle time as much as possible and give the child something to do while they wait. 

For ideas about how to make the transition to nap time easier read this post here. 

Also consider using the classroom furniture strategically if you have friends who encourage each other during nap. Space can be tricky but if you can, separate the two friends who have a hard time settling down, or remove distractions by placing a child next to a wall or separated by a shelf.

Children who need one-on-one attention.

This isn’t misbehavior, just more of a logistical challenge. If you have a classroom of twelve and you’re juggling trying to get everyone to bed, it can be challenging to take the time to rock a child to sleep. 

One method is similar to one mentioned before; ask the child to “rest their body” on their own for 15 minutes and afterwards you’ll give them cuddles or rock them. If they’re tired enough they might just self soothe themselves. Either way this gives you some time to help other children get to sleep. 

Offer a weighted blanket, pillow, or stuffed animal. The deep pressure weighted items offer is similar to a hug and this might be comforting enough to help them sleep.

Also, special routines that you two share might also help fill that need for dedicated attention. For example, you might take an extra minute to read the same poem together before their nap, or sing a song.

You can individualize this for each child. Sometimes it’s not necessarily the amount of time that makes the difference, you can build a strong connection with a child with an intentional 2 minute activity that can be just as impactful as a 15 minute snuggle. 

Each classroom and child is unique, so it will always come down to individualizing care, observation, and the adult being persistent with trying to figure out what the child is communicating with their behavior. 

More questions about nap time challenges? Feel free to ask inside our free Facebook community for early childhood educators. Request to join HERE.

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Dealing With Aggressive Behavior: when kids hit, kick, and bite

When it comes to challenging behavior, aggression is one of the top struggles teachers cite needing help with.

It’s disruptive for the child, the staff and teachers, and their peers, and any teacher will tell you an ongoing problem of a child being aggressive can completely change the atmosphere and vibe of the entire classroom.

At its worst, the behavior can result in serious injury to someone.

And it only seems to be getting more prevalent as the years pass.

So, what should early childhood educators do about children who hit, kick, and bite in the classroom?

Understand what’s happening

It’s expected for children to sometimes engage in aggressive behavior.

Developmentally their executive functioning skills are still needing lots and lots of practice, which means they have limited impulse control, emotional regulation skills, and conflict resolution.

When they feel strong emotions like anger, frustration, or fear that inclination to react with their body kicks in, resulting in actions like hitting.

For younger children with limited means of communication, biting is 100% typical behavior as well.

That’s why understanding child development is such a crucial part of behavior management in early childhood education.

It allows us to discern what’s developmentally typical and expected behavior versus what behavior may be a cause for concern.

This will further shape the way we address the behavior and if any interventions and resources will be needed.

It should be noted that just because certain behaviors are typical, it doesn’t mean it’s behavior to ignore or not take seriously, and the frequency that it happens also makes a difference too.

For example, it’s normal to see a nearly two-year-old bite when they’re not able to communicate their needs, but it can be a cause of concern when paired with regression in speech and a known recent trauma.

It could be just a one-off incident that is fixed with something like offering a child a chewy to keep them from biting a friend or redirecting a bored child to something more interesting.

We also have to keep in mind (with this post being written in late 2022) that children in the last 1-3 years have experienced some pretty traumatic events collectively and this also will impact their behavior and the development of their executive functioning skills.

All that said, sometimes, there are children who display ongoing aggressive behavior that need more intensive attention from us.

And those are the behavior’s we’ll be focusing on in this blog post.

Let’s get into what to do about children biting, kicking, and hitting.

Some news you don’t want to hear…

The most important part of dealing with aggressive behavior is going to happen when the child is not acting aggressively.

Being aggressive is a sign that the child is struggling with executive functioning skills, and those can be taught.

As their skill grows, the behavior decreases; but just like a muscle, it needs to be strengthened through training and repetition.

Unfortunately, if it’s been ongoing behavior, there’s not going to be some magical teacher hack to get them to stop overnight.

#1. When they’re not being aggressive

Self-regulation for adults

When it comes to behavior like hitting and kicking, it can be very triggering for adults, especially if the aggression is being directed at them.

It’s crucial for us as adults to be mindful of how we’re regulating our own emotions and reaction when engaging with the child if we want to be effective.

When a child is acting aggressively they're dysregulated, and if we’re also dysregulated then it stands to reason that we can’t help them in that state.

Even when we don’t quite know what to do in terms of getting their behavior to stop, the one thing we can be sure of is that we have to remain calm.

Self-regulation also comes into play when addressing our own biases and assumptions we might be consciously or unconsciously making about the child, which also impacts how we interact with them.

If we’ve already decided the child is bad, then that perspective will continue to paint how we engage with them.

