20+ Tips for Creating a Classroom that Nurtures Social-Emotional Development

In an inclusive early childhood classroom, actively promoting all young children’s social-emotional development helps prepare them for long-term success in school and life. Today we’ll take a look at some effective strategies for nurturing social-emotional development, adapted from the new edition of Blended Practices for Teaching Young Children in Inclusive Settings.

Blended Practices presents a multitiered systems of support (MTSS) approach to addressing the needs of all children in inclusive settings. The three tiers are universal strategies for all children, focused strategies for kids who need extra support, and systematic strategies for children who need more intensive support.

For social-emotional development, the universal tier includes the design and implementation of the physical environment, your schedules and routines, and your classroom rules and expectations. Here are some strategies to keep in mind for implementing these universal strategies for all children.

Physical Environment

Many features of your classroom’s physical environment can promote children’s prosocial behavior and prevent challenging behavior. These features relate to the physical design of your environment, the type and availability of materials and equipment, how materials are arranged, and the extent to which materials reflect different ability levels, interests, family structures, and cultures.

Here are some ways to promote social-emotional development and prevent challenging behaviors by increasing the likelihood that children will stay engaged with the environment in appropriate ways:

• Provide a variety of materials at each learning center that address different ability levels, interests, and response modes.
• Include materials in learning centers that are likely to promote children’s interactions with each other.
• Include materials that integrate subjects across centers (e.g., writing materials in the science area, books in the dramatic play area).
• Make changes and additions to learning centers on a regular basis. Let children help determine what could be included in the learning center.
• Use pictures or labels to tell children where things belong.
• Limit the number of children in a given learning center, since a crowded learning center can result in children fighting over toys or running into one another.
• Use visual task analyses and schedules to help children know what to do.

Schedules, Routines, and Transitions

Poorly designed schedules, inconsistent routines, too many transitions, and too much unengaged time lead to situations in which children experience stress or distraction. Here are some practices related to schedules and routines that will promote social-emotional development and increase the likelihood that children can successfully engage in classroom routines.

• Observe the children and design a schedule that works for your specific group of children.
• Design activities with individual children’s interests in mind.
• Have a purpose or goal for each activity.
• Use peers as models during large-group activities.
• Vary opportunities for participation based on children’s skills and interests.
• Give children jobs during group activities.
• Assign adults to support children who have difficulty attending during group activities.
• Balance activities—quiet and noisy, active and passive, large group and small group, adult directed and child directed.
• Minimize the number of transitions, especially those that require all children to make a transition at the same time.
• Teach children the schedule and expectations related to the schedule.
• Implement the schedule consistently.
• Alert children about transitions/changes in the schedule.
• Use individually designed schedules for children who have difficulty with the schedule and routine.
• Prompt children to help each other during routines and transitions.
• Structure transitions so that children do not spend significant time waiting with nothing to do.

Classroom Rules and Expectations

Developing similar behavioral expectations across all classrooms as part of a program-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) plan helps create consistency and provides a common emphasis on prosocial behavior. Here are some tips for developing and teaching expectations:

• Set your expectations. Expectations should be stated positively, limited in number, and focused on behaviors that are relevant across all the settings in the program. For example: “We are safe, we are respectful, and we are helpful.”
• Create an overview. Develop a one-page overview of the expectations and behaviors to share with families during the first round of parent–teacher conferences.
• Welcome discussion with families. Talk with families about how these expectations might look at home and in the community. In some cases, families may raise issues about how an expectation is inconsistent with their cultural or parenting practices. Use this opportunity to talk openly with families about differences in school and home expectations and to problem-solve about how you can work together to support children in response to these differences.
• Teach the rules to children and offer feedback. Staff members and families throughout the program should be encouraged to provide descriptive feedback to children following the program-wide expectations in the hallways, classrooms, playgrounds, and homes.

The strategies in this article will go a long way toward supporting social-emotional development for all children. When kids need extra support, turn to Tiers 2 and 3: focused and systematic strategies. You’ll find those in the new edition of Blended Practices, along with much more practical guidance on implementing a tiered approach to blending the best of special and general education.