© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Developmentally Appropriate

Social/Emotional

Environments for Primary-

Aged Children

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Social/Emotional Issues for the Primary Years

• Self-esteem• Peer relationships and group skills• Games with rules

– competition versus cooperation

• Mixed-age grouping• Moral development• Emotional growth

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Planning for Social/Emotional Environments

Teachers will• Become aware of each child’s individual style of

interacting with others• Create informal physical arrangements that allow

children to work together• Create specific pairings of children• teach social skills directly• Encourage appropriate behaviors• Mediate and teach children negotiation skills• Support children as they learn to take a social

perspective• Plan group activities• Not tolerate exclusion or unkindness

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Self-Esteem

Children• Are able to succeed• Participate in “democratic discipline”• Think that teachers expect and believe

that they are capable of learning• Use social comparison to define

themselves • Are encouraged to be independent and

self-reliant• Participate in games and activities to

build self-esteem

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Games with Rules Competition versus Cooperation

• Allow children to organize their own games

• Allow children to manage their games and rules without adult interference

• Take competition out of the classroom

• Plan cooperative games for classroom and after school

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Mixed-Age Groupings

• Re-create family and neighborhood settings

• Interaction between children with different abilities benefits all

• Social development is enhanced

• Rigid curriculum demands must be relaxed

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Moral Development

• Develop perspective-taking abilities

• Focus on independent decisions about correct actions

• Let children find their own answers and solutions in interpersonal situations

• Use authoritative guidance systems

• Present issues of responsibility and morality

© 2007 Thomson Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved.

Emotional Growth

• Allow children to identify feelings in themselves and others

• Create a low-stress classroom that promotes self-worth

• Help children focus on understanding feelings and their influences on people’s actions

• Encourage children to express their feelings in positive, constructive ways

• Develop partnerships with parents• Limit exposure to frightening or disturbing

events