Help! Teacher Of 8 5 Year Olds

[babygirl]

I am a teacher of the 5 yr olds in my ward... and they r um...lets just say a handfull. the dont listen, they talk and laugh and its not quite or even avrege noise they r loude and everyone around r room can hear them, i have people pop there heads in or look through the window and give me a look of gosh keep your kids quite, i have even had some parents (not of the children mind you) pop in and just sit there, and act like they know everything and can fix it all, which they dont they just make me uncomfortable, and the kids r still noise i just dont know what to do, iv even gone to langths of bribing which i am totaly against and it doesnt work for very long...does anyone have some sugestions on how i can get controle of my class?

thanx a bunch

Dancergirl

[moptopfan50]

Ah...again I stirke with a post. This could be habit forming... well, since I obey the Word of Wisdom I need some form of habit to live with...

dancergirl....I can help. I have not mentioned this yet, but back in 1978 (before your time) my very first calling was a Junior Sunday School teacher to -- you guessed it -- those cute adorable Mini Me sized 5 year olds. What a joy it was. I learned what is meant by "Out of the mouth of babes". They thought they were the boss and ruled. It was not easy getting them to sit and be quiet. Not sure I can remember exactly what I did since it was so long ago, but I do remember sitting down in a chair like they had and put them around me in a circle. I think I had like 10. I spoke in their language. I belive it was Pig Latin or some derivitive thereof, and we got along great. But they always loved the old bribe -- candy. Nothing like loading them up with sugar and sending them back to their parents. Not sure you can do that today, but it worked back then.

You can always pray HARD before you start class, and if nothing else, remember the 23rd Psalm: "Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me".

[babygirl]

thanx...but like i said bribing isnt working at least not very long maybe 20 sec. and i do put them close around me but half of them dont stay there. and im not sure what u mean by there language?

[Guest MrsS]

thanx...but like i said bribing isnt working at least not very long maybe 20 sec. and i do put them close around me but half of them dont stay there. and im not sure what u mean by there language?

Sit down with your Primary Presidency and tell them of your problems and ask for solutions. That is their job- to help you to be a better teacher, to help solve your problems.

I was 1st Councilor of the Primary Presidency, and many times I had to sit in on the classes and even take the disruptive children to their parents. We worked with our teachers to make sure that their classes were respectful, that the children were quiet and not harming the other students. One teacher found that by taking them for a walk around the church grounds half way through the alloted class time really calmed them down. ALL three of the Primary Presidency helped her with this too. It did work, and we started it will all of the classes!

Nix the candy and treats - do not reward them for bad behavior. Give them stickers instead. Stars on a chart to show that they are being good. Involve them in your lesson. By the time you get them in class they should have had plenty of Wiggle songs to get the wiggles out of them.

Ask the most disruptive child to please say a prayer for all of us to be respectful, quiet, to listen to the lesson and to learn what Heavenly Father wants us to learn, to bring the Holy Spirit back into the class room.

You may need a helper. It is nearly impossible for one person to keep more than 5 children in line. ASK for help from your Primary Presidency!! ASK for a helper, then co-ordinate with her/him with each lesson and both of you teach, take turns!

Pray before you enter the classroom - go into an unused room, close the door and pray for Father to be with each and every child, to guide you to teach what He wants the children to learn.

We would have the teachers get to the Primary Room before that block started and we would have a prayer just for that purpose. To bring Father into the classes and our hearts.

[Gwen]

i agree with mrss go to the presidency that is what they are for. this is their problem too. and if you have a big enough ward where the presedency isn't having to teach that is what they have to do is help the teachers.

i was the primary pres. with one councilor and just enough children to make it difficult, but not enough to have different age group classes. we had everyone, 11 yrs to 18months in the one group. we had several under eight who i don't think ever had any dicipline. one sunday i cued up the cd player to "reverance is more than just quietly sitting", i hope you know which one i am talking about. anyway, everytime i couldn't talk because of their noise i would start it up and start singing. when they got confused as to what was going on and got quiet it i would stop the cd and continue. after awhile some figured out what was going on and started singing with me (i can't sing mind you). now i will admit that the first couple of weeks we didn't hardly touch the lesson, but it did work.

