By SUZANNE MOORE
Features Editor
May 03, 2008 04:00 am
—
PLATTSBURGH -- Head Start teacher Elizabeth Bunker was doing her best to talk to her students, but a very rude puppy kept interrupting.
"Woof. Woof, woof!" the fluffy brown puppet cried, tugging at Bunker's hair, pushing at her arm.
Squirmy preschoolers grew still, all eyes on the puppy.
Giggles filled the cottage-like modular that houses one of two Head Start classes at Cumberland Head Elementary School.
"Excuse me, Puppy," the teacher said. "It's hard to talk when you're doing that."
Her furry friend calmed down.
"Thank you, Puppy," said Bunker, stroking the puppet with her free hand. "That's much better."
CALMING DOWN
Part of a program called Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum, used at all Joint Council for Economic Opportunity Head Start centers in Clinton and Franklin counties, the lesson goes beyond good manners.
"In order for the kids to really do any kind of learning, they have to have social, emotional skills down," said Michelle Boynton, Clinton County JCEO Head Start mental-health coordinator.
Second Step teaches empathy, coping skills, problem solving, even anger management.
"A lot of our center's teachers get the kids to do breathing exercises to regroup," Boynton said.
"Just to calm down their bodies and relax," said Bunker.
She employs that technique when her little charges are really upset, sometimes when they're crying.
A former Head Start teacher herself, Boynton would combine deep breathing with imagination, encouraging her students to picture themselves on a beach or in some other pleasant place.
"It really works," she said. "The kids sometimes asked me throughout the day if we can pretend to go someplace.'"
IMPULSE CONTROL
With a central goal of reducing peer aggression, the curriculum is based on research that shows "children with weak social-emotional skills are at risk for developing problems in school and later in the workplace," says Second Step literature. "In particular, children who are aggressive are especially at risk for developing more serious problems ... including delinquency."
Sometimes, said Boynton, a child's home environment isn't such that he or she has the proper social and emotional skills modeled for them. For others, Second Step reinforces what they are already exposed to.
Head Start offers workshops for families and gives parents and caregivers handouts on the curriculum so the skills can be used at home, too.
A brochure that accompanies a Second Step video talks about impulse control, which means "learning to slow down and think through options when faced with difficult situations or problems."
It encourages parents to help their children develop empathy by improving their listening skills -- hearing what the other is saying without criticizing or giving unasked for advice.
And, among other pointers, it offers ways to handle anger: by taking deep breaths, counting backward, thinking nice thoughts and thinking out loud about how to solve the problem.
REINFORCEMENT
Preschool is not too soon for children to employ those tools, Boynton said.
"It gives them some thinking skills. Instead of somebody solving (problems) for them, they come up with some good solutions."
At Cumberland Head Head Start, Bunker continued the Second Step lesson with a question-and-answer session, using a picture of a boy holding a baseball glove who is trying to get the attention of his dad.
The dad is clearly talking with someone else, and Bunker asks her class how the boy should proceed.
"You say, Excuse me,' and then you stop," said student Gerika Tunnell.
"I think it helps," said Boynton of the curriculum. "It's just starting as young as possible to give them the skills they need."
smoore@pressrepublican.com
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