Transition and
routines during the drop off time are the most important aspect that every
teacher should pay most attention t. In the classroom that I work in, there are
many types of children and families. By arriving to the classroom in the
morning, I can see so many interesting scenes everyday, some are predictable
and some are unexpected. For examples, some children just come in and say
goodbye to their parents. Some children cry and does not want their parents to
leave and some just random depending on their mood for the morning. For the
parents, some of them come in and spend time with their children until their
children settle down and leave. Some parents are just drop off their children
and leave right away because of their busy schedule. Some parents are just want
to hang out as much as they can and end up being the one who does not want to
leave the classroom. How can we deal with the different types of personality of
children and parents? How can we help them get through this morning transition?
What kind of strategies or activities that will help with different types of
separation anxiety that may happen in many children, and sometimes in parents?
Good question. As a teacher I plan little activities to help children get through transitions throughout the day. I never really thought about helping with the transition from home to school. Knowing your children will help you come up with strategies to allow them to make smooth transitions. Expecially those children who have a hard time leaving their families in the morning. During morning transition we have to look at both the child and families. Sometimes its the parent who has seperation anxiety. In that case we would have to work with the families and the child. I have had a few children and families that have had sepreation anxiety. When I did my practicum I worked with three year olds. This particular class had many children with seperation anxiety and they would feed of the each other and get really stressed. The teacher had asked the parents to do one activity with the children and tell their child goodbye and also reassure them that they would be picked up at the end of the day. Some parents got upset but we made the same rules for all the parents not singling out anyone. Over time when the children got used to the routines and that morning transition the parents were allowed to stay for longer peroids of time in the mornings and the children were able to settle into their day.
ReplyDeleteHey Som,
ReplyDeleteInteresting questions you brought up. Transitions are very important in the mornings and to find out exactly how the parents want to transition their child in the morning is through communication with parents. Encouraging and supporting both the parents and their child in the mornings during the transition into school is important. What sort of ways can we help the parent and child transition into school in the mornings? How can we support them? What might help each child and their parents?