“Soft skills” have taken on increased importance for younger students due to the last school year’s loss of peer interaction and in-person learning. Skills like problem solving, compromising, handling frustration, encouraging others, and sharing are vital for future success. Day of Play at Churchville-Chili’s Chestnut Ridge Elementary School prioritized these competencies through having good old-fashioned fun with others. Without a digital screen in sight, students from all grade levels went hands-on with favorite card games, board games and puzzles brought in from home.
Many of first-grade teacher Sarah Sparks Stewart’s students were still missing some age-appropriate social skills. She said, “This was just what they needed! We discussed what we wanted to get out of the day and how to accomplish those goals. Students wanted to make new friends, teach others how to play their games, talk to everyone and have fun! They planned to talk to friends they don’t normally play with. They all agreed that being kind was very important.”
“We took a few times to reflect throughout the day,” she said. “There were some tears from friends who didn’t know how to handle situations, but we worked through everything.”