When a young student starts school, there is great excitement and many unknowns for both students and parents alike. To better navigate this transition, Waconia Public School’s Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program uses a common-sense approach called the Pyramid Model that outlines clear ways to teach social and emotional skills along with effective ways to intervene when kids need support. It’s an inclusive curriculum that establishes consistent, equitable learning environments across all of the district’s preschool and child care offerings.
“We know that if children have a solid social and emotional foundation, they’re much more able to acquire academic skills because the regulation skills are in place,” explains Sue Forster, early childhood programming supervisor. “The lifelong skills that we need to navigate the world come from this social-emotional foundation.” Waconia Public Schools was awarded a state grant to implement the Pyramid Model over the next five years. Through intensive staff coaching and partnership between regular and special education, the idea is to have the program help deliver on the district’s goal of offering high-quality, inclusive programming for all kids. The model also bolsters the district’s efforts to prepare students for more seamless transitions to kindergarten. “It creates an environment where all kids can be successful and be included,” Jenn Froehlich, special education manager, said. “We’ve implemented the model into our child care program [Kids’ Company], so kids with us throughout the day go to preschool and then return to the child care setting and have the benefits of consistent adult reactions, common language, and common expectations.”
At the base of the pyramid are many ways that build beneficial relationships and environments for all early childhood students. There is deliberate connection time for students and teachers, and transition times between one activity and the next. Visual schedules are frequently referenced, as are examples that explain what it looks like and sounds like to “Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Responsible”—outside, in the hallway, and in the classroom. Common language and behavior expectations are defined for shared spaces.
This foundational phase also teaches kids about big feelings along with the words and strategies formanaging them. “Teachers are reading books with emotional language, and in the classroom, we are hearing 3- and 4-year-olds using words, like ‘frustrated’ and ‘anxious’ instead of doing something more negative like taking a toy from another student,” Froehlich said.
Moving up the pyramid into phase two, students practice problem-solving strategies and how to be a “Super Friend.” Teachers use stories and model what secure friendship looks like, then acknowledge and celebrate when students put those skills into practice.
At the top of the Pyramid Model are intensive strategies that utilize collaborative problem-solving personalized for a child. Sometimes an individualized plan is helpful for any child, and to create it involves gathering and analyzing data to understand the function of a child’s behavior—or what a behavior is trying to accomplish. By teaming together—teachers, family, and child care providers—the shared information leads to insightful changes that positively support a child.
"This has really helped us solution-find with families and staff, using evidence-based, environmentally supportive, developmentally appropriate, logical tools," commented Froehlich.
To support the school–home partnership, families and caregivers regularly receive a “Skill of the Month.” One skill reminded parents to give five forms of positive feedback for every one re-direction to fill a child’s “emotional bank account.”
When dismissing students for playtime, Weber asks questions—but not “yes or no” questions—about the students themselves or the theme they are learning.
Terri Bessire, an early childhood special education teacher who co-teaches in a preschool classroom with a regular education teacher, appreciates how the model promotes picture schedules and predictable routines, thereby enabling students with individualized education plans (IEPs) to remain in and better participate in classroom settings. “When we do team meetings with regular education teachers, assistants, and paraprofessionals, we all have common goals around what we want to work on in classroom,” Bessire added. “We are all on the same page, and we know the data support what a positive impact it has on children.”
“If we can start kids feeling good about themselves and about school—at ages 3, 4, 5—if we can have that impact already going into kindergarten and have kids seeing themselves as learners, as a Super Friend, as part of a community, to see themselves as having a solution to a problem . . . to me, these are great gifts we can give kids,” Froehlich said.