The Garden School Tattler

The storm clouds cameth. When there is a weather condition moving into the area, the children's behavior is terrible. By terrible I mean chronic disobedience. When a teacher rings a bell and no one stops to even recognize that a teacher is trying to get everyone's attention, there's a safety issue.

When the rule is walk in from recess quietly, hang up your coat or jacket, wash your hands and sit in circle time quietly, and there is a general chaos as if no one has ever come in from recess, there's a safety issue.

Every school establishes routines and ways of doing things that make the day go smoothly. If coming in from outdoors takes an hour to do, then the routine is at fault. If coming in from recess takes seven minutes, it's a good routine.

It's like that in everything we do. We have a little set of rules about circle time: We cross our legs, and keep our hands in our lap, and don't talk unless we are called on or are singing.

Play ground: We don't throw pebbles, sand or toys, we don't climb on the play houses or the fences and we don't make others cry on purpose.

Class time: We do what needs to be done without making a mess.

Story time: We sit politely and listen.

Lunch: We stay seated AT the table, not five feet from it, and keep our cup above our plate (cuts down on spilling) and we keep our food on our plate. We use our fork, and we use indoor voices.

Lines: Lines are quiet places.

Bathrooms: are quiet places. Four children in the bathroom at one time, one child uses the sink, no visiting in the stalls, and we wash to the elbows.

We try to achieve an order that brings sense to nonsense. When the kids refuse to comply, there is a safety issue. And then there are the few who think the rules are for everybody - else. These few are found doing everything but what they are supposed to do, and because they do - chronically - everyone else has to wait to get these kids in order.

Beginning Monday with a review of the rules, there will be a lot of medals lost for this time wasting chaos. It's really disobedience, because every child knows every rule. This becomes disobedient anarchy, and that's a crime against the state. So beginning Monday, there will be no "earning back" a medal for good behavior once it's lost. If it's lost at all, it's lost for the whole day.
Not fair? Think about fairness. If a child has three chances, the first two don't mean anything. How fair is that. What are we doing, revving up for reality? If the rule is "no jumping on the sofa or the TV is turned off," letting a child jump twice and then turning off the TV on the third jump just tells the child the parent is unreliable. The true fair act is turning the TV off after the first jump. It's a rule. If parents encourage a child to break the rules by letting him do it twice, why not three or four times or all the time?

There will be a form sent home to explain why a child has lost his medal. Please help your child understand that rules are important for everyone. Poorly behaved children will not be allowed to participate in regular school activities any more. Now parents should remember that this is a very small minority - perhaps three children out of thirty.

Today, the search and rescue dogs came to play, but the children were so badly behaved, they left about as promptly as they came, and I am sure they will not be back.

Highlights?

We did a fine arts class today, and we looked at a set of books that cover the masters from the Renaissance to the Modern period. The children enjoyed looking. They liked the modern art as well as the more traditional styles.

We played with space mud today in a most egregious shade of purple and a lesser kind of brown. The children like this borax chicken liver stuff.

We had pizza for lunch and played a lot outside.

Monday is our last toy day. We will finish testing the toys and then we will settle down to our regular routine.