Learning Steps Children's School

The Peaceable Classroom

We believe young children learn by doing, and know our young students must learn some powerful skills to succeed in the future.  Learning about peace, nonviolence, and conflict resolution occurs when children experience living in a peaceful community. The Peace “able” Classroom teaches children, through their own concrete actions and interactions with others and with the help of caring adults, what peace and nonviolent conflict resolution mean. 

It is a place where the teacher shares decision-making with the children so that they learn from daily experience how to take responsibility for themselves and their classroom community.  In such a classroom, children learn in ways that match their level of development, learning style, ideas, behaviors, and skills for living together cooperatively and non-violently.  Almost all aspects of the classroom can support this kind of learning.

OBJECTIVES

• To create an environment where children feel safe in their relationships with others.

• To develop an understanding of emotions, those of their own and of others.

• To respect and appreciate the differences among one another.

• To create opportunities to help children understand themselves and others.

• To encourage children to explore the give-and-take nature of interactions in play.

• To emphasize the differences between compassion and aggression, cooperation. and competition.

• To develop conflict resolution strategies.

• Help young children make a smooth and secure transition from home to school; this is at the heart of learning to feel 
  safe at school.  When children feel safe and secure they will explore, experiment, and take risks.

• Create concrete and meaningful rules, rituals, and routines that provide predictability, consistency, and order in the 
  classroom.  This helps children feel secure because they know what behavior is expected of themselves and others.

• Teach every child what it means to keep oneself and others safe, such as simple, clearly defined safety rules.  Teach 
  children how to keep their own and others’ bodies, ideas, feelings, work, and possessions safe.  Help children learn to 
  use the safety rules to decide on appropriate behavior for themselves and others.  It also can help children actively 
  construct knowledge about living peacefully without imposing adult thinking on them.

GOALS FOR CHILDREN IN A PEACEABLE CLASSROOM

The teachers will use the following goals in planning for experiences to happen in the classroom that will encourage your child:

To experience a sense of self esteem:

• Identify oneself as a member of a specific family and cultural group
• Show pride of one’s heritage and background
• Demonstrate confidence in one’s growing abilities, showing pride in own work
• Demonstrate increasing independence
• Stand up for one’s rights

To be aware of self:

• Express feelings
• Recognition of emotions
• Know interests, likes and dislikes
• Participates in make-believe play

To exhibit a positive attitude toward life:

• Demonstrate trust in adults
• Be able to separate from parents
• Demonstrate interest and participate in classroom activities
• Participate in routine activities easily, following expectations
• Adjust easily to new situations
• Willing to try new activities

To acquire learning and problem-solving skills:

• Ask and respond to questions
• Use planning skills
• Find more than one solution to a problem
• Apply information and experience to a new context

To develop logical thinking skills:

• Recall the sequence of events
• Aware of cause-and-effect relationships
• Make comparisons
• Respond appropriately to situations

To demonstrate cooperative, pro-social behavior:

• Seek out and interact with children and adults
• Understand and respect differences
• Accept responsibility for maintaining the classroom environment
• Help others in need – giving attention to a distressed child, inviting a rejected child to play, helping someone pick up
  something he/she has dropped
• Respect the rights of others
• Share toys and materials
• Demonstrate the give-and-take nature of interactions in play
• Negotiate with others
• Work cooperatively with others on completing a task
• Use compromise and discussion to resolve conflicts, asking teacher for help when dealing with others who are less
  able to resolve a conflict
• Wait patiently for a turn, allowing others to finish turns
• Speak pleasantly to others and listen attentively to others
• Display self-control

To develop positive peer relationships:

• Approach others positively
• Gain access to ongoing groups at play
• Express frustration and anger effectively
• Capable of having friends: caring about them, missing them if absent, etc. 
• Empathize and understand the feelings of others

To expand verbal communication skills:

• Express needs and interests
• Follow simple directions
• Use words to communicate ideas and feelings
• Talk with other children during daily activities
• Participate in group discussions