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Connect.Ed

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15.01.2022 CONNECTION As our name suggests, connection underpins everything we do. Clever quote from Dr Vanessa Lapointe, R Psych and gorgeous image from Raised Good

13.01.2022 BOOK RECOMMENDATION ‘Feelings’, written by Libby Walden and beautifully illustrated by Richard Jones. It is a lyrical peep-through picture book to help children understand the various feelings they experience, such as; brave, sad, angry, happy, jealous, alone, embarrassed, excited, afraid and calm. A great book to include in group times to support the development of emotional literacy, and it really is one of the most beautiful books we’ve ever seen!... Little Tiger Press

09.01.2022 EMOTIONAL LITERACY GAME If you’ve followed us for a while, you’ll know that we talk (a lot!) about co-regulation. We also talk about supporting children to develop emotional literacy and awareness of their arousal states. We think this is really important because we can’t expect children to regulate their emotional and arousal states, if they’re not even fully aware of what’s going on inside their bodies and brains.... In order to teach self-regulation skills, we should prioritise teaching emotional literacy, as this supports children to label their feelings (and eventually develop regulation skills). ‘Emotional literacy’ is essentially the ability to recognise and understand the emotions of ourselves and other people. However, it is a developmental skill that is not present at birth and needs to be taught by adults. By naming feelings and generating discussion around emotions, we can help children to develop this very important skill. The benefits of emotional literacy are enormous! Research tells us that children who are emotionally literate are able to tolerate feelings of frustration, form more positive interpersonal relationships, are less impulsive, exhibit less challenging behaviours, are healthier, and demonstrate higher academic success. We believe it’s really important to engage in spontaneous teaching (by labelling and ‘commentating’), but we can also engage in explicit teaching (using planned activities, such as reading stories and playing games that involve emotional literacy). This ‘Learning Wheel’ from The Curated Parcel is a great tool for Educators to use to facilitate conversations about emotions. It can be used to support children to identify various emotions and generate discussions about what makes us feel that way.

02.01.2022 THE EMOTIONAL CUP We love the ‘Emotional Cup’ analogy as it helps us to explain that every child has a cup that needs to be filled. Children’s behaviours look different for a number of reasons; their cups might be more full, or they may have developed more ‘pro-social’ ways of getting a refill (having their needs met).... When children’s cups near empty, we can often see some pretty challenging behaviours. We can interpret these behaviours as children’s attempts to communicate an unmet need, such as CONNECTION. If we view a behaviour as ‘attention seeking’ we are likely to either ignore it or meet the child with frustration. When we reframe these behaviours, we can start looking beyond the behaviours we see, and start thinking about ways we can support the child by meeting their needs. Something simple as changing our language from ‘attention seeking’ to ‘connection seeking’ can completely change the way we respond. If we see it as ‘connection seeking’ (or relationship/attachment seeking), we are far more likely to meet the need (and fill the child’s cup). We know that, once we meet the child’s need, those challenging behaviours are likely to dissipate. Thank you Upbility.net for this brilliant graphic!

01.01.2022 QUALITY SUPERVISION Being an Educator can sometimes feel like a juggling act (perhaps more like juggling while standing on one leg?). We get it. You are responsible for providing engaging activities and meaningful connection, as well as ensuring adequate supervision for up to 15 children (which can sometimes feel like 150!) The National Quality Framework (Quality Area 2, Children’s Health & Safety) states that ‘At all times, reasonable precautions and adequate supervis...Continue reading