Even unintentionally, teachers can begin seeing the majority of the child’s actions as malicious or automatically assume that the child is in the wrong whenever there’s a disagreement between them and another student.

It can even escalate to a point when we write the child off as hopeless and stop actively looking for solutions and ways to help them.

It’s certainly easier said than done, but stay clear-headed and objective so you can find a solution that’s best for the child instead of being punitive.

Try brainstorming regulation techniques you can use when the child is acting out beforehand to help.

Prevention and proactivity

It’s not always possible, but when you can, prevent the behavior or keep it from escalating.

Things like giving the child an additional warning when it’s time to clean up, letting them know ahead of time about a change in the schedule, or giving them plenty of reminders about the expectations can make all the difference in the severity of their actions.

“Remember only 3 friends can be in the blocks center so you may have to wait.” or “I know nap isn’t your favorite time but after lunch it’s going to be time to lay down; do you remember where your emotions chart is?”

This gives them a chance to make an appropriate decision about their behavior when they’re regulated enough to properly identify and process their feelings.

Teach Regulation Techniques Throughout The Day

You want to introduce regulation tools and methods like deep breathing, using an emotion chart, or using the peace corner when they’re calm.

Don’t wait until they’re in the middle of smacking their friends to attempt to show them the candle-breathing technique or calm-down bottles.

Learning to use those requires the use of the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain that helps us with emotional regulation, decision making, and empathy, but when a child is dysregulated and acting aggressively they’re not using that part of their brain.

Their limbic system is activated and they’re in a fight, flight, and freeze mode.

That means their ability to learn and understand how those regulation tools can help is severely limited.

The idea is to teach them beforehand so that when they are dysregulated, it’s already a learned skill that doesn’t require much processing on their part.

They can be prompted to take deep breaths and do so almost like they’re on autopilot and then eventually calm down enough to override the limbic system and think rationally again.

#2. When they are being aggressive (during the incidents)

Safety First

“Gentle” discipline methods often get a bad rep as being permissive and even oblivious to when a child is putting themselves or others in danger.

However, a huge part of most gentle discipline methods is respecting the child– and respect means caring enough to not let them hurt themselves or others.

When a child is at risk or already harming someone the FIRST priority is safety.

This may mean removing the child from the area or having the other children leave, removing items, blocking a child, or taking an item that has become dangerous from the child.

This can still be done respectfully by sportscasting what you’re doing and why. “I’m moving you from this area so you don’t get hurt.”

Or “Since you’re no longer being safe with the scissor, I’m taking them from you.”

Set the boundary.

Once they’re safe then you can establish the boundary.

It could be simply reminding them about more appropriate ways to express their emotions, or it might require a consequence like not moving to the next activity until they’ve cleaned the mess they made or not being allowed to play with a toy they took from a friend.

Example: “I’m going to take the toy from you since you won’t give it back. It was not your turn to use it and you cannot hit her because you’re upset”.

If the child continues to hit, block them and firmly let them know, “You still cannot have her toy and I also won’t allow you to hurt me. I’ll keep blocking your hand until you stop.” or remove yourself from the area.

The boundary is not being allowed to use the toy since they took it, and will continue to be enforced. Aggression doesn’t change that set boundary and get them what they want.

And here’s the honest truth, that can potentially trigger the child further and have them test further. So, if the child was hitting and you’ve been blocking them, they may change tactics and try kicking instead.

That’s where “I’m unbothered” comes in.

“I’m Unbothered”

Children need stability, and when they’re acting out they need someone to take charge for them.

The world and their feelings can feel big and overwhelming and they often feel powerless.

They need to see that the adult in the room will take charge when they feel out of control and is confident enough to do so.

When children are acting out aggressively, they’re often looking for a reaction and to see where the limits are.

Getting a reaction, especially a strong, visceral one like an adult becoming flustered when they hit or a peer crying when they bite can make them feel powerful, so they’ll keep doing it.

It can also feel powerful to know that they can push the boundaries further and further.

This is why self-regulation is so important because we’re not going to give the child an emotional reaction. Harming people is not an appropriate way to regain control or power, and we won’t reward it with a reaction.

Instead, show them that you set a boundary, and despite how big their emotion might feel at that moment, that boundary is going to be enforced.

You are “unbothered” and unresponsive to their attempts to get a reaction such as trying kicking when hitting didn’t work.

Just like when you blocked their hits, kicking doesn’t change the end result. “You still cannot have the toy and I won’t allow you to hurt me either...”

If they’re hurting a friend or raising their hand to threaten them, they’re likely pausing to look and see how the adult is reacting, whether it’s positive or negative.

You’re not going to ignore them, but you’re also not going to be reactive either.

Respond by stating plainly “If you hit you’ll have to leave the center.” or “You don’t hit when you’re angry, say ‘I’m angry’ instead.”

