The Foundation of the School Year by Judy Lyden

Every year we move from a relaxed summer program with old pro kids who know how to do whatever teachers ask to a new school year where new children don't know to stop and listen to a LOUD school bell. Every year we face the same problems of re-building and building the foundation for a successful new school year.

This first step to that foundation is cooperation. Cooperation cannot be explained, understood or practiced in a day. It takes a while; it takes a kind of trust and affection which makes very young children WANT to be one of many. The child is outside the limits of their family experience, and it's time to join another group. Children eagerly look at the new group and either like it or disdain it. Bright colors, lots of toys, lots of smiling faces encourage children to step into the new situation with enthusiasm. But more than any of these is the word safety. Safety is the thing most children are looking for, and safety does not come out of chaos but from a trusted order.

Order from chaos means cooperation in a school setting. Cooperation with very young children means communication. Teachers can never be vague. "It's time to pick up your toys and get ready for breakfast" is a fine command to a group of children who have done this for months, but a group of children who have never done this haven't a clue what that means or even if they have to do it simply because they have never done this before. Being precise is the job of the teacher at this point. "The bell is ringing. It is time to stop what you are playing with, look at me, and listen to what I say." Even this does not always get the attention of the children who are playing for the first time.

"Put down your toys, stand up and look at me" is the next command.

"Stop walking, stand still and look at me," is the third command.

"Stop talking, look at me and listen," is the next command.

When all the children are finally standing and listening which might take a few minutes, the teacher repeats what she has said, "It is time to pick up the toys YOU are playing with and put them where you found them. If you are playing with puzzles, the puzzles go over here. If you are playing with blocks, the blocks go here, if you are playing in dress up, please pick up all the clothes and dishes and put them here and here. Now GO!"

It's the same with bathroom lines, lines for recess, lines for going out, the dining table, play stations, art, washing, and classroom order. Everything needs to be a "Stop, Look, and Listen" before we act foolishly and destructively. Remember we are creating order from chaos.

If a teacher sends a room filled with newly schooled children to the bathroom without a lot of guidance, the chaos and the chance for an accident is begging to happen. Here is a picture of typical boy's chaos in a bathroom: Fifteen children will all race into a bathroom designed for four. Because there are not enough toilets for fifteen, ten children will have their pants down looking for a toilet. Children don't count. Many can't count. Many are not even aware of one to one correspondence - one toilet to one child.

In chaos, some children will actually urinate on the floor or the other children. The sink becomes a play zone. The first child will not relinquish the sink and will end up spouting water at all the other children. The toilet paper becomes the next toy and is ripped from the roller and goes flying across the room. In less than three minutes three children will have fallen and cracked their heads. Two children will have pushed other children into the commodes. The room is on fire with fighting and tears.

So the wise teacher lines up the boys and monitors the bathroom letting enough children into the bathroom as there are toilets. She will wash each child's hands to show him how to do it. She will talk to him about his hands as she washes them. She will send every child to a commode one at a time while the line waits at the bathroom door. Order ensues from chaos, children learn by doing the first time.

Ditto with playground lines. When a teacher announces it is time to go outside or inside, there should be a whole set of directions about how to do this. Stickers on the floor help to guide children to make lines inside. Paint splotches on the patio or walkway help children form lines outside. Making the crowd quiet is a first step to going quietly into the building. Quiet children stay quiet. Noisy children stay noisy. Noisy children don't listen and often hurt one another.

When children are finally quiet in line, the next step is to tell them what you expect. "It is time to go into the building, wash our hands and sit on the carpet in such and such a room." Now it's a given that sequencing is not a child's strong suit. The only thing that helps sequencing - doing one thing, then another, and then a third, like go into the building, wash your hands and sit down - is only done when practiced. Practicing means from the first day, and that means teacher direction. No teacher should send children into a building without back up. One teacher needs to be waiting in the bathroom, one in the place where the children will go. No child should ever be sent in from recess without a plan to wash his hands.

Teachers need to work together, verbalize constantly with one another and be in agreement about what the goals are and how this is to be achieved. If one teacher is not concerned about how quiet the children are, and another does not care how a child washes his hands, and a third doesn't care how they sit in a classroom waiting for the next activity, there is chaos and chaos leads to accidents and the inability to actually get to the next activity. Teachers must be on the same page.

When planning a school year with very young children, setting the priorities and building the foundation of behaviors always comes first. A group of children who knows how to enter a building, how to use the toilet quietly, how to find their place, how to sit and wait patiently for the next activity will learn so much more than a group of children who push one another, scream, and run around with no sense of where they are to be and what they are to do.

The mistake many teachers make is the assumption that this comes out of the air. It does not. It comes from very hard work done by united teachers who all know the rules and want the children to learn them as well. School is a community of participants. It is not a sea with many primitive islands. Rules take communication between every member of the school. It's too far to shout between islands.