Ways to manage stress during the holidays and throughout the year.

The holiday season is such a special time for all of us. Young children embrace the holidays with a sense of awe and wonder. For them, the events, traditions, and togetherness include the belief that magic is real. But for caregivers, the holidays can be stressful, particularly in our community when what is vacation time for our visitors represents the high season for those of us who are employed in the service industry and childcare. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, managing work and family responsibilities while also preparing for all the gift-giving, decorating, and celebratory meals. Meanwhile, we want to show up wholeheartedly for the children in our care.

To prepare children for changes in the regular routine, talk with them about what will be different, and try to keep your typical routine consistent whenever possible. For example, if there is a party coming up, talk about it with the children and let them help prepare for it. This will prevent challenging behavior and meltdowns. Remember diet and sleep are so important for all of us so try to keep the sleep and snack/meal routines consistent.

We know that returning to work after the holidays can be exhausting. Ideally, we all had time off to rest and recharge our batteries. For many of us, this is not the case. For some, this is a big red flag that it’s time to think about taking some time off, time away from teaching, or even changing careers. If we are dreading going back to the classroom, it may be a signal that we are facing burnout. There is no shame in acknowledging that you need a break. We want to show up and participate with our children as our very best selves. As the flight attendant would say, put your oxygen mask on first. Make every effort to take care of yourself–prioritize your own physical and mental needs to reduce stress. Your calm becomes the children’s calm.

Tips to manage stress:

Notice Your Feelings - You might be experiencing many different emotions at this time (anxiety, loneliness, frustration), and that is ok. Children are very sensitive to adult cues. Awareness of your own emotions will help you to know what to do to calm yourself, so that you can support the children in your care. Be kind to yourself; let go of responsibilities and timelines that are not critical.
Connect - Call a trusted family member, take a short walk with a friend, or meet with a therapist. Check in with your co-teachers, they may need support, too. The connection may comfort both of you and build that important relationship.
Calm Youself - Find activities that help with the stress and anxiety you might be experiencing. Practice self-care, see the list for some of the possibilities.

We know that caring for ourselves is important. Let’s walk the talk so we can model calming strategies for children at the same time care for our own mental and physical well-being. We appreciate all that you do for the children and families you serve. Please take care of yourselves and know that we at Kids First are here to support you.

Warm wishes for a happy healthy 2023,

Kids First

Coaching Corner
with
Megan Monaghan and Nick Fettkether

Starting the New Year Off Right!!

Starting the new year off right. Teaching Friendship Skills to children
There are a variety of friendship skills that preschool children need to learn in order to develop successful relationships that can impact them for the rest of their lives. Peer Mediated Strategies are specific behaviors to teach in large group that lead to friendship skills. They can then be reviewed in small groups or individually as needed. Remember, Peer Mediated Strategies are specific behaviors to teach in large group that lead to friendship skills. These are some of the friendship skills we want children to demonstrate.

Peer Mediated Strategies:

Getting your friend’s attention
Sharing (giving toys)
Sharing (requesting toys)
Play organizer – Give a play idea
Giving compliments

These evidence based strategies result in more lengthy interactions between children and in turn provide more opportunity to build friendships.

How to teach:
Describe the skill (show visual poster of skill)

Demonstrate the skill the “right way” with an adult
Demonstrate the skill the “wrong way” with an adult
Have a child practice the skill with an adult
Have a child practice the skill with another child
Provides positive feedback and support for children attempting and successfully using the skill

Pictures of animals with sharing captions

When we introduce skills to children, we want to help children understand what we are trying to teach them. We talk about the skill “asking to take a turn", identify it when we see it ("Look at Sierra- she is asking to play with the sand toys!"), and try to help children make connections with other skills they may already know (“When you see your friends playing with a toy you want, you can watch them play, you can wait for a turn, or you can ask them for a turn”).

Opportunities for Children to Reflect:
This is important because it helps children to learn how to critically think about their interactions with peers. It also makes connections to the use of friendship skills in real life. This can be done during whole group, transitions, or anytime that you have the attention of the children. It doesn’t have to be done with just the whole group - it can be done with small groups of children as well as individuals.

