LOVE IS THE KEY TO DEVELOPMENT
When the child first moves out of his home environment he/she is likely to be slightly distressed.
This article is about How to Welcome your new lovely young entrants to the school.
Facts About Children – Let us understand them
Remember the new entrants to your school have so far been living in the shelter of their house where they have been for most of the time in one to one care by either their mother or grand parents.
They may have following problems
1. The child has not been in the company of so many children.
2. He/she has not shared his things.
3. He/she has not been away from his parents for long hours in a different environment.
4. Some children may not have fully developed their language abilities and communication to express their problems. http://www.punyapublishing.com/learning-is-fun.html
5. May not have properly developed their toilet habits.
What it Means for the Young Child?
This sudden separation from the caregiver (Mother) and being among strangers may cause a certain amount of fear and insecurity in the child. If proper care is not taken he/she may start fearing coming to the school.
What should we do?
Preparation of the Classroom
It would be ideal that we make the classroom and seating of children as flexible and homelike as possible in the beginning so that he/she is not shocked by the change in the transition period.
You can put all the tables in the centre of the room and chairs around.
Purchase some simple and not very expensive rubber toys from the market sufficient in quantity so that each child can have at least one toy to play. When children enter the class place all the toys on the table so that they start selecting the toys and get distracted from the thought of being away from their home.
Attention Span
It is quite possible that the children will be bored with the toys in a short while. If you have an arrangement you can play a song/rhyme for them or sing some rhymes.
Children are very happy with singing and rhymes and in no time all of them will get busy with that.
Next you can tell them a story. Remember children have a great hunger for stories. They can listen to the same story again and again and still enjoy it.
Simple visuals by making puppets with paper or drawings on a paper to stick on a flannel board can be very helpful at this stage http://www.punyapublishing.com/images/lif/06.jpg
Some Do’s in the beginning
1. You can keep the day for children an hour or so shorter.
2. Explain to the parents that you have absolutely perfect arrangements so they should not be too anxious about their child and hence pass their anxiety to the child.
3. If possible welcome the children in the morning at the gate as they come to school in the first week.
4. Interact with parents as much as possible.
5. Do not get angry if some children are crying. They will get over the insecurity and the pain of separation slowly.
6. Try to understand and empathise with both parents and the child.
7. Do not push the child give him/her very simple activities such as
scribbling away on the paper. http://www.punyapublishing.com/learning-is-fun.html
8. Encourage and love the children as much as you can.
Prepare Yourself For Some of the following situations
We must prepare ourselves for handling the following situations with patience.
1. A child messing up his clothes.
2. Child throwing temper tantrums.
3. Any exigency or accident – so keep the addresses and phone numbers of parents ready with you.
4. See that the classroom, its furniture, toys as well as swings etc. are all checked up for minimizing any situation of physical harm to children.
5. Keep all small objects including erasers etc. away from children which they can put into their mouth or push into their nose etc.
6. All electrical connections should be safely insulated.
7. If you have a water play arrangement please be very sure about
sufficient number of adults with children when they are near water even if the water tub is not very deep.
8. Refer for safety words http://www.punyapublishing.com/learning-is-fun.html
We know that most of you may be knowing and doing many of these things but my effort is to underline them once again as a gentle reminder for the preparation for the new session.
Poonam S Kohli
www.punyapublishing.com
info@punyapublishing.com
