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9-17-00 Question 43
Dear Preschool
Teacher,
I recently accepted a new job teaching 19 four year olds.
Yesterday was the first day and worst day of my life. They were out of
control. We went over a few simple rules, they can even recite them to me,
but they don't follow them. They won't keep toys in the right center, and
even though I showed them how to play with the toys and then put them back,
they don't. I use a small jar to keep tokens in when I see good behavior to
earn a reward. I use a lot of praise, but some don't care. One is an escape
artist and throws tantrums. Help!
Out of Control!
Dear Out of Control,
I hope you are not alone with that many 4's.
In most states it is out of compliance with child care regulations. So
ask for an assistant. How many rules do you have? It is best to
only have three or four. They should be very general so many things
can fit under them. Example: Keep your hands to yourself. Touching people
and objects fit under this heading. Try putting fewer toys on the shelves
until they learn to put them away. Make a game out of it. Set a timer and
say" how many toys can we clean up in two minutes?" Do not give
rewards for everything. Make them occasional and for different things.
One day give a reward for good listening at circle. The next day give
a reward for lining up to leave the room. Ignore the child with the
temper tantrum unless he is hurting someone or himself. Keep the door shut
if he escapes or at least stay as close to it as possible. This is
something to take to your director because it is dangerous to this child and
to the group if you leave the room to chase him.
Jacqueline
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
Dear Out of Control,
I can relate to what you are experiencing. I
taught 4-year-olds for several years. Before you beginning planning
for your class, remember that developmentally, four-year-olds are tireless
bundles of energy, overflowing with chatter and activity. Bouts of
stubbornness and arguments between the child and parent/caregiver may be
frequent. At this age, children test limits and developing their
independence. Many are loud and boisterous. They will try your
patience with silly talk and silly jokes. They ask endless questions.
On the flip side, they are enthusiastic, try hard to help, and have lively
imaginations.
As they begin to approach their 5th year, they start to
"calm down". Until then, it took me several months to
realize I had to plan, plan, plan for the 4's. You need to be very
energetic, move from one activity to the next. It is challenging to
teach 4-year-olds. Once you realize that they are "simply being
4-year-old's", it is easier to understand them.
Have fun with them! Get physical, do lots of
movement activities. Just remember, they will one day "out
grow" this stage. . . Until then, keep your room active!
Hope this helps,
Annie
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
Dear Out of Control,
Good for you, that you have already realized the
potential problem in letting this continue! It is definitely best to
handle this problem immediately rather than wait for it to go away!
You have to remember that 4 year olds are for the most part very active.
Also, for many of them, this will be their first school experience before
kindergarten, and so you must provide some structure. They need
structure.
So, first of all make sure you take into account
how active they are, and provide lots of time for them to run and be active.
Do you have a playground area or even a large grassy area outside where they
can be loud? Plan on bringing them outside at least once a day,
preferably 2 if you have a full day program. Also allow time in the
classroom for free play, (learning centers) meaning that the children can
choose where they'd like to play, rather than being told what to do.
Limit each center area to just 3 or 4 kids. After all this is said,
also have times set up where you all come together as a group. I would
say, once before the start of the day (Circle Time) where you go over the
rules, discuss consequences for those who break the rules, and then maybe a
story or songs to reinforce the theme you are working on. Try to
re-group again immediately after the free play time and talk about how
things went. Have the kids join in the discussion, and talk about how
you would change things next time (i.e.: John and Sue were fighting over the
big truck. Maybe next time, we will give John 10 minutes with the
truck and then Sue can have her turn. OR this: I noticed that children
forgot to clean up the legos when they were done today, so I am putting the
legos away for awhile until I know you will all remember to clean them up.)
Let them see that you are "on to" what's going on, and give
negative behaviors a consequence.
Lastly, it seems like 1 teacher for 19 kids is an unfair ratio. In the
state where I live, preschool rooms must have 1 teacher per 9 kids.
