K and 1st Kelso Lessons

We are about to start a new curriculum in my K and 1st grade classroom lessons called Kelso’s Choice. Kelso is a cheerful green frog who will appear as a puppet, on our handouts, and on a brief DVD segment introducing children to the program.

Our goal is to teach students several positive ways to deal with small problems that arise from normal disagreements among children. The 9 strategies I’ll teach are listed below, and also appear in a wheel graphic on a half-page note that will come home to you when I do the lesson in your child's classroom.

Kelso's 9 Choices
1. Talk it out
2. Share and take turns
3. Ignore it
4. Walk away
5. Tell them to stop
6. Apologize
7. Make a deal (compromise)
8. Wait and cool off
9. Go to another game

We'll learn that kids are smart enough and strong enough to use these choices to handle "kid-sized" or small problems, such as another child taking their crayon or making annoying noises. Kelso also teaches that big problems (those that are scary, dangerous, or can result in someone getting hurt) should be taken to an adult immediately.

During this first lesson that starts today, we'll discuss small and big problems, briefly review the 9 strategies, and watch a short DVD segment giving an overview of how these strategies work in real life. In future lessons, we will learn about the choices more in depth and practice choosing appropriate ones for different problems.

Please feel free to put the note up on your fridge and start using these ideas at home too! We'd love your support in reinforcing them, and hopefully you'll find that they help settle disagreements and discourage fighting among siblings or friends as well. The more practice kids get, the better equipped they’ll be to use these problem-solving and conflict-management skills when they need them... in primary school and many years to come!

This week I'll see Henry, Miller/Ray, Bosch, Payne, and Durrett's classes. All other 1st and K classes will be spread over the next three weeks.

Thanks for reading! We are glad you are here!