another possibility is to bring in some small cups, with their names on them, and some marbles or something tangable. when you see good behavior stop thank the child for the specific behavior put a marble in their cup and then continue. don't correct the bad unless it is really bad only acknowledge the good. keep a chart of how many they earn each week (it could be on the wall or in your roll book) and at the end of each month give a reward. i agree with mrss again on no candy, stickers or something (check the dollar stores if you have one they are great for that). don't put a number on how many marbles they must earn, just if they earned more than they did the week before. that way you are rewarding their improvement not a quota. i hope that makes since. the goal is to give as much constant positive feedback as possible. we all like to be told good job. don't be shy with the reward, if john has been wandering the entire class time don't tell him to sit tell everyone who is sitting thank you for sitting in your chair and then give their cup a marble. john will see and hear this. when he does finally sit give him a marble within the first 30 sec. or less. be quick. even if he only gets on marble this month give him a reward anyway, however next month he must earn at least two to get the reward. must show improvement. tell them that they are working to show personal improvement, so they know what the expectation is to earn the reward.

i hope that made since, these things have worked for me. but you will have to find what will work for you. pray, heavenly father will guide you, he knows what to do, they are his children. :)

good luck

ALmom

[babygirl]

You may need a helper. It is nearly impossible for one person to keep more than 5 children in line. ASK for help from your Primary Presidency!! ASK for a helper, then co-ordinate with her/him with each lesson and both of you teach, take turns!

I have asked for one and should be getting one next week. thank you all for your help, it is greatly appreceated(sp?)

dancergirl

i thought i did the quote right...but its not working oh well

[lisajo]

Poor girl i feel for ya! some times i think God gives us these callings when we are young to show us we don't need to grow up to fast, i know when i did this age group i waited till it was right to have kids, they scared the heck outta me LOL

[Dr T]

A "bribe" is when you give something for doing bad-not good. Just thought that was important.

Dr. T

[LionHeart]

I sometimes teach little children. I guess the best thing that works for me is first of all, like was mentioned before "I speak their language" In other words, I try to speak in a tone that is more on their level. Not baby talk or anything, but more like a children's bedtime story than a business lecture. This makes the lesson more interesting for them and helps to keep their attention. And if their attention is focused on you, they will not be noisy. On some occasions, however, you will come across the brat who just won't do what he's told. In this case, don't be afraid to be stern. Talk in a stern voice. If he talks back, get more stern, and even point a finger at him and take a step or two towards him. Let him know you mean business. And don't back down. If you show weakness, he will use it against you. If you handle it this way, he will realize that you are bigger than him and that if it came right down to it, you could take him out.

I wish you the best,

L.H.

[Princess3dward]

This is almost sad to say....

In my class... (Yes... we do this in a class of 16 year olds, but trust me, they are immature) we have stick figure stories, and the teacher has already gone through the story, and made it easy to understand, and illustrated it with talk bubbles and everything...

It keeps the boys quiet, and we know what it is about.

I notice when she is trying to read or get people to read quotes or from scriptures... she has a harder time getting everyone quiet...

[babygirl]

you guys r great thanx so much!!!!

dancergirl

[Traela]

Meridianmagazine.com (online LDS magazine) recently covered this topic in the "Circle of Sisters" column. There were a lot of good ideas.

[Elgama]

just guessing they are mostly boys? I tend to start with some stretching exercises, jogging on the spot then , depending on which way round church goes they have probably been sitting for quite awhile, they (have to be quiet during these exercises or they have to sit down), then I do some breathing with them and get them to close their eyes (don't worry if all they do is close their eyes), and we play some relaxing music, ask them if it helps them feel good and explain a bit about how listening and being quiet lets the Holy Ghost speak to us.

I also give them all responsibilities - they draw them out of a hat, one might put out chairs, give out hymn books or blue books of Mormon, another help me with my bag to sacrament, another draw pictures on blackboard for me -I use quiet books as bribery, I make folders with pictures of Jesus, the prophet etc and if they are good and we get finished quickly they can look at them or maybe have some playtime.

Can they also help you choose pictures for the walls? maybe ask them to bring in some of their own spiritual artwork. Just have the room set up so its nice and cosy. I have been known to use bean bags to sit on.

Highly recommend the books How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and How to Talk so Kids will learn

-Charley

[Alaskagain]

So I was scanning the subjects and mis-read "Teacher of 85 year olds."

I thought, "Hmm, what is difficult about teaching the elderly class? And, is it a separate class from the regular Gospel Doctrine?"

Do they have so much discussion about how doctrine applies to their life experience that the class always lasts 30 minutes too long?

Does the teacher have to speak louder or keep repeating herself?

Are they using worn-out large-print scriptures?

I would LOVE to have a class of 85 year olds! Think of the wisdom in that room!

Yikes! Going to get my glasses changed. . . .