To sum it up, whatever decision you make, do so confidently and without being reactive.

Empathy

This is a hard one, especially when a child is being aggressive, but it’s important.

Be empathetic.

They need it now even more than ever.

This does not mean baby-talking the child or giving in to what they want.

But it does mean you’re acknowledging their feelings and their perspective.

We do this for three reasons:

1. This gives them back some feeling of power and control. When a child feels seen and validated, they feel a little more in control. Even as adults, we know a simple acknowledgment of our feelings can go a long way, even if it doesn’t necessarily result in what we want or fix our problem.

2. This helps them identify what they’re feeling. As mentioned earlier, children are not operating from their prefrontal cortex when they’re acting out aggressively, which means they’re also likely feeling intense emotions that can be scary and overwhelming.

   By acknowledging their emotion, you’re helping them identify what’s going on. “I can see you’re feeling angry right now, maybe even sad. Everyone gets sad sometimes.” When a child can understand what’s happening, they may feel safer, which means it’s easier for them to snap out of that fight, flight, or freeze mode.

3. It keeps us as adults grounded. It’s easy to forget how serious things can feel from a child’s perspective. What seems inconsequential to us, can be a big deal for them. Remembering this can help us better meet the needs of the child. “Seeing him knock over your tower must have been extremely frustrating. You worked really hard on it.”

Keep it simple

When they’re in the middle of a meltdown, now is not the time for complex lectures, discussions, or trying to reason.

Again, going back to that prefrontal cortex vs limbic system, they are not in the state of mind to be rational.

They need to calm down first.

So keep your instructions and your language simple, clear, and concise.

If you’re offering choices, make them easy and be prepared to make a choice for them if/when they can’t.

For example: “I can tell you’re angry right now but hitting hurts your friends and now she’s crying and upset. Do you want your friend to be upset? There are other ways to show you’re angry without hitting. You need to clean up the mess you made during your tantrum and say sorry to your friend for hurting her.”

In that example, there are multiple directions for the child to follow that also require a lot of skill; from recognizing emotion and practicing empathy, to conflict resolution, planning, and reflection.

That’s likely too much for them to process, much less follow through on, in their current state of mind.

Instead try simplifying it: “Wow! I can see you’re angry about not using the toy. You can’t hit but I can help you clean up and find a new toy.”

Here, we’re avoiding long discussions and too many decisions.

After they’ve calmed down, you can discuss how their friend might have been feeling sad because they got hurt when they were hit. Then you can co-plan ways to resolve that.

And finally, be okay with them still being upset.

Children are entitled to their feelings, even “negative” ones like anger, frustration, and sadness.

If they’ve stopped being aggressive but haven’t necessarily stopped glaring or continue to cry, that’s okay for now.

We don’t need to “fix” their emotions, simply show them appropriate ways to express them.

Keep reassuring them you’re there if they need hugs or someone to read a book, but also be okay with letting them feel their emotions.

In summary

Before they’re aggressive:

• Self-regulate

• Be proactive and try to prevent the behavior

• Teach regulation skills throughout the day

When they’re acting aggressively:

• Prioritize safety

• Set the boundary

• Remain “unbothered”

• Demonstrate empathy

• Give clear and simple directions

• Allow them to feel their emotions

For more details on ways to manage behavior and behavior management techniques, check out the Classroom Chaos to Calm training.

If you found this blog post helpful, be sure to share it with other Early Childhood Educators or share your thoughts in the free facebook community the ECE Teachers Lounge.

Getting Parents On Board with Behavior Management

“It just seems like parents don’t care anymore.”

It’s a sentiment that can be found in almost every preschool/daycare Facebook group, discussions among ECE co-workers, and other communities in early childhood.

There’s this feeling that parents are too lenient, passive, and overall uncaring when it comes to their child and their behavior in the preschool/daycare classroom, and it’s creating a wedge of resentment between educators and parents.

So, how can we get parents to get on board with behavior management?

First, a little perspective…

“Well, little Jimmy never does this at home!”

Many educators roll their eyes (figuratively) when they hear this but…the parent might be right.

There’s actually a chance that little Jimmy doesn’t hit at home, have such aggressive tantrums, or act out.

And that’s because the child is in a completely different environment, with different stimulation and expectations.

At school, the child has more people to interact with and learn how to share, be empathetic, and courteous. They may have different limits and expectations for behavior.

Even if they have siblings, they’re still likely not sharing space and toys with multiple other children at home.

There is a myriad of different factors and personalities for the child to react to that they don’t encounter at home- meaning caregivers don’t get the opportunities to see certain behavior.

This isn’t necessarily an issue of parents not caring.

It’s a miscommunication issue.

