here we go again

It's an annual struggle that every teacher must face. You have been with one group of children for nearly a year. You have watched them grow and change. They have improved vastly on skills and constantly amaze you with the level of independence they have achieved.

Your class is a well-oiled machine. Everyone is comfortable with the routine and their place in it. You have your little tricks and you know which ones to use with each child for maximum effectiveness.

Obviously, it's time for room promotions. Your little darlings will move on to the next teacher or the next school. You will miss them, of course. But that's not the main issue. You are actually excited for them to move on to the next teacher and build on what they have learned from you.

No, the problem is that you now have a totally new class. And they aren't at the same level in their development that you grew accustomed to with your previous class. These kids are back at square one as far as you are concerned. They are not the mature and independent little people that you have grown so used to dealing with. They need you to do more for them, because developmentally they have not yet built the skills necessary to do for themselves.

It's hard to adjust backwards. It just is not natural to regress. You have to be more patient as you constantly remind yourself that these kids are behaving normally for their age. Yes, you broke your previous class of these behaviors months ago, but it was a slow process then, and it will be a slow process now as well.

You have to learn a whole new group of kids and find the tricks that work for each one. You have to lower your expectations - at least a little bit, at least for a while.

It's tough on everyone all around. Sure, you are having trouble with it. But so are the kids. They have to learn a whole new classroom, new rules, new routines, new expectations. They have to adjust to you and your personality.

The beginning of a new school term is a very awkward time all around.

good question

This is Z's last week at preschool. He's getting ready to start kindergarten, and his parents have found someone else (read: cheaper and willing to pick him up from school so he won't have to ride the bus) to keep him after school, so they want to start getting him used to her and her place.

Now, Z has been in my class for 2 years. I've only had about 4 months as a preschool teacher without him in my class. Well, last week I started saying things like "what am I going to do without a Z in my class?" and "I won't know how to take care of a class without a Z in it!"

Friday afternoon on the playground, Z came up to me and sat in my lap in the swing and said "What am I going to do without my Ms Amber to tell me what to do?"

how does he come up with this stuff?

This story requires a bit of setup. I work at a preschool with a school-age summer program. The building that the school-age class and both 4-year old classes are in is just one big open room - no walls between the three classes. And we share 1 girls' bathroom and 1 boys' bathroom.

Today I took my class to the bathroom, as is our habit before heading off to the playground. Because I don't want to spend the entire recess standing in the doorway so that I can supervise a playground and a bathroom at the same time. Anyway, Z was messing with the keyboard from the school-age music center (which is right next to the bathrooms) and I said "Z, please don't touch that." He came back with a smartmouth mimic and I gave him the "I know you didn't just do that" look. Then Z did the funniest thing.

He stuck his finger out like he was going to scold someone and then turned it to his mouth as he said, "Mouth, don't say that! Ms Amber is my teacher!"

Fun on the See-Saw

Last Friday on the playground, Frank and Jordayn got so excited about what they could do on the see-saw. Frank is a good, sturdy little 5-year old, and Jordayn is a very petite 4-year old. Obviously, this made for some imbalanced see-sawing. Here's the video, with commentary from 5-year old Justin: