Having good manners are part of a child's social skills in dealing with and respecting other people. These manners will be a tool to ensure they have better interaction with people around them. Counselors can teach kindergarten children good manners through songs. Songs with simple lyrics which children can easily memorize are ideal. Songsforteaching.com has many songs about manners that kids can enjoy singing as well as learning from. Among the many song titles are "The Thank You Song" by Rita Gold and "A Smile and a Kind Word" by Perfectly Proper Musical Manners. Singing these songs everyday will remind children about the importance of having good manners and respecting other people.
Kindergarten children often have problems getting along with other children, which result in conflicts. Using puppets are a good way to teach children how to resolve conflicts without squabbling. Any puppets will do, as well as stuffed toys or dolls. Whenever there is a conflict between two children, bring out the puppets and re-enact what just happened. Let's say two children have been squabbling over a toy car. Bring out the toy car and let the puppets act out a gesture of sharing and respect. Make sure to let the re-enactment have a happy ending so that kids will realize that they can resolve conflicts with a positive attitude.
Kindergarten children will invariably experience anxiety at some point inside the classroom, especially if it's the first few days of school. Picture books are an effective tool in helping children deal with their emotion. These books are powerful because as a contrast to the fleeting images they see on television, these pictures stay put inside the books, and students can revisit them anytime they feel the need to. "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn and "Timothy Goes to School" by Rosemary Wells are examples of books that can teach children about the joys of being in school.
Children often need to learn to respect other children, especially those they feel are different from them. Teaching them about cultural diversity is important so that they can interact with other children in a positive way. Aside from showing the children books and pictures about different cultures, another unique way to teach them cultural diversity is to let them participate in pen-pal classroom exchanges. Surfnetkids.com is a classroom exchange program that connects 1.6 million students and teachers from 24,923 registered classrooms in 130 countries. Services include translation services and web-based teacher-monitored email accounts for students. Since these are kindergarten children, the teacher can handle the account and show the children the everyday correspondence and explain to them what it is about.