Get to know the developmental characteristics of your students

-
If you’re hired last-minute, you won’t have time to study, but try to squeeze in a little time to research the habits and behaviors of the little people you’ll be teaching.

I didn’t do any developmental research at all before I started teaching first grade. I thought I knew that age group because I had worked with second graders in my internship the year before. But for children, there can be differences in behaviors based on even one year of age!

Here is a great resource to get you started. 

Also, here are some personal findings [unscientific] about 6- and 7-year-olds that I experienced last year:

            -6/7s are not too cool for stuffed animals, which is great. I let my students read with reading buddies (aka donated Beanie Babies) sometimes, and they loved it!



            -6/7s lose a lot of teeth. The other teachers had cute teeth holders to give out, but I never really had time to consider it. I just threw plastic baggies at them and told them to put the teeth away in their backpacks. It works.

            -First grade is the year they love to be first. 6/7s bicker a lot about being first or getting the best of something. I found it incredibly hard to teach selflessness. I’m considering teaching selflessness and patience in more detail through daily morning meetings, but if you have any ideas, please comment below!

            -6/7s shed a bunch of tears. Whether they tripped and fell or a friend doesn’t want to play their game on the playground, 6/7s will usually cry about it. Let them cry it out. The more attention you give to the hysteria, the longer it will take for them to calm down. Of course, have compassion – for them, they may be facing a big battle! But also realize that for this age, the waterworks come easy.

            -6/7s love stories and believe what you tell them. I never did Elf on the Shelf or Santa anything, but I did have a “leprechaun” around St. Patrick’s Day play all sorts of tricks in the classroom. The students got really into it. They were still asking about the leprechaun in May.

Leprechaun footprints aka teacher fist dunked in washable green paint. Shh!


A leprechaun trap!



        I hope that helps! Doing a little research on your age group will help you form more appropriate expectations in the classroom and will prepare you for certain behaviors.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Classroom Traditions

-
Image
   My first year teaching, I came to the conclusion that if I got ONE cool thing accomplished for the kids in relation to the winter holidays, that would suffice. Of course I saw the other more seasoned teachers around me practically busting at the seams with cute ideas, crafts and fun activities. But I gave myself permission to be low-key because it was my first year.     My second year (now), I have so much more ideas, but I need to keep expectations realistic. There are some tried-and-true holiday classroom traditions that I’ve done both this year and last year, and I am here to share them with you! Every teacher and every class is different, so don’t worry about doing it ALL. Find the things you are most passionate about or that you think your group would enjoy the most. 1.                           1. Holidays around the world. This is a common social studies extension done in elementary grades. My first-grade team is also taking part in this. We will be doing a day of switc
Read more

How to Achieve a Quiet, Orderly Class Start

-
Image
In my last post, I detailed why a calm, organized start to the school day or class period is necessary. I made it a priority to always get this down, and as a result had really effective starts and positive feedback from administrators. Here I hope to cut through the vagueness and give you concrete ideas on how to implement this.  Actually, when I implement anything, I follow a similar pattern. First, you have to realize that the set-up and practice is worth the long-term gain. You have to change your mindset-- this time of day isn't just something that passively happens. Something that just occurs. Sometimes it's great, other times, not so much. Reframe it to be a crucial part of your classroom learning time. It's worth the work up front.   1. Solidify the steps in your mind, first. Sit down and visualize, in detail, what a quiet start looks like to you. I encourage you to have high expectations for your students while also acknowledging age-appropriateness. It's prob
Read more

Gifts and such

-
Image
It's the most wonderful time of the year! The kids are making ornaments, getting glitter everywhere, and covering everything in chocolate, but it's okay because a mere three weeks stand between the first day after Thanksgiving break and a glorious winter break! It is around this time of year that I jovially reflect on the strange assortment of gifts I've received from students. I've only been a real teacher for a year, but these are some of the quirky takeaways:                                   Yes, that's right: a fashionable nutcracker and a grandma mug! Let me offer up a memory of when I was a student. My mother gave me a package of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to give my first-grade teacher for Christmas. When the glorious moment of me giving them to her arrived, she opened them and exclaimed, "Chocolates!? Now I really won't be able to fit in the door!" As a child-- and, admittedly, sometimes as an adult-- I didn't process sar
Read more