Social and Emotional Strategies in the Classroom

The early childhood classroom is an important place for children to learn social/emotional strategies. There are many strategies that the early childhood educator can use to foster an environment that promotes healthy social and emotional learning for children in the infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood stages of development. 

1. Infancy.                                                                                                                                                                     The strategies that teachers can implement in an infant classroom to promote social and emotional learning include modeling empathy and caring behaviors, being respectful to students cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and building relationships with the infants in your care. 
   
2. Toddlerhood.                                                                                                                                                           Toddler teachers can implement social and emotional strategies in the classroom by using games or songs or stories to teach children about emotions and interacting with others, redirecting negative behaviors and praising positive behaviors, and set up practice scenarios for children to practice expressing their emotions in an appropriate way. 
3. Early Childhood.                                                                                                                                                      The strategies early childhood teachers can implement in the classroom to promote social and emotional learning include putting a calm corner in the classroom for students who need a break to self-regulate their emotions, incorporate role-playing scenarios to practice handling tough situations in front of the class, and utilizing everyday situations as a teachable moments to teach children about social skills.
   

Educators play a crucial role in teaching children social and emotional skills and it is important for educators to understand the social and emotional milestones for each developmental stage to ensure they are using the appropriate teaching strategies to foster social and emotional learning.