[MorningStar]

One of our teachers had the best idea for guiding the kids through the hallway to sharing time. She has a long pretty ribbon for all of them to hold on to so none of them take off.

Ok, that's just one idea for dealing with them.

Recently I subbed for a really irreverent class and the lesson just happened to be on reverence. I asked one child to get up and tell us what he did for the holiday we had that week and as he started to talk, I started making a bunch of noise, kicked my keys all over the classroom, danced around, etc. I asked him how it made him feel when he was trying to talk and no one could hear him. He said, "Bad." Then I let him tell the story and each child got a turn. It seemed like the point was taken. I reminded them that their teachers were called to teach them what Heavenly Father wanted them to learn and we needed them to help by being quiet and paying attention.

I got to teach the 5 year olds recently too and they ALL want to talk at the same time. It seems like when I have them draw a picture and let each of them take a turn talking about it, that kind of gets it out of their system. They all want to be listened to.

When that fails, we play the quiet game. First one to talk loses.

[Maya]

I am sure you are doing a GREAT job out there!

I been a primary/nursery teacher 20 years ofmy 25 in Church... only one year with kids over 7:D

Anyway in my ward we had the primary first, so they had not been sitting too long quiet ...but it stil was not easy. It is very good to let the kids tell... if you have a story to tell that you think the kidsmay know already so let them tell somuch they can. Maybe even use the stickfigures! (Borrow from the class of 16 if needed:D)

Kids of that age have absorbered a LOT moret han we think they have! Trust them, trustthat they know and can. Dont handle them like 3year olds and let them know if they actlike 3yearold.Ifyou have to separate two kids makin noice ask if they know why you had to move the other one. Let them know that if they act like 3 year olds they will be handled like them too. I needed to do that a couple of timesthen after that asevere look from me was enough to calm the guys down.

Then again love them to bits they are special all of them! Prepare your lesson well, so you know what to do if things gets out of hand for a few seconds and then back to businees right on. I am sure you notice if you are unsure of what you were supposed to say...you loose them. If for a reason or an other you cant remember what you were supposed to say, it is better to tell stories that have something to do with the lesson, than look it up in the book. Make big letter notes with just a few words that is easy to see if you need a list to follow (might be handy).

Find out something cool! I am almost proud of what I found out...and you can find out something even better... I found out, as my 5 year olds were alloverandeverywhere.. that we start making the armour of faith! Every time I had a short lesson .. they sat like candles... for some 10minutes +..and I explained that if they disturb the lesson, it will take longer before we are in the armour business... I had some thick carboard (uh how you spell that) and thread with primary colours. I made a form for each thing we were to make. We also talked on each thing we mad what it was all about. They just loved it!

We made 1) a swoard of righiousness(spirit)... I talked to them about how they can use the invisible sword in their life and always stand for the right! The swoard can be made pretty siply so that you cut from the cardboard a form of a swoard and then you use the primary coloured threads tor handle and decoration... the swoard is cut tp t form (right atthe end though)

2) Shield of the faith. And I talked to them about how they can use the shield against hurting words, words that say bad things about LDS and other unpleasant wordsand behaviour from others...as those bounc back from the sheald and hutthe one that sent them even more if wedo not fight back but just use the shield of faith. Quess what I used for teh shield... the CTR shield..of course!! and cardboard. Use the primarycoloured thread tomake the handle(s) to hold on to it. I was lazy we made just the size of a printed wdr shold...can be made really big too if one wishes.

3) The helmet of salvation that will shelter your toughts from the bad things that are outside. We takled how to use the helmet againsst worlds temptationsand how to NOT let the temptation in the helmet bad things just bounch away from the helmet. I made this with a thick paper that could be bent..just a thing around the head and then 2 stripes that go over the head. Can be used sikpaper under,but I didnot..decorate yhe way you want.

Atteh end we hade a classpresentation with these things we ahd made... everyone had asorth thig to say about one ofthe things we made...like Mormoni was agreat worior he used the sword of righiousness to lead his people... we found out different men in the book of mormon who had been using different parts of armourand wetoldto teh others about that.

You are well come to use my idea, anyone, but talk with your primaryleader first.. some leaders are abit ... unsure of what is allowed... and some justdislike everything out of the books!

Good luck!!

[leolani80]

Our CTR5 teacher shared with me something that was working- she would pick an object (butterfly, flower, etc) and as they sit still and quiet for a while, she'll add to the picture- they really stay focused and try to see what she's drawing. I don't know how it works, but it does she says!