Head start preschool morah

amother

Natural

Tue, Oct 09 2018, 2:24 pm

Hi, I started working in an head start preschool. It's mind boggling how many toys are supposed to be accessible to the kids on a daily basis. All the centres have toys on shelves. We have a bunch of rowdy boys that keep playing with stuff and damaging even with supervision. Any preschool teachers have advice how to maintain a classroom. The home corner had a box of brand new play food. We're only a week into term and lots missing. Please any advice??

thunderstorm

Tue, Oct 09 2018, 2:40 pm

I'm not a preschool Morah but I've subbed in Headstart classrooms.
Missing toys and rowdiness are two different things.

Check all the kids pockets and backpacks before going home. There are usually one or two kids that take toys home (my own kids used to come home daily with matchbox cars etc. and we were forever returning them ).

You need to be strict with the rowdy kids and some behavior should not be acceptable.
Damaging school property is never ok, no matter the age. Now is the time to teach them, that.

The kids in the Headstart classrooms were pretty disciplined when it came to clean up and putting everything back in the centers.

Each table of four or five kids used to play with the same item at one table.
You had scissors, paper and crayons etc on one.
Cars and trucks on the other
Blocks on another
And puzzles on another
So each group of kids cleaned up their mess.

amother

Ginger

Tue, Oct 09 2018, 2:43 pm

You let only a few kids at one center at time. On rotation basis. Maybe keep chart/ signs. Don't let playtime too long. Make sure they pack up after playing. They have a criteria how many kids are allowed at each type of center at once. Also the messy centers like sand/water or easel painting was reserved as special treat....didnt open it every single day. Hope info is helpful. That's from my exp except I never dealt with boys. Boys are probably harder. Another thing In beginning need to establish the rules & set up the routines. Practice those every day in beginning.

seeker

Tue, Oct 09 2018, 7:46 pm

amother wrote:

This. A typical preschool/HS classroom has several centers and several centers sessions. During centers time, each child puts their name/picture at a specific center (there would be a limited number of spots at each) and has to stay in that area for a set amount of time, say 15 minutes or so but with some flexibility depending how things are going. There's usually a blocks/trains area, a kitchen/pretend play area, a sensory table and/or art easel, and two tables. The tables are near the toy shelves and there can be 1-2 toys on a table at a time. The teachers guide the kids as they go along if kids are taking out too much at once. Then at the end of the center time, the kids at each center are to clean up what they were using, again with teacher oversight.

Odds are your rowdy boys just need a lot of extra direction and reinforcement to get into the right habits.