Our Kindergarten classrooms use the Tools of Mind Program.  Tools of the Mind is a research-based program that helps young children to develop the cognitive, social-emotional, self-regulatory, and foundational academic skills they need to succeed in school and beyond. Tools emphasizes teaching children various strategies they can use to regulate themselves and each other.  Children progress at their own pace, along with their individual developmental trajectories. This is made possible by ongoing assessment and individualized scaffolding that allows instruction to be tailored to help each child reach his or her academic potential.  Children practice skills with self-correcting materials and are taught how to identify and reflect on mistakes in their own work, as well as in the work of their friends. Children are explicitly taught how to give each other constructive feedback, how to praise and encourage their partners, and how to interact with their friends who have different abilities. Tools teachers use make-believe play as the primary vehicle to foster self-regulation by creating themes and helping children learn how to plan scenarios that build and change as the play progresses; how to make pretend props; and how to change roles.