To prompt reflection a teacher might:

Report some interactions that they saw and ask questions, “I saw friends sharing toys and using kind words during center time. What was something you saw someone do to be a friend during centers?”
Ask children what they noticed, “What happened today when Frances didn’t have a chair to sit in at home living?”
Give positive feedback when children use and reflect on friendship skills.

Connecting with Families:
We want to create a culture/classroom of friendship in our classroom, and we want to do that with families, too! Here are some of the ways that you can include families and connected parents to all the wonderful things that you are doing in the classroom:

Positive notes home
Classroom visual displays like a kindness tree, friendship scales, caring caterpillar
Sharing information with parents about the social skills you are teaching (Backpack Connections) send home copies of 'How to Teach Your Child to Appropriately Get Your Attention' for every family in your classroom.

Contact Megan or Nick to learn about how to teach friendship skills in your classroom, adjustment for infants and toddlers, or inquire about coaching in general.

Megan Monaghan -- megan.monaghan@aspen.gov
Nick Fettkether - nick.fettkether@aspen.gov

Resources from

https//challengingbehavior.org/

With a New Year comes new intentions to be better, accomplish our goals, and conquer all things we want to change in ourselves and around us.

It is a refreshing time to reflect on our previous year and celebrate all our successes while also looking forward to the next year.

I want to challenge you to spend some time this month reflecting and resetting. I was recently introduced to the Well-Better-Learned framework and think it is a fitting place to start 2023.

Well – define 3 things that you did well in 2022. What successes are you proud of? What challenges in your classroom have you overcome? Celebrate you!

Better – set a goal of 3 things you want to do better in 2023. What areas are you wanting to change? What steps do you need to take to accomplish those things? Be specific about your goals and how you will complete them.

Learned – what are 3 things you have learned about yourself in the past year. Look inside yourself. What emotions, responses and habits do you notice?

Take some time with this challenge. Be specific. Write your reflections down. Save them to look back at throughout the year. Share your reflections with your co-workers or someone close to you. When we look inside ourselves and reflect, we are able to move forward in powerful ways.

Early Childhood Network wishes you, your classrooms, and your family a very Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year from Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Council

¡Feliz año nuevo de parte del Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Council!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please welcome Cindy Rivas as our new bilingual Administrative Assistant! We are very excited that she will be supporting our Latinx population, providing translation support, and much more.

Bienvenida a Cindy Rivas nuestra nueva asistente administrativa bilingüe! Estamos muy emociondados de que ella apoyara a nuesta poblacion Latinx, apoyando con traducción y mucho más.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Council can now be found on Instagram, as well as Facebook! Don’t forget to check out and follow us on social media!

¡El Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Council ahora se puede encontrar en Instagram, también en Facebook! ¡No olvides visitarnos y seguirnos en las redes sociales!

FocusedKids had a successful year in 2022.

FocusedKids implemented programming in over ten schools in RE-1 and RE-2, reaching 300+ teachers, 2500 students, and 600+ families. Students reported that FocusedKids helped them feel calmer and gave them tools to manage stress, such as breathing and mindful coloring. Teachers are stressed and burnt out. FocusedKids has given them more hope and a fresh approach after teaching through the pandemic. Seventy percent of teachers reported noticing improvement in their student's self-regulating ability since implementing FocusedKids. Teaching about the brain gives everyone a common language and understanding of big behaviors and emotions.

As we jump into 2023, FocusedKids is ready to take on the demand for more support in schools, including pre-K into middle school. Parents also ask for more support and guidance as they navigate the high demands of life. We are here for teachers, students, parents, and our community.

We would love to offer your school or organization the FocusedKids model, which includes learning about the brain and tools and strategies for self-regulation. Please reach out to us, and we can work together to help bring more calm, less stress, and hope for the future ahead.

Contact amanda@focusedkids.org

SPRING 2023 EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSES

ECE-1111-AS01 INFANT TODDLER THEORY AND PRACTICE
41322 (Online) M 6p-8p 1/16-5/1

ECE-2381-AS01 ECE CHILD GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
41324 (Online) TH 6p-8p 1/19-5/4

Coloradomtn.edu