Keeping the room calm

[megs_95]

As my traineeship comes to an end my room leader is taking more of a back seat in preparation to go on maternity leave. This means that I'm making more decisions as to what we do in the room and running more of the routine e.g. deciding when we pack up, organizing transitions etc. It works out well because during the day my RL is there with me to help out and teach me, and then she leaves at 2 or 3pm and I have the afternoon to practice alone.

However most of the time when I'm 'running' the room alone (as in without my RL, usually there is another assistant with me) I don't feel like I can keep the environment calm. Children seem to be running around, yelling and climbing more frequently than with my RL there and I feel like I'm constantly saying hop down, inside voice, walking feet over and over, no matter how many times I discuss with the child/children what they're doing and redirect them to an activity. I feel like this is because the children know the RL is 'in charge' and that I'm assisting (or have just been assisting) and they feel like they don't need to listen to me or can get away with more when I'm there.

How can I change this? Over the next few weeks I really need to be keeping the room settled as there are many staff changes happening and I need to establish that the children need to listen to me and not just the RL. In a couple of months the RL will leave and there'll be two new staff, so I need to make sure things run smoothly.

[Lorina]

First off don't be too hard on yourself. You mentioned that the RL leaves at around 3pm... Getting the children to listen at this stage is hard work even for typical RL. It's the afternoon, parents are coming and going children tend to muck about waiting to go home. I think you should do some whole group activities such as dancing, parachute games, musical chairs etc. By the afternoon children are over it and usually need something different to engage in and maybe a group game may help... After afternoon tea, change it up a little and do something different than what the children usually engage in throughout the day. Set up different experiences to get them settled and more involved. You don't want something too messy since they have to go home but maybe you can set-up an afternoon project that they can work on each afternoon like "paper mache money box" which can be worked on for a few days. When you're planning you should think of it like an morning and afternoon session... The more the children are engaged the less destructive they will be. I honestly don't think it's because they know you're not in charge...

Hope this helps,

,
L.A

[megs_95]

Some more group activities have been helping as you said, LA. Only thing now is our new RL has started, the old RL hasn't been in the room much to guide us, and I think the children are getting unsettled all over again because of the staff change and 'pushing' a little to see what they can do with the new RL.

Its so frustrating because the new RL and myself are spending a lot of time trying to engage the children and we're quite behind on paperwork

[Lorina]

Argh! Seems like for every 2 steps forward you're taking another step back... It's alright. It's completely natural for children to test the waters with someone new. We have all been through it. As long as you and your RL are consistent with the behaviour plan then the children will soon settle down and you can get on with it. I know how frustrating it can be when your behind in the paperwork! Maybe you could try some alternate activities to try and engage the children a bit more.. Could they be bored? Does the new RL have any other ideas that she can implement to get the children engaged? Try and come up with some experiences that encourage small groups that way the children can help each other out. For example: for play dough maybe print off some play dough mats the children can use, DIY mosaic tiles for patterning which can also be printed, beads etc. These are just some ideas you can use that encourage the children to work independently so it can free up some time to get the paper work done. Stressing over incomplete paperwork is only going to make you more inpatient, if you cant get it done atm than let it be... the children should be the focus...

I'm sure things will settle in a week or so,

,
L.A