Since the environment is not the same as home when we share behavior concerns with parents we also need to consider what differences could be impacting that behavior and give parents that full context.

Instead of only telling parents that Little Jimmy keeps hitting friends, also explain that it seems to happen more frequently when the play center is too crowded or when another child gets too close and he becomes protective over his toys, etc.

This gives parents a clearer picture of the behavior concern and why it’s a concern, even if it’s not something seen outside of the classroom.

But they don’t discipline them at home!

Here’s the thing.

We cannot control what happens in their home.

It certainly helps when parents are on the same page as educators, but at the end of the day, we cannot control how someone chooses to parent their child or which discipline methods they use and don’t use.

And we will only continue to stress ourselves out by focusing on aspects out of our control.

But out of our control doesn’t mean out of our influence.

There are things we can do to encourage parents to get involved with behavior management.

What would you like parents to do?

How you want parents to help is an important question.

Many educators are frustrated by the parents' seeming lack of urgency after reporting another biting incident, but if that happened hours ago, what could the parent do now that’s helpful?

This is going to require us to identify how we define discipline ourselves because our definition will frame how we see parents’ involvement in behavior management.

If we define discipline as punitive methods like lectures, taking away toys, timeouts, etc then when a parent doesn’t lecture or threaten to take away toys once they get home, it’s more likely you’ll feel frustrated.

However, developmentally, especially for young children, lectures and shaming (particularly hours after the event) do little to nothing to help with behavior.

That performative display of authority is more for the adult’s reassurance than to teach a child.

Knowing that, it feels like less of a big deal to not see a parent give a child a stern “talking to” because we know it’s not helping much anyway.

That being said, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing the parents and caregivers can do to help.

Often parents don’t know what they could do and we can’t assume that they have the same resources, knowledge, or perspective as an early childhood educator.

It helps if we clearly communicate how they can support us in the classroom.

When a child is displaying challenging behavior it’s often in response to an unmet need or a lack of a certain skill like impulse control or problem-solving.

Those are things parents can help with at home.

For example for an unmet need: if we know a child is regularly acting out right before lunch and is extremely tired, we can discuss with parents how to work together to get the child more sleep, maybe by an earlier bedtime or by asking the parents if they’re okay with staff getting the child ready for nap a few minutes early.

If it’s skill building: a child that’s struggling to ask for help and has resorted to screaming, you can ask parents to help reinforce using the sign for “help” when frustrated.

You can try suggesting books, printing an article, giving them the brochure for the speech evaluator, etc.

Stay in regular communication with the parents about what they’re doing at home, what’s going on at school, and what other supports they are using (like if they attend therapeutic play or speech therapy, etc).

Open communication helps ensure everyone is working towards a common goal to help the child succeed, as well as staying on top of important information that can impact the methods used, like if there was a recent change in service or a major life event.

A formal behavior plan can give everyone a clear picture of what behavior is happening at school, what the teacher is doing in response, and how parents can help support these efforts, and keep track of what’s been tried, and what’s working.

(BTW: Our online professional development on challenging behavior has a whole section dedicated to showing teachers how to make a behavior management plan.)

Don’t only communicate when things are bad!

If there’s ongoing behavior challenges, hopefully you’ve been in regular communication with the parent from the beginning concerning the behavior, but be intentional about mentioning other things too!

No one wants to only hear about why their child is so challenging 24/7 and it can warp their perception of you and your intentions if the only time you speak with them it’s to tell them something negative.

Share a positive learning moment, a funny joke the child made, reassure them you’re both on the same team, something positive to maintain a good relationship with them.

When nothing works…

In a perfect world, parents/caregivers would 100% get on board with supporting educators with behavior challenges and be open to communication and teamwork.

Unfortunately, it is not a perfect world.

There might be situations where the parent absolutely refuses to seek out an evaluation, digs their feet in about insisting their child isn’t capable of certain behavior, or doesn’t follow through on something you know would be beneficial for the child.

You could give them a million and one articles and resources to help and they all might go unread and ignored.

It’s frustrating.

But you might have to come to terms with it and move forward with trying to provide the best care you can with things within your control.

In those moments remember:

• Try to withhold judgment. We never know why a parent is refusing to get involved. It could be they’re at their mental/emotional capacity, maybe they’re struggling with the fear of a possible diagnosis, maybe they don’t have the resources or an understanding of how to navigate the situation, etc.

  It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that they’re bad parents or just don’t care- but that’s an assumption, and a potentially harmful one.

• Keep communicating and trying. You can’t force caregivers to do something, but you can keep encouraging them.

  Continue to provide resources, updating the parent, reminding them you’re there to be a support if they need you, and that you’re there and waiting when/if they’re ready to move forward.

