This week seemed to be an especially difficult one with all of the children being extra cranky. There’s always one or two each week that are having a bad day, but this week, EVERYONE was having a bad day. We were battling it through the lesson, not very effectively, and the spirit definitely wasn’t in the room. I had to resort to ‘counting to three’ to get the children back into their chairs and pay attention. Just before I was about to loose it totally, on the brink of tears, the Primary Secretary said, “Who’d like to go on a walk?”
The children were so excited about this mini field trip they immediately jumped into the line behind the Secretary and were at attention. She had in her hand a piece of yarn about 5 feet long and each child had to hang onto the string. She discussed with them the rules for this walk. “There is no talking, and you must not let go of the string.” When we were all on the same page, we began our trek through the halls. We only made it down one hall and came back to the classroom, but the kids weren’t having that. We explained that because they were talking in the halls and one of the children let go of the string (they bolted toward an exit door, which we luckily caught him before he ran outside) we had to come back to the classroom. We asked them if they wanted to go out again and they were very enthusiastic about it and promised to follow ALL the rules this time. We made it down 2 hallways this trip (there were only 2 in the building…) and came back to the classroom.
After this little trip, the kids were still anxious and wiggly, but we were able to have the spirit with us and enjoy the last part of the lesson. This was an excellent example of thinking on your feet and being prepared to make changes to the lesson plans. Thanks again so much to that special lady who had the brilliant idea to ‘go on a walk’. She not only saved the lesson, but my sanity!
The children were so excited about this mini field trip they immediately jumped into the line behind the Secretary and were at attention. She had in her hand a piece of yarn about 5 feet long and each child had to hang onto the string. She discussed with them the rules for this walk. “There is no talking, and you must not let go of the string.” When we were all on the same page, we began our trek through the halls. We only made it down one hall and came back to the classroom, but the kids weren’t having that. We explained that because they were talking in the halls and one of the children let go of the string (they bolted toward an exit door, which we luckily caught him before he ran outside) we had to come back to the classroom. We asked them if they wanted to go out again and they were very enthusiastic about it and promised to follow ALL the rules this time. We made it down 2 hallways this trip (there were only 2 in the building…) and came back to the classroom.
After this little trip, the kids were still anxious and wiggly, but we were able to have the spirit with us and enjoy the last part of the lesson. This was an excellent example of thinking on your feet and being prepared to make changes to the lesson plans. Thanks again so much to that special lady who had the brilliant idea to ‘go on a walk’. She not only saved the lesson, but my sanity!
No comments:
Post a Comment