Self-Regulation in Kindergarten

Self-regulation is being aware of and managing one's behaviour, reactions, thoughts and emotions as one strives towards goals. It means that one makes informed choices based on sound judgements. 

Taken from the glossary of the IB document "The Early Years in the PYP", self-regulated describes the ability to manage oneself in order to reach one's own goals and has this graphic to support our understanding. 

Self-regulation is much about self as it is about others. It connects identity, well-being, interests, needs and challenges with interactions, relationships and being part of a community. Self-regulation requires both independence and cooperation as time, space and ideas are negotiated. 

Children become better at self-regulating by self-regulating. It is important for children to have opportunities to make choices, take ownership of their learning, play, participate in playful learning opportunities, learn alongside others and have access to loose parts and open-ended materials in spaces where creative and critical thinking and initiative are valued and become the norm. 

Agency is central to self-regulation. Without agency, we as educators would be regulating for the children. Self-regulation positions the learner in a central role and as an agent of their own learning, becoming increasingly aware of the impact of their choices. There are opportunities for children to do their own thinking, and not follow the demands of others to be compliant. As children make their own decisions, they learn to trust their own judgements.

Last week, I attended a webinar by Froebel Trust about self-regulation where the idea of co-regulation was also explored for those children that might need support. The Trust has recently published a comprehensive pamphlet all about self-regulation. 

Also last week, Alison Pattinson hosted a webinar about social and emotional learning as part of the ELSA conference. In her presentation, Alison referenced the interactive CASEL wheel. Many connections to self-regulation can be made, as well as to executive functioning.

Last week's #PYPchat on Twitter was focused on self-regulation. In a question about how the skills and sub-skills of the approaches to learning, together with the learner profile, support students to become self-regulated learners, Emmanouil Zerai (@E_zerai on Twitter), developed this graphic. Describing his visual, Emmanouil explained, "The attributes of the learner profile are moving clockwise while the approaches to learning are going counter-clockwise, so everything contributes and gets contribution from all the rest."

Unpacking the idea of self-regulation, and reflecting on the learner profile and approaches to learning, I began to think about examples of self-regulation in my Kindergarten class this year. 

What connections can you make between these examples and Emmanouil's graphic?

Many children in their play set themselves a goal to achieve and show great determination in achieving this goal. Last week, two children set out to build a car. They planned for what they needed and put away the resources for easy access over multiple days. As one approach failed, they were quick to test alternative ideas. They were also proactive in checking in if the glue gun sticks that they needed had arrived.

One child gets very upset if their parents arrive late to school in the morning as they are afraid of missing out on what the class is doing. I chatted to the child about the reality of missing 5 minutes and modelled self-talk that might be useful if they arrive late in the future. 

One child had several accidents due to not getting to the bathroom in time when they needed to go to the toilet. In a conversation, we discussed cause and effect and brainstormed what to do as soon as the child felt they needed to go to the toilet. 

One child has difficulties focusing and has a 'fidget toy' to help. The child is responsible for managing the toy and when to use it. 

As part of the How we express ourselves unit, children are illustrating and writing their own stories. Many children are becoming more and more aware of what "good" looks like and hold themselves accountable in meeting this level of quality. The level of concentration and conscious decisions to draw and write slowly is impressive, as is the number of children who are deciding for themselves to start a page for a second time. 

One child had difficulties with organization at the start of the school day and have the bag, snack, lunch and coat in the right place. We developed a visual checklist that the child uses independently to manage objects that need to be organized. 

Several children enjoy rough and tumble play. There were times when one child would get hurt and/or cry so we discussed as a group indicators that might show when the play is too rough. These indicators helped them to gauge their own play. 

One child has difficulties losing at games and accepting defeat graciously. We read picture books and have ongoing discussions about fairness, flexibility and participation. 

We have spent a lot of time and energy to develop a culture of inquiry. Many children are now more active in their learning journey and feel inspired and safe to ask questions and share their wonderings which they know will shape the next steps of learning. 

One child had separation anxiety in the mornings when saying goodbye to their parents. We discussed the problem and discussed what might work to resolve the issue, actively involving the child in the decision-making process. 

Some children are not proactive in tidying up after their play. We filmed the children and showed the clips privately discussing shared responsibility. 

One child was choosing to use the iPad in most play sessions, and the same app each time. We discussed the child's interests and looked at other resources in the class so the child was reminded of other options and could make more balanced choices. 

One child was upsetting others by knocking down their creations. Then, others knocked down a creation made by this child. It was the perfect opportunity to discuss empathy, feelings and being part of a caring community to help evaluate if decisions are good or bad. 

During outdoor play, a common occurrence was children coming to the teachers to resolve conflicts for them. We played an active role in encouraging children to express their feelings to their friends, often offering sentence starters and co-regulating situations if needed, with an aim for children to manage these situations more independently.