You might want to look into this, and possibly ask for a teacher's aide, or
assistant, because children under the age of 5 need constant supervision,
not only for behavior, but safety reasons as well. If nothing else,
your supervisor must be made aware that you are having difficulties (any one
would, it's not a reflection on you!) He/she should be aware of any legal
ramifications should someone get hurt due to too many children and not
enough staff.
Good luck to you!
Jill
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
Dear Out of Control,
You poor thing! My immediate response is
to say QUIT and find a better job! Of course, that is not the answer, but it
sounds as if you took over for a teacher who let the class go out of
control. As you have already begun working, I'll assume this is a daycare
group that has been together all year, though I could be wrong. At the
end of the year, children are certainly more active and require a lot of
stimulation to keep them busy as boredom creeps in. I think that the
kids will get used to having a new face and all the new activities you
present will calm them somewhat but you will definitely need to police the
room constantly until they become used to your methods and rules. Firm
and consistent discipline is a must. With 4 year olds, I have found
that reviewing rules and regulations daily becomes tedious and since the
kids already know them, they tune you out. I would try a Monday
morning class meeting where you tell the kids the plan for the week......
sort of an 'I'm going to do this and this for you' and tell the kids what
you expect of them in return. It's ok to tell them that it is very
hard work for you to prepare special activities for them and to prepare the
classroom for them and that you can't do it if you have to spend all of your
time enforcing rules.
If they are still unruly, maybe ask the children to
conduct their own meeting and tell you their solutions to the classroom
problems. And, last but not least, surely you are not with 19 children
alone... so get your partner actively involved and be sure you both follow
the same rules and set the same limits. If you don't have a
partner, back to my first response: QUIT! (and report the Center to
licensing officials)
Good luck
Shelley
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
Dear Out of Control,
I know your first day was discouraging, but it will
get better, I am sure! I have been teaching 4 year-olds for 11 years
and every year when school starts I come home and tell my family I am in the
wrong profession!
It is really important to get control now, or your whole
year could be disastrous for you and your nerves. I always start out
using a lot of music, fingerplays, songs, and especially books and puppets
to get the classroom rules across. Puppets "help" me the
most. Sometimes the puppets misbehave and don't follow the rules and
the children tell them the right things to do. This lets them see what
misbehaving looks like and lets them do the "right" thing when
they talk to the puppets. Also, I let the puppets take the children go
around to the different centers and we talk about the rules there and WHY
they are important.
There are also a lot of books about starting school,
following the rules, working in centers, etc. It helps the children to
see pictures.
There are some good videos from Sesame Street about
sharing and getting along with others. Barney has a good back to
school video. Rainbow Fish has some good ones about getting along.
Cleaning up is always hard at the beginning. I tell
the children that they have 5 minutes left to play and then I set the timer.
When it goes off, I sing a clean-up song and we all start to work.
Sometimes I have a puppet go around with a "check-list" and he
tells then what he sees that is right and makes suggestions. During
one very difficult year, I had to make up a cleaning chart with stickers,
but I have only had to do that once.
Usually if the class realizes why you have the rules you
do and that they are for their own safety and help and they will have more
fun, they will be a little more cooperative.
Enjoy yourself and keep a positive attitude. Use
lots of praise and hugs. You will have a great year.
Best wishes,
Jan
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
Dear Out of Control,
Oh my! What a day! Try not to get
too overwhelmed, but 19 four year olds is too many for one teacher!
Start out slowly, maybe even hold back some of the toys until they learn the
procedure better. (Plus, it's nice to rotate toys anyway.) Look
around your room -- is there too much stimulus? Maybe you could do
centers and limit the number of children who may play there at one time.
In your craft center maybe use only one color of paint. Maybe you need
more "quiet" activities like books, puzzles, crayons, listening
center, file folder activities. I like that you use lots of praise --
keep it up! Remember, they will learn with practice! the
beginning of the year always seems hard.
Good luck, and enjoy!
Kris
"Ask the Preschool Teacher" Staff
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