This week has been one of many challenges. I have been having difficulty with one of my boys. He is extremely bright, but can be so frustrating with his behavior. He is our oldest child in our room and his presence in the room should be that of a role model; however, he chooses to push the limits and test the rules. He is three and this is normal behavior, but other students have been picking up on his behavior and have started testing limits as well. When there are fourteen children in a room all disobeying the rules it can be very frustrating! I try to be positive with him and ask him why he is choosing to make those choices and what he should be doing instead. He tells me he should follow the rules but his actions are the complete opposite. I have been worried lately because he has been much more aggressive to his friends and he says that he wants to hurt them. We have been brainstorming possible solutions to help his aggression and frustration; however it is difficult to alleviate a problem when you are not sure what is causing it. We think he may be bored and therefore is choosing to act out to get attention both from us and from other children. This afternoon I went online and found some great file folder games that my kids love to play with. I found some great ones at Early Childhood Printables. I also found some great ones for preschool here.
I have also had my first encounter with a possible child abuse/neglect case. This has been troubling me all week. It is such a difficult and delicate situation. I have been documenting everything I see attempting to build a case. It is so difficult because I feel like the parents care, but the child says and does things that make me think that there are some things going on at home that are not safe. It also makes me wonder how many other times the child has gotten hurt that we just dismissed it as being a kid or being clumsy. On the other hand, what if the child is lying about how they got hurt and they really did just fall down accidentally. It is such a difficult situation to be in and it is scary to me to think that I might have to report it, but it is more scary to me that the child could be in a dangerous situation and I stood by and did not say anything. I am aware about the good faith clause and that I am legally bound to report any suspected abuse or neglect. At this time I do not feel like I have enough reason to believe that I should call the authorities, however I am now keeping an aware eye on the child, on all my children.
On a lighter note, I successfully had my first parent party in celebration of Father's Day. We had Donuts with Dads, and uncles, papaws, step-dads, and even some moms who were gracious enough to fill in for some working dads. All of my friends were so excited to have their dads and male adults in their lives in our classroom for 30 minutes. They ate donuts (though not all of them...Ms. Kelly just polished off her sixth one of the day), drank juice, and most importantly, spent time with one another! I feel it was extremely successful although somewhat nerve-wracking for me. It was the first time I have addressed a crowd of adults in a while and had to give directions to both age groups. It was a difficult balance and one that I was not expecting. Most of the parents just went with the flow and were pretty flexible. I must say that we have a great group of parents!
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and father-like figures out there! Have a wonderful weekend.
~Miss Kelly
Friday, June 15, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Updates
I'm back! I know I disappeared for a month. It was a busy, event-filled first month and I couldn't find time to update. It was a new and somewhat stressful situation for me but I made it through! I am excitedly starting my second month as a lead teacher to 14 two- to three-year-olds. Last month we studied insects and dinosaurs. It was definitely more of a learning experience for me and my associate than quite possibly any of our students.
We completely overhauled the schedule and routine. We tore paper off the walls, rearranged basically anything that we could move, and probably drove our maintenance man to tears numerous times with the requests that we made of him. We did however, find things that worked well for us. Now in the awkward gap of time between lunch and nap we go outside instead of forcing the children to pick a book, table toy, or puzzle, which was more hassle on the two of us than on any of them.
We added themed footprints on the floor so the students would know where to stand or sit while waiting or while at group. Last month they were all dinosaur feet, it worked out well until we realized that they would get confused between the feet at group and the feet by the door, so this month we diversified it (geese feet by the door and tuffets on the carpet, can you tell we are doing Mother Goose this month).
It is amazing what a little piece of paper taped to the floor can do!
We try to keep them as engaged as possible, whether it is singing, listening to a story, doing an art project, or watching us rearrange the room. I find that setting out new toys at different tables helps peek their interest and keeps them on task and out of trouble. I discovered that it is easier to have them help you clean and that they see it as a reward; it's a win-win! They love to sweep, water the plants, and feed the fish. We pick jobs every morning and I call them over to help me with whatever job they picked when it is time.
I struggle to find enough time during the day to complete all the things that need to be done throughout the day, lesson plans, newsletters, needed supply forms, accident reports, developmental milestones, and parent communication, not to mention housekeeping, updating the walls, setting up new activities for the next day and communicating with administration and other teachers. Trying to keep the clutter from piling up takes away from the time I have to spend interacting with my students and that is the hardest thing for me to balance at the moment. Even coming in early and staying later doesn't alleviate all of the problem. Inevitably I find myself working at home despite the administration's insistence that I only work while on the clock. I am still working out the kinks, maybe by August I will have the classroom in working order, just in time for me to move to California!
We completely overhauled the schedule and routine. We tore paper off the walls, rearranged basically anything that we could move, and probably drove our maintenance man to tears numerous times with the requests that we made of him. We did however, find things that worked well for us. Now in the awkward gap of time between lunch and nap we go outside instead of forcing the children to pick a book, table toy, or puzzle, which was more hassle on the two of us than on any of them.
We added themed footprints on the floor so the students would know where to stand or sit while waiting or while at group. Last month they were all dinosaur feet, it worked out well until we realized that they would get confused between the feet at group and the feet by the door, so this month we diversified it (geese feet by the door and tuffets on the carpet, can you tell we are doing Mother Goose this month).
It is amazing what a little piece of paper taped to the floor can do!
We try to keep them as engaged as possible, whether it is singing, listening to a story, doing an art project, or watching us rearrange the room. I find that setting out new toys at different tables helps peek their interest and keeps them on task and out of trouble. I discovered that it is easier to have them help you clean and that they see it as a reward; it's a win-win! They love to sweep, water the plants, and feed the fish. We pick jobs every morning and I call them over to help me with whatever job they picked when it is time.
I struggle to find enough time during the day to complete all the things that need to be done throughout the day, lesson plans, newsletters, needed supply forms, accident reports, developmental milestones, and parent communication, not to mention housekeeping, updating the walls, setting up new activities for the next day and communicating with administration and other teachers. Trying to keep the clutter from piling up takes away from the time I have to spend interacting with my students and that is the hardest thing for me to balance at the moment. Even coming in early and staying later doesn't alleviate all of the problem. Inevitably I find myself working at home despite the administration's insistence that I only work while on the clock. I am still working out the kinks, maybe by August I will have the classroom in working order, just in time for me to move to California!
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