• It’s harder to see change without parent support, but not impossible. You can still create consistent routines and expectations for the child in the classroom with or without parental support. Eventually, the child will begin to see that there are a certain set of expectations at school that you enforce, even if it’s not followed through with at home.

If it’s something beyond your scope of care, like intense aggression, concerns with cognitive development, or maladaptive behavior and it really needs a parent’s intervention to seek out evaluations or other resources, the next steps need to be discussed in-depth with your director.

The answer isn’t always expulsion. As a matter of fact, we encourage, if at all possible, to not resort to exclusionary methods.

You may be able to get support from other agencies like an ECE coach or behavior management coach to help in the classroom. Still continue to communicate with the parents.

Unfortunately, there are honestly still some situations where the child simply cannot get the care they need without certain resources, and if the parent’s lack of involvement is what’s preventing that, then we owe it to the child (and parent) to be honest and let them know upfront.

Overall, sometimes that feeling of parents not caring is actually just miscommunication or a lack of communication.

And in situations when you might be on your own, share your frustration with a trusted colleague or Early Childhood community members and hold on to knowing that you’re doing your best, and that’s all you really can do.

Managing a loud, busy, energetic Preschool classroom

There are some preschool/daycare groups of kids that are relatively peaceful.

They seem to quickly catch on to rotating around centers, share with little trouble, and sit nicely in their spot to listen to a story.

Then there’s the other group…

They love to explore boundary limits and there isn’t a second to spare.

They’re always up and yelling, jumping, accidentally (or purposely) body slamming into something or someone.

It’s loud.

It’s busy.

And you’re burning out.

So how do you manage such an energetic classroom?

First things first, are they set up for success?

We know the environment has a huge impact on behavior so we want to use it strategically.

Even with a calmer classroom, being intentional about classroom arrangement, materials, and the overall aesthetic of the room is a key part of behavior management.

When you’re reviewing the classroom environment, be mindful that you’re not looking at it from an adult perspective, but rather an estimate of how a child could be experiencing the room.

Take a look at the classroom furniture arrangement:

• Is it arranged to break up the space so there aren’t too many large spaces that encourage sprinting back and forth, wandering, overcrowding, etc?

Take a look at the materials:

• Are there enough materials for children to play with and do they have access to it?

• Are the materials interesting, in good condition, and are there a variety of options?

• Are they organized in a way that’s inviting (open containers or on display)?

• Is it possible that there are too many materials making it look either overwhelming or uninviting? (Think about when you have so many clothes in your closet that it feels like you have nothing to wear. Children can feel the same way about too many toys available, or if the toys are disorganized.)

If they’re consistently tossing, destroying, or misusing the materials, this could be a signal that it’s time to either reduce and/or reorganize the materials, or do a toy rotation.

Take a look at the classroom decor:

• Is the decor overstimulating, too busy, and/or excessive?

If the environment looks good, then next let’s look at the classroom routine and transitions.

For busy groups, consistency and predictability can go a looooong way.

Start by evaluating if you have a solid routine.

Since a day in the life of a daycare class can be ever changing, instead of heavily focusing on schedule, we encourage focusing on routine.

A schedule is based on time, but a routine is based on the order of events.

So every day, the same activities happen in the same order as much as possible, regardless of the time.

This gives teachers the flexibility to do things like allow more outdoor play if the class is showing a need to let out some energy. Even if the class goes inside later than usual, they’d still know the routine is to go wash their hands and sit down for snack after outside play.

Or if your class has kids who wake up from nap earlier than others, they still know the routine is to fold up their sheets and go potty.

A solid routine can help reduce arguments about what a child should be doing at the time, as well as reduce the amount of time you spend scrambling for ideas on how to corral a busy group all day because you’re not playing it by ear.

Transitions are also an important part of a routine.

Shortening wait times and how long children are idle reduces opportunities for busy kids to find less than appropriate ways to cure their boredom.

Though it might only feel like a short amount of time from an adult perspective, asking a child with a limited attention span to wait quietly for 10 minutes is asking a lot.

A consistent routine can help shorten transition times but having a transition method is icing on the cake.

An example of a transition method: when it’s time to move from outdoor play to inside, every day you give a verbal 5-minute warning.

When it’s time to line up a friend rings the bell and everyone grabs their water bottle and lines up next to the gate. When everyone is lined up, they walk inside together.

Again, this is something you do consistently. Every time it’s time to transition from outdoors to indoors, the bell gets rung and kids line up at the gate.

alright, so we’ve set them up for success as much as possible, what about the actual busyness?!

Here are a few tips:

1. Let them play. If they’re engaged with block play but then 15 minutes later a teacher insists they move to art, this is going to invite misbehavior. Is there a reason they need to do the ladybug project?

