This free download classroom printable poster print is an anchor statement in my classroom.
Here’s why I think the way I do about teaching kindergartners about perseverance and being perfect.
These are perfect for any kindergarten (or any primary grade level classroom) to post and serve as a reminder that it’s not practice that makes perfect.
But practice makes better.
How five-year-olds view challenges
I’ve found that many five-year-olds are not afraid to try something new or potentially challenging. They don’t see it as taking a risk.
For any number of reasons they are raring to go, willing and often excited about experiencing something new.
There does seem to come a time (and there are two personality types who’ll experience this more than any other) when they shy away from attempting something new because they “don’t know how.”
Often times, they feel stumped where to even start without prompting guidance or feel inadequate and want to shut down altogether.
This could happen at any point during the day… as a teacher with 26+ little personalities, you’re not always able to predict when one of these instances might occur.
So, in order to help prepare for those moments {because they always come} I like to do preventative maintenance.
And here’s the wonderful part – you can too!
Teach them it’s about practice
Just like we teach routines, procedures, and expectations (yeah I know, I go overboard and even teach them how to blow their nose… because I don’t want to hold them accountable if I’m not sure anyone has ever really shown them how!) I want to teach them how to think about taking risks and trying something.
Life truly is about “Try. Fail. Adjust.”
There isn’t reaching any success without it… but if all they ever see me model is success without the failing or adjusting, then I lose the opportunity to build in realistic expectations and teach them how to handle “failure” or “an imperfect drawing” or “a number 5 that keeps looking like a snake” and is about to bring tears.
So, how do I do it?
Well, here’s an example. You’ve always got a kinder who will praise you for doing something the first few days of school…
“You’re a great colorer Mrs. Simpson!”
My response will become something I repeat throughout the rest of the year and an underlying classroom mantra.
“Thank you for noticing that I’ve been practicing! The more you practice, the better you get.”
Start teaching it on day one
I will even begin teaching this the first day of school as we wind up our day.
I simply explain that we learned how to do school in so many ways… and the tomorrow we will practice again. Then I simply share that we will keep practicing everyday because, “The more you practice, the better you get.”
It really is that simple.
It starts out small, it gets repeated. And it’s part of my praise on a regular basis. “Wow! Look at how you now have that backwards circle a in your name. Your practice is making you better at writing your name the kindergarten way!”
There are many good things that come from specific praise. And there are many good things that come from specific praise of a specific effort.
Help it stick
Once my kinders have heard it enough, now when they are facing a challenge I acknowledge that indeed it is a challenge right now. So I simply begin to say, “The more you practice… {big pause}” and let them finish. They then give themselves permission to “practice” some more without needing to achieve perfection.
I use it when we’re doing whole group work, small group work and at the individual level.
Does it always work for the typical perfectionist in the classroom? Well, not in every circumstance.
But having it built into the way we think and accept the challenge as a class makes it more likely for them to accept it, than if I hadn’t built an expectation of “practice” into what we do.
With those perfection-prone kinders, I try to identify specific triggers and head them off before the melt-down event might occur {wink}
A free download
To encourage your class, I’ve made a free download of 15 prints that simply state, “The more you practice, the better you get!”
Let’s wrap it up
I hope that it may help you build positive expectations into your classroom as it has mine.
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