Behavior Management Within the Preschool Classroom

Our preschool uses the problem solving approach to behavior management.  This is a method that encourages critical thinking and builds interpersonal relationships and socialization skills.  Listed bellow is an outline of the problem solving process.

1. Adults should be on the child's level.
The teacher should be sitting or on her / his knees on eye level with the children and stop any hurtful words or actions. 

2. Acknowledge the child's feelings.  
"I see you are . . . (upset, mad, sad, frustrated, etc.)"

3. "What's the problem?"
  The teacher gathers information from each child.

4. Restate the problem in the child's own words.
"So the problem is . . . (fill in children's statements here)"  

5. Get solutions from the children.
"How can we solve the problem?" 

6. Stay near the children.  
Monitor the children to see that they follow through on their plan to solve the problem.  Adults may need to redirect if further problems arise. 

Click here to view my slideshow of the problem solving process.