   Probably not. If they’re engaged in something, leave them be. This goes the same for when they’re not interested. Example: for circle time if they’re disengaged, instead of forcing them to sit through it, cut it short for that day and move to the next activity.

2. Allow for some risky play on the playground. Often a described energetic classroom also has a lot of children engaging in a lot of sensory seeking behavior, especially for proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input.

   Things like rigorous climbing, running, spinning, and jumping outside can help meet that need so they’re not doing it indoors.

3. Add weight and large items. Again, going back to sensory seeking, they’re looking for that physical input. Activities like lifting large blocks, sitting with weighted pillows, or pushing a heavy cart can help reduce behavior like pushing or playing too rough with friends.

4. Create a sensory station. If you have a solid routine and environment set up, then introducing a sensory station can be beneficial.

   It doesn’t have to be a large space, but an area with hand prints on the wall so they can push against it, a beanbag for kids to melt into, or resistance bands for kids to pull can be a great area to redirect energetic kids.

   In younger classrooms, furniture like a pikler triangle, climbing structure, or balance beams can help redirect busy energy.

5. Re-look at expectations. While you may have been able to do a water table with a previous class, the temptation for splashing might be too much for your current group and that’s okay. Instead of forcing them to “get it right”, try switching it to something they can succeed at.

   As you get a hang of managing their energy and they get a better grasp of classroom expectations, you can reintroduce those activities they struggled with at first.

6. “Getting the wiggles out” might backfire. You might have attempted the tried and true methods to help get the wiggles out like a dance party or group beanbag tossing, only to find that it seemed to make your energizer bunnies more amped up.

   That’s because sometimes, though the activity was meant to be calming, it can be overstimulating. If that seems to be the case, instead of large group activities to get wiggles out, try small group and/or slow-paced activities like sitting on the floor and deep breathing with wind spinners or dimming the lights and stretching.

And last but not least, be kind to yourself.

A busy, energetic classroom doesn’t mean a “bad” classroom, or that you’re a bad teacher.

It just means they have different needs.

Keep self-regulating, stay strong, and keep your coffee stronger.

Avoiding Expulsion in Childcare Centers (and why we should)

“Sorry, they’re just not a good fit for this environment.”

In recent years nearly 48% of parents and caregivers have heard some variation of this phrase because their child is being expelled from their daycare/preschool. 

And the number continues to grow at an alarming rate.

While we completely understand the sentiment of teachers and childcare owners saving their peace, as stewards of these children during their most impactful foundational years, it’s crucial we fully understand the impact of expulsion practices on children and why we should, to the best of our ability, avoid it. 

It might sound dramatic, but the research is clear- expulsion from daycare/childcare can jumpstart a child’s negative trajectory throughout their education. 

Our ability to intervene in their early years can make all the difference in the child’s future.

What the data says:

• Students who are expelled or suspended are as much as 10 times more likely to drop out of high school, experience academic failure, hold negative school attitudes, and face incarceration than those who are not. 

• Expulsion or suspension early in a child’s education predicts expulsion or suspension in later school grades. 

• Furthermore, data consistently show racial disparities in expulsion and suspension. For example, recent data indicate that African American boys make up 18% of preschool expulsions.

• Young children in PreK programs are expelled at almost 3x the number of children in K-12 and children in childcare programs almost 13x more.

And being kicked out of school is also emotionally and mentally difficult, as well as disorienting for the child and their family, adding on a new layer of stress that will likely only further exacerbate their behavior for the next classroom that receives them. 

There’s a very high likelihood that your own center is enrolling children who have been expelled from their previous center, leaving you and your staff with the unconscious, negative emotional aftermath of that experience. 

It’s an unhealthy cycle of bouncing a young child from one childcare to another, with few willing to take the opportunity to dig deeper and see if more can be done.

And those who are expelled at the highest rate, are often the children who would actually benefit the most from early childhood education.

So, why is this happening?

The most common reason cited for expelling a child from a center is aggressive behavior (hitting, kicking, biting, etc). 

This is objectively a challenging behavior to have to confront in a child, especially if other children in the classroom are being targeted. 

However, another study also shows that when centers have the help and support of a behavioral health specialist those centers expel at half the rate of those who didn’t. 

Source: Gilliam, WS (2005). Prekindergarteners left behind: Expulsion rates in state prekindergarten programs. FCD Policy
Brief, Series No. 3.

Likewise, centers with high-quality, trained staff are also less likely to expel a child than those with under trained staff. 

So it’s safe to conclude, it might not be children’s behavior, but in our knowledge and skill as adults to manage these behaviors.

When you empower your staff and equip them with the necessary skill, training, and support they need to handle challenging behavior you reduce the need to expel children. 

There’s also research supporting that teachers would like to grow their skills in behavior management.

