How do I Teach Life Skills in the Classroom?

Good hygiene starts by learning the proper way to wash hands.

Children spend the majority of their day in school. In addition to academics, children should learn life skills so they grow up to be independent, confident adults. Universal life skills that are easy to teach include social skills, hygiene, memory and organization tools and money management. Teachers can incorporate these life skills into their daily classroom routine.

Social Skills

Learning social cues and appropriate behavior in various situations is a vital life skill to learn. Students can practice social skills in pairs or small groups, paying attention to eye contact, body positioning, turn taking and hand shaking. Teachers can also turn social skills into a game by standing in front of the classroom and making facial expressions. Children should try to guess what the expressions mean. Examples include happiness, anger, surprise, fear and sadness. The game can be turned into a lesson on feelings. Polite behaviors should be implemented by enforcing "please" and "thank you," signals such as raising hands when students need to stop speaking and assigning students turns to hold doors while their classmates file through the hallways. Students who exhibit appropriate social cues should be verbally acknowledged.

Hygiene

Hygiene is tied into the social component of teaching life skills. People with poor hygiene may have a difficult time maintaining social and work relationships. Hygiene can be an awkward topic, but teachers can begin teaching hygiene by scheduling bathroom breaks before lunch and after recess for students to wash hands. Teachers should give a demonstration in the classroom sans soap and water to show students the proper way to wash hands. This will open up a discussion about germs and personal care at home.

Memory and Organization

Teachers should provide charts, lists and visual aids throughout the classroom to help children remember and organize their learning tools and assignments. Teachers should reinforce their aids by pointing them out at appropriate times. For example, a teacher may ask, "What do we do now?" or, "What do we need from our desks before we head to the art room?" and point to the visual aid on the wall. Children who struggle with memory and organization may have their own tools on their desk such as a timer for transitions, a list for class times, assignments and tools needed for each one, and folders to separate subject materials.

Money Management

Teachers can teach students about money management by "paying" students for correct answers, completed class and homework assignments and good test grades. Likewise, students "pay" the teacher for tardiness to class, incomplete assignments, forgotten parental signatures and snacks. Students should keep a record of money earned and spent. Students with the most money after a specified time period earn a prize from the teacher like extra free time or a homework pass.

References

• National Education Association: Social Skills Kids Need to Succeed
• Education: Life Skills
• Internet For Classrooms: Life Skills