Children have different ways of dealing with fear. Last night, I pushed the envelope a little and asked them to go beyond their comfort zone on balance beam. They had all sorts of reactions...
...one of them teared up and kept coming to me to ask me to change my expectation. I gave her intermediate steps to take and she kept asking if that was enough. I held firm to my expectation and in no time she ended up doing what I asked. It ended up being no big deal once she finally decided to do it. She ended up being the first one finished.
...another one kept trying to convince me that she wasn't ready. She'd show me on a lower surface and say "see, I won't get my hands on!" Eventually, she decided to just go ahead a try it. She made it on her first try!
...one of the girls gave me a look at first like, "you want me to do what?" But within minutes she was not only doing what I asked her but asking ME if she could go on a higher beam!
...there was one girl that didn't have the ability of some of the others, but was more eager to get up on that beam than any of them!
...one of the girls got frustrated because she couldn't finish her first assignment so that she could move on to the new exciting challenge. Once she finally did, she was happy as a lark.
...the one that typically balks in the face of a new challenge took awhile to get up the nerve, but ended up surprising herself with how great she did.
...the girl that took the longest was quite possibly the most physically prepared. She got on the beam NUMEROUS times and just stood there, looked at me with sad eyes, asked me to give her a hug just in case she died (can we say DRAMATIC?), and then I finally suggested stacking up more mats at first to make her feel comfortable on the new beam. She gradually took the mats away until she was doing (with huge success) the goal I'd set out for her!
By the end of the night, all of the girls had taken the step I'd set before them and--SHOCKER--all of them were proud of themselves!!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A Moment to Remember
The week before Easter I asked the kids why we truly celebrate Easter. Most of them said stuff about Easter Egg Hunts and the Easter Bunny and a few of them at least knew it was something about Jesus. I tried to explain a little bit, but everytime I tried they would get totally sidetracked.
I asked them, "How many of you have NEVER done ANYTHING wrong?"
Several hands go up...uh oh.
"Are you sure about that," I asked, "because I'm pretty sure that you've probably sassed your mom or not wanted to share your toys or had a mean thought about someone before."
One girl said, "Sammy in my class didn't share his toys with me."
Another said, "Well I don't EVER get in trouble."
"My brother gets in trouble all the time," another kid mentioned.
I figured it was time to simplify things or we'd be here all day...
"Okay," I said "why don't you just tell me what Jesus did on Easter...anybody?"
"HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD," said the little girl who I often ask to just give our Bible Lesson.
"Yes! He rose from the dead!," I said, "Now when I call your name just tell me what Jesus did on Easter."
There were 10 children so I hoped that after the question was asked 10 more times they would at least pick up on the fact that Easter was about Jesus.
Some of the kids got it right as I went around the circle and asked the same question over and over and over. Some of them said he went on an Easter Egg Hunt or something of that nature. My favorite answer, though, hands down was this one:
"HE TURNED INTO A ROBOT"
Oh my...at least I tried!
I asked them, "How many of you have NEVER done ANYTHING wrong?"
Several hands go up...uh oh.
"Are you sure about that," I asked, "because I'm pretty sure that you've probably sassed your mom or not wanted to share your toys or had a mean thought about someone before."
One girl said, "Sammy in my class didn't share his toys with me."
Another said, "Well I don't EVER get in trouble."
"My brother gets in trouble all the time," another kid mentioned.
I figured it was time to simplify things or we'd be here all day...
"Okay," I said "why don't you just tell me what Jesus did on Easter...anybody?"
"HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD," said the little girl who I often ask to just give our Bible Lesson.
"Yes! He rose from the dead!," I said, "Now when I call your name just tell me what Jesus did on Easter."
There were 10 children so I hoped that after the question was asked 10 more times they would at least pick up on the fact that Easter was about Jesus.
Some of the kids got it right as I went around the circle and asked the same question over and over and over. Some of them said he went on an Easter Egg Hunt or something of that nature. My favorite answer, though, hands down was this one:
"HE TURNED INTO A ROBOT"
Oh my...at least I tried!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday 10:00
My Monday 10:00 class is so ammusing it deserves a post all to itself.
I have 10 kids in the class, 3 of which are boys, and as soon as I call them out to class they are all talking at once about their boo boos and where they went that weekend and what they are wearing and on and on and on. They aren't necessarily defiant children, but getting them to zip it long enough to listen is another thing altogether.
One of the girls in the class will only sit on a purple shape and if all of the purple shapes are taken she flips out. One of the girls has the phonetics of a small child but the communication skills of a teenager. Another of the girls is quite possibly more mature than me and I just eventually had her teach our Bible lesson last Monday because she was explaining it better than me.