“A multi-year SRI evaluation of state-wide preschool programs found that a majority of teachers wanted more program development on supporting children that show challenging behaviors, including key areas like preventing and stopping aggressive behavior and practical and effective solutions to disruptive behaviors.”

Teachers who have been trained are more willing to tackle the behavior as well.

What can we do to reduce/eliminate expulsions in ECE? 

Train your staff:

• Strong onboarding process

• Ongoing Professional Development and training

• Reflective supervision and collaborative performance assessments

• Training on a myriad of topics including neurodiversity and trauma-informed care

The more skill and resources they have to handle challenging behaviors, the more confident they are dealing with this in their classrooms. 

Take care of staff:

• There is a strong correlation between teacher stress and expulsions. Centers, where teachers expressed high levels of stress or unhappiness, were more likely to expel children. 

Implement center policies that help prevent expulsion:

• Reduced classroom size and ratios to give staff ample opportunity to individually support children and reduce stress

• Ensure veteran and new staff understand why the site doesn’t expel children (or severely limits it) and alternatives from the first day of employment

• Require extensive documentation that shows an ongoing attempt to support the child and all available alternatives have been exhausted prior to considering expulsion 

• Encourage parental support 

• Partnerships with state programs and other programs to make resources such as behavior and speech screenings, food/housing support, therapeutic services, and more available for children.

• Encourage best practices and developmentally appropriate expectations.

Tackling Implicit bias:

• Professional Development and training on the impact of implicit biases

• Reflective conversations with an ECE coach or center director/mentor

• Encouraging staff to understand and learn more about individual students’ and co-workers' cultural backgrounds. 

Seek out outside support:

As we saw earlier, when behavior support is available, we see a reduction in expulsions and a reduction in challenging behavior. 

>Seek out support for the staff like technical assistance and mental health consultants. 

>Seek out support for yourself as a leader such as coaching, director/owner cohorts, or conferences so you can continue to guide and support your staff.

>And seek out support for the child such as therapeutic services, evaluations, and partnerships with local school services. Some can even meet and provide services at the center.

What if I do have to expel a child?

So you’ve exhausted all possible avenues of support but unfortunately there just doesn’t seem to be much else you or your teachers can do.

This could be for a myriad of reasons such as a child causing a severe injury to a child or staff member or needing extensive services beyond what your center can provide.

1. Be open and honest with the child's caregiver. Hopefully, you’ve already been in continuous communication with the caregiver so they won’t be blindsided by the decision. Review the attempts made, the progress and lack of progress, and what made you come to the conclusion to term the child.

2. Give them a date and time to plan. It would reflect poorly on your business to give a caregiver notice the next day they drop off that they can’t bring their child anymore. Give them a solid date ahead of time so they can make other arrangements. 

3. Offer support and resources. Some parents/caregivers may be more receptive to this than others, depending on the circumstances, but if possible, offer assistance during the transition.

   Maybe you know a center that would be better equipped for the child, the contact information of the company that does free evaluations, or the local school’s resource page. Allow them to take a copy of the behavior plan for the next educator to see the progress and attempts made. 

Overall, you want the child and the parent/caregiver to know that you still care about the child, want to see them be successful, and don’t view them as just another “trouble” to be tossed to the next daycare. 

If you found this blog post helpful, feel free to share it with peers or open discussion about it in our free Facebook community The Early Childhood Lounge. 

How Do You Teach Letters Without Using Letter Of The Week?

Letter of the week has long been a popular way for preschool teachers to introduce letters and letter recognition to their little learners.

Typically, the letter of the week is structured by introducing one letter, and then for the next few days, the teacher reviews the letter at group time. Sometimes a craft or worksheet focusing on that same letter is also integrated.

Although it can be convenient, studies are consistently showing how this method is not the most effective way to introduce letters and literacy.

This doesn’t mean that teachers haven’t seen results from this practice, but it does mean that there are more developmentally appropriate and impactful ways to teach them.

Children are constantly learning so there’s no reason to isolate opportunities to learn letters throughout their day.

With the letter of the week method, children are expected to retain information for that week’s letter plus the previous letters with only a small time frame to master the new information they had been given.

There’s little time for the children to explore the other letters in-depth, no opportunity for real-world applications, and individualizing these lessons are rare, if done at all, because LOTW is usually introduced during large group or as a craft.

We miss the opportunity to tie literacy into their everyday experiences by limiting exposure and making children reliant on the teacher to feed them the information.

But how exactly do you help students learn their letters and letter recognition if you’re not using letter of the week?

It’s important to know that there are certain pre-literacy skills children need to learn first.

Simply being able to memorize a letter or repeat after you won’t be helpful for the child when they begin attempting to learn how to read, write and spell.

