San Francisco, CA
The Little School

Discipline

OVERALL RATING (4.9)

Parents at this school, on average, believe that conflicts between children:
...are handled extraordinarily well in a way that not only gives me confidence in the safety of my child but also reassures me that my child (and his/her peers) are learning the early skills needed to socialize effectively with one another

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Director's Description to School's Approach to Discipline

Our purpose is two-fold: 1) to help children develop internal self-discipline that will last long beyond their years for us and 2) to invest in the social contract so that we can all benefit from being part of a positive community. To achieve the second, we offer logical choices and consequence. If the group wants to listen to a story, and you want to be noisy, you can quiet down in order to be part of the group or go somewhere else to be noisy until you are ready to join the group. To achieve the first, dialogue about behavior is a part of any discipline either at the time, before or after. Our response is based on our individual knowledge of the child and ranges from simple prohibitions and reminders, consequences such as being away from friends if you can't keep them safe to more elaborate plans intended to help a child gain self-control and self-awareness. For example, if a child aggresses during transitions, we might help her recognize this as a difficult time, encourage her to do some calming, organizing activities before transitions and practice with her ways to handle transitions. Thus, she gains the skills she needs and feels the success of her accomplishment

Director's Response to a Sample Discipline Scenario

Description of how teachers handle the following scenario: Child A and Child B are good friends and usually play together. One day, Child A decides to play with Child C and tells Child B, 'I don't want to play with you today. I'm playing with Child C instead.'


It depends on what we knew about the dynamics of Child A, B and C. For example, if this was an ongoing exclusion struggle, we would step in to help them navigate a solution that felt good to all or remind them of previous agreements. But if the situation was that Child A was ready to branch out and was working on asserting her needs, we would support Child A for having stated her desires in a way that kept Child B's feelings safe and then watch to see if Child B needed support figuring out what to do next.

Parents' Notes on Discipline, Health and Safety

Parent #1
The school is currently engaged in a capital campaign to re-do their already nice outdoor space, so that it matches their award winning interior design.

Parent #2
Teachers work on finding ways to help children be in the process of disciplinary incidents but it typically (at age 3) is teacher directed. The goal is to help children develop appropriate problem solving skills.

Parent #3
A new outdoor play area will be built soon at our school!

Parent #4
Conflict resolution and helping children to understand their feelings and communicate them are particular strengths of the program.

Parent #5
The school does a wonderful job of safety.

Parent #6
There are so many subtle things that differentiate what goes on in Little School classrooms. When you tour other schools, you get a sense that the visitors come first. Teachers don't hesitate to interrupt a conversation with a child to answer a prospective parent's question. The visitors are a necessary disruption. At the Little School, the kids come first. When you tour the school, they have you quietly sit on chairs around the perimeter where you can quietly observe what is happening closer to the kids' level. The first thing I noticed was how much of the communication occurred at the kids' level compared to what I observed at other schools. I could go on with the examples of how things are handled differently here.

Parent #7
The facilities feel imaginative and lived-in. Not too antiseptic, but clean and bright. The building has won design awards, and a new playground is in the works.

Health

OVERALL RATING (4.7)
Temperature and overall air circulation is comfortable
Healthy and nutritious snacks are provided
Toys and furniture are cleaned regularly

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Safety

OVERALL RATING (4.4)
Screen and identify all visitors
Parents may not bring sick children to school where they may infect others

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Montessori? Waldorf? Play-based?

What school type is right for your child? Is one model better than another? What does the research say?

View an example from the Savvy Source guide to learn more.

Trace around your child's foot, with shoe on, on a piece of white construction paper or card stock. Have child cut out the shoe print and add a spooky face. Glue it to a popsicle stick and you have a ghost stick puppet!

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