We have only a 3 day week. We have a teacher's conference on Thursday. Busy, but short week!
During the winter we have something called winter life skills. 1st-6th grade either goes skiing or ice skating and bowling 4 Mondays in January and February. Kindergarten and preschool decided that it would be better to have their activities on Fridays, so school is quiet on Mondays and chapel is moved to Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday February 9th, we had a semi slow day. With our changed chapel schedule a Kindergartner's life gets turned upside down. We had a few valentine activities to get ready for our valentine's party on Wednesday. Tuesday is our Library day and I was so embarrassed of the way the students acted. They were hiding under the tables and running around the library. Oh my!!! They had to apologize to the Librarian- who is a volunteer and does not need to put up with my students. It was not a good day. The students had Spanish that afternoon. One of my students decided that he did not was to do his work in Spanish. Can you believe it? He had the nerve to tell the teacher that he did not feel like doing his work and wasn't going to do it. These kids.
Wednesday was our valentine party. So much better than the day before. We had tons of crafts and activities. I was thankful for parents at the end of the day. We were making mice out of hearts because we are reading "Stuart Little" ,a heart mouse just seemed appropriate, and there was utter chaos trying to get everything put together and a few parents came in and helped out! YAY!!! I was loaded down with candy and treats. I felt really loved and appreciated. It is a good feeling.
There's another kindergarten teacher in this study who did the 100th day as well. Being in middle school it's not really as important as how many days there are left in the school year! As far as getting off schedule, I'm sure that once your kindergarteners get used to the new "different" schedule they'll start behaving a lot better. It's the same with the students with autism I have. They tend to freak out if anything is changed and they're unable to focus or do any work. However, after a few days their behavior changes and they become much more compliant. Do you have a schedule posted in your classroom somewhere? Perhaps going over it with them in the morning will help them know what to expect!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your advice. I have a student who is autistic. He is a new student to my class and it has really thrown things for a loop. He is so smart, but it is hard for him to be productive without someone sitting with him at all times. Being a small private school, an aid is not possible. I would love more advice!
ReplyDeleteStudents with autism work really well when everything is very structured. They love their schedules! They need to know exactly what to expect and when to expect it.
ReplyDeleteIf you give him a multi-step task, perhaps consider giving him a check list with each of the steps and teach him how to check off things when he's completed them. This puts a reminder in front of him of what needs to get done and in what order to do it.
In our classroom we also use a lot of timers with the students with autism. For instance, while working on the computer, they need to complete their work before the timer goes off, otherwise they don't get to do a free choice activity. The timer gives them a visual reminder of how much time they have left and requires less teacher prodding every second. Along with the check list you may be able to give him a reasonable time to complete each item and tell him how long he has to do so. For instance, if you want him to color a picture, cut it out, and glue it to a sheet of paper, his checklist schedule might look like this:
[ ] Color the picture - 2 minutes
[ ] Cut out the picture - 2 minutes
[ ] Glue the picture on to the paper - 1 minute
The first few times you'll probably have to set the timer for him, but eventually he'll figure it out and do it on his own. Having a timer in front of him will also motivate him to stay on task as he sees the numbers going down.
I hope this inspires you in some way!
Thank you so much!!! That is such a great idea! I will try that! I might try is with another student also!
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