Childhood+Towards+Pre-Adolescence

Childhood toward Pre-Adolescence

Throughout grades 3-5, students begin to exhibit pre-adolescent attitudes and behaviors. During this stage of development, students exhibit an increased awareness of themselves and of the social world around them. These new perspectives yield deep changes in the ways in which students view (and understand/regulate) themselves, interact with others, and approach learning challenges.

**__Expressions / Examples__**

//1) Peers// As students move through childhood toward pre-adolescence, they look less to the adult community and become ((far))- more reliant upon their peers and social community for cues about the social value of a wide range of phenomenon.

//2) Adults// As students move through childhood toward pre-adolescence, relationships with adults remain vital. However, students begin to need a different kind of relationship with the adults in their lives, a relationship that remains foundational but that has more distance as students begin to explore and test individuality, freedom, responsibility, and boundaries.

//3) Self// As students move through childhood toward pre-adolescence, they experience a growth of self-awareness. They begin to see themselves and their peers as individuals with individual strengths and weaknesses. Differences of gender, academic skill, athletic ability, etc. become more recognized by students at this time. In addition, students begin to actively create and maintain social hierarchies in their peer community.


 * __How Do We Teach__**

• Adult constancy while allowing room--By allowing children to identify and describe their hopes and dreams and then develop a set of classroom expectations provides the children with a voice and ownership of their behavior. Adults are involved with this process as facilitators of the process and the mediators and an adult prescence when the expectations are not followed and consequences need to be imposed. • humor & lightness guided choices such as Academic Choice constructive learning methods