They need to understand things like the concept of print (ex: reading left to right for English readers or in whatever direction is correct for their native language), phonological awareness (hearing the difference in sounds), and narrative capabilities (ex: this happened first, then this happened next).

Activities like reading to them on a regular basis while pointing, emphasizing sounds while speaking, singing phonological rich songs, rhyming songs and poems, making animal noises while playing, etc can help build these skills.

Integrate these learning opportunities throughout their day and classroom. You can do this by:

• Having meaningful books available and accessible (not just limited to the Library center)

• Reading to them frequently, one-on-one and in a group

• Labeling your classroom and the materials

• Pointing out letters and sounds in conversation

• Having conversations with children and avoiding “baby talk” (such as using words like diape-y instead of diaper)

In younger classrooms don’t feel pressured to have them know the full alphabet forward and backward. focus on strengthening those preliteracy skills.

Introducing Letters

When it comes to learning, young children learn best through hands-on and interactive opportunities and play.

To learn more about this you can check out our free training “What If We Stopped Having Circle Time”

Integrating letters into their everyday play and being able to physically touch and interact with materials helps them understand and retain the information.

This is the difference between rote learning vs active learning.

Rote learning they’re simply repeating A, B, and C out of habit or memorization. Which isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes children pick up on letters through repetition.

For example, when they see their name next to their picture - they might not have decoded the individual letters yet, but they’ve come to memorize those lines paired with their face and now understand that must be their written name.

This is good! As mentioned before understanding print has meaning and significance, and it’s also different from drawings, is a preliteracy skill.

It becomes a problem when rote learning methods like flashcards and singling the alphabet every day is the only way children get information. And LOTW doesn’t delve any further than showing and memorizing in most curricula.

We want to make sure children aren’t just repeating the letters, but understanding their function so that they can move on to blending sounds, learning language rules, and spelling.

Hands-on activities and play help cement true understanding, and when we embed these opportunities into their whole day, as supposed to limiting it to a single moment like circle or crafts, then we can expand and present more opportunities to explore letters and a variety of them too - not just the dedicated letter for that week.

Ideas for fun and hands-on activities:

• Tracing letters in shaving cream, sand, or rice trays

• Creating Letter soup by mixing letter tiles in a bowl

• Sculpting letters with playdoh or clay

• Creating letters with natural materials (leaves, twigs, pebbles)

• Letter-matching blocks, stickers, puzzles, etc

• Letter scavenger hunts

• Cutting letters and words out of magazines

• Letter hopscotch or bean bag toss

• Creating letter collages

Have these activities scattered throughout your different centers during free play.

Examples of this could be having the letter soup recipe in dramatic play, a letter-matching puzzle in manipulatives, and letter blocks in the block center.

Doing these activities spontaneously might not feel like “teaching” but children are natural learners and they’re absorbing information in those small moments.

Learning isn’t an isolated experience that only happens at circle time; it can happen during centers, snack, potty time, any time really!

Don’t hesitate to read the shelf labels out loud as you’re cleaning up, spell out things as you’re writing in front of children, point out when items have matching sounds (“Apple and Alison have the same sounds!”), and mention letters and words as you see them.

Start with their name.

Another preliteracy skill children need is the motivation to read, and introducing children to the letters in their name first can be a great way to get them excited about learning their letters.

Here are 5 ways to introduce their name:

1. Have parents label all of their belongings and teachers label their cubby. When it’s time to put away something or grab an item out of their cubby point out the label. Show the child the label on their lunch box also matches the one on their cubby. When it’s potty time you can ask something like “Can you grab me one of your pull-ups out of your cubby? It has your name on it. It starts with ‘A’”.

2. Have children “sign in” by circling their names in the morning or scribbling in a box next to their names. For really young kids you can also put their picture next to their name to help them identify it. As their skills develop remove the picture so they have to just identify their name.

3. Let them sign their own artwork. You can write their name, but encourage them to write it too.

4. Have cards with their name in different centers. You can put a small basket of cards with their names written on it in the manipulatives and children sort through it to find their own name, or laminate cards with their name and place it in the art center. See what the children feel inspired to create!

5. Use name cards. You can have children grab their name card and place it on the table where they want to sit for lunch, grab their card and sit down for morning affirmation, or use it to hold their spot if they’d like to ask for permission for something that is monitored. For example: if only three kids can fit at the sensory table at once, they can grab their name card and put it down to show they’d like to use it next when a spot is open.

You’ll be amazed at just how much children can pick up without an adult having to explicitly teach them.

Remember, learning for children is very organic and spontaneous so while you might not be doing flashcards or letter crafts, if you’re intentional about conversations, the materials in your classroom, and seeking out these opportunities while they play, you’ll see just how much learning they do!