Kay Portmess

I have a group of five first graders right after they come in for recess. I have only had the group for 3 days, so we are learning how to act with each other. I had one child who constantly raised her hand and I usually go around the table when asking questions. When not raising her hand, she was shouting out when it wasn’t her turn. When asked not to shout out, her last behavior in the half hour session was to take her hands, which were a little sweaty, and squeak them across the table over and over. I decided to quickly go over the classroom procedures again with them. Two were added to my list. One child said “There should be no spitting.” I have not encountered spitting in my room in the four years I have done this job, but just in case we added that rule!!! It made me smile after all the spitting conversations in our night classes. Some one on another post mentioned waiting silently until the children settle down. They will hopefully notice nothing is happening. I shall see when I try it on Monday if it works or not. A second post mentioned it could be a method for the child to receive attention. I had not thought of that even though her behavior is accomplishing the goal of getting attention. I did not feel I serviced these children well on Friday. Hopefully, some new techniques will have a better effect. If anyone has any other suggestions I would be grateful.