Changing Things Up

 Wow, November, can you believe it? Since August, our little room has had some pretty big changes as more kids have joined us and COVID guidelines becoming barriers to some things we have been able to do in the past. That being said, the kids have had to make changes for themselves in the classroom as well. We are seeing a lot of really good things happening in terms of play skills expanding and friendships growing. So good! 

We also have experienced some challenges along the way. In order to combat those challenges, the Pine teaching team has had to make some adjustments to make all children receive the support they need in order to succeed. One of our hardest times is meeting time. This is a time where all 6 boys are expected to sit and participate in a variety of songs, books, and other friendship building games. I'll be honest, meetings were exhausting for everyone! Our little guys in the morning are movers and don't always have the attention span to sit up to 15 minutes. That's a long time! One of the easiest ways to gauge how long a child should be attending or sitting is to think about their age. If a child is three, we should be expecting them to sit for up to 3 minutes before getting up or needing some kind of movement break. That being said, our meetings have now changed drastically. 

Today was a very successful meeting time as each one of them had the opportunity to first play with a preferred object or toy. It allowed them to make requests and get used to sitting for a few minutes doing something they wanted. After a few minutes with a toy and returning to the basket, we reviewed our expectations of listening ears and a calm body while sitting. All the boys did an amazing job! After practicing sitting for awhile they were then able to participate successfully with Ms. Kari!