Supporting Growth Mindset in Kindergarten

Kindergarteners have been exploring the concept of growth mindset and how it helps us to move through new and sometimes hard tasks. We have begun reading some beautiful and powerful picture books, that were the catalysts for some very important conversations about working hard, making mistakes, and  perseverance. We have explored how the brain needs to grow and stretch and that is what is happening when we are learning. 

A few of our growth mindset read aloud books 

During beginning conversations, the children tried to envision when they were very little and laughed about how messy they probably were when they were first learning how to eat, but over time they did learn. We reminded them that talking and walking were also hard for all of us at one time too, yet with time and practice, all of us learned those skills- we just do not remember how hard it was and how long it took! After these read-alouds and class discussions, some new favorite classroom quotes are "mistakes make thinking happen" and "try and try again!"

Some other phrases that we have been using to create positive self talk as we explore growth mindset:

• I can try.
• I can try again.
• I can try a new way.
• I can ask for help.
• I can take a break and then try again.
• Everything new is hard before it becomes easy.
• Work until you are proud.
• I can not do it yet!
• Believe in the power of yet.

Below are some quotes that kindergarten students shared about experiences that a growth mindset has been supporting:

"Sometimes it is hard to stand up for my self but I am trying. Sometimes I need help from my teacher."

Kindergarten after play performance photo

"I was really scared to do the play. We practiced and practiced. I was still a little nervous but it was fun too!"

"We wrote our play and then we had to change it. It was too long. Then we tried again and again. I think we got it just right. A lot of people clapped for us."

Kid writing

"Kid writing is not as hard any more but it used to be because it was new to me and my hand would sometimes hurt. Now my hand muscles are stronger because I practice!"

"I was working on lower case n. I can do them now because I practiced and practiced!"

"I didn't know about sight words and they are really hard. Jolly Jump Up and Sight Word Memory help me learn new words."



"Writing big numbers is hard yet I am practicing. I can not do it yet...but I will do it soon."

"I love math but sometimes it is hard for me. It is hard to write the numbers the right way. I go fast and I am learning to slow down."

"Math is something I am practicing and it gets easier every time I do it!"

Creating a Pokemon scene with cutting and drawing skills

"Cutting with scissors is easy now because I kept trying to cut new things like straight lines, curves and zig zags. It took me a long time to learn but I did it!"

Book sharing with the class

"At the beginning of the year, it was soooo hard to sit and listen to book sharing. Now I can sit longer and I like seeing my friend's books. I think a lot of practice helped.""

"Book sharing was hard at first because I was nervous because I had to sit on the sofa and talk. There were a lot of kids watching me. But every week I feel better and better. Now I can read some of the words in my books too. That makes me happy."

Kindergarten loves "big" puzzles for the challenge!

"I didn't know how to do big puzzles. I watched other friends and then tried it. We matched colors and shapes. We figured out it is easier to start with the outside straight pieces first and then fill in the middle pieces."

"We worked on a 400 hundred piece puzzle. It was really hard but we kept trying. We were so excited when we had one piece left and then it was done.  Now we are doing a 500 hundred piece puzzle!"

"Really big puzzles are really hard but if we work together, we can do it."

Growing and building on growth mindset in kindergarten helps the students to have a deeper understanding of how the brain works and encourages positive self talk and the essential social/emotional and academic skills of resiliency, perseverance, flexibility, dedication, and risk taking.