The youngest girl can never sit still and is always making one of the other kids say, "stop touching me!" when I'm trying to explain stations. The oldest girl is usually the one yelling, "stop touching me!" and I inevitably have to split them up. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why they always end up next to each other.
The one of the newest additions to our class has an adorable little instability in her voice that sounds a little bit like a teenage boy but has a sweetness to her that just makes you want to see her succeed. The brand newest addition to our class is the little sister of a girl that I had in my class several years ago. The older one was a talker but now that I think about it, I don't know if the younger one has talked to me except at the end of class when she's telling me what she learned so she can get her treat. Now that I think about it, it's kind of refreshing compared to most of the chatterboxes in that class.
The 3 boys are quite different from one another. We have the quiet one who talks even less than the quietest girl, the one who says "watch me" every 5 seconds, and the one who is always acting like he's killing you with a light saber and wants to pray for monsters every week.
After an hour with these 10 children, as you can imagine, I'm usually ready for a nap!
I have 10 kids in the class, 3 of which are boys, and as soon as I call them out to class they are all talking at once about their boo boos and where they went that weekend and what they are wearing and on and on and on. They aren't necessarily defiant children, but getting them to zip it long enough to listen is another thing altogether.
One of the girls in the class will only sit on a purple shape and if all of the purple shapes are taken she flips out. One of the girls has the phonetics of a small child but the communication skills of a teenager. Another of the girls is quite possibly more mature than me and I just eventually had her teach our Bible lesson last Monday because she was explaining it better than me.
The youngest girl can never sit still and is always making one of the other kids say, "stop touching me!" when I'm trying to explain stations. The oldest girl is usually the one yelling, "stop touching me!" and I inevitably have to split them up. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why they always end up next to each other.
The one of the newest additions to our class has an adorable little instability in her voice that sounds a little bit like a teenage boy but has a sweetness to her that just makes you want to see her succeed. The brand newest addition to our class is the little sister of a girl that I had in my class several years ago. The older one was a talker but now that I think about it, I don't know if the younger one has talked to me except at the end of class when she's telling me what she learned so she can get her treat. Now that I think about it, it's kind of refreshing compared to most of the chatterboxes in that class.
The 3 boys are quite different from one another. We have the quiet one who talks even less than the quietest girl, the one who says "watch me" every 5 seconds, and the one who is always acting like he's killing you with a light saber and wants to pray for monsters every week.
After an hour with these 10 children, as you can imagine, I'm usually ready for a nap!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
You Want to Pinch My What???
This week is animal week at the gym. I love weeks that are a little bit different. It really provides an opportunity to play with the kids and have some fun. In my class yesterday, we got to act like spiders walking our feet up the wall, donkeys kicking their feet up high, horses galloping, bunnies bouncing, crabs walking...and that's where it got interesting.
"Get your pinchers out," I told the kids when they were doing crab walks. They think it's funny to act like they are going to pinch you with their pinchers. When it was Susie's turn (names have been changed to protect the...innocent?) she got her pinchers out, and I heard her repeating softly, "boobies, boobies..."
I looked at her, hoping I was hearing her wrong (but with this child, I was fairly certain I was not)...
"I want to pinch your boobies," she said.
Oh my.
All I could do was just laugh...and put my jacket on.
That class is notorious for moments such as these. Last week, I had a little boy going around whispering to himself, "What the heck? What the heck? What the heck in the world?"
They have vocabularies well beyond their 4 years, I can assure you.
All I know is that next time we have animal week, I'll keep the pinching aspect of the crab on the downlow!
"Get your pinchers out," I told the kids when they were doing crab walks. They think it's funny to act like they are going to pinch you with their pinchers. When it was Susie's turn (names have been changed to protect the...innocent?) she got her pinchers out, and I heard her repeating softly, "boobies, boobies..."
I looked at her, hoping I was hearing her wrong (but with this child, I was fairly certain I was not)...
"I want to pinch your boobies," she said.
Oh my.
All I could do was just laugh...and put my jacket on.
That class is notorious for moments such as these. Last week, I had a little boy going around whispering to himself, "What the heck? What the heck? What the heck in the world?"
They have vocabularies well beyond their 4 years, I can assure you.
All I know is that next time we have animal week, I'll keep the pinching aspect of the crab on the downlow!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
"What did you get for Christmas?"
The gym was closed for a couple of weeks over the holidays, so when my 3 & 4 year olds came in for their first class of the new year, they had lots of exciting things to tell me.
"I got a play kitchen."
"I got a stuffed horsie"
"I got a care bear movie"
Aw, isn't that sweet.
The most popular gift that I heard about was quite possibly the most unusual. 3 out of my 15 little girls said they got a doll that goes potty. GROSS! I mean seriously, I can't imagine wanting to change a diaper. There are, however, so many little girls out there that find the act so exciting that the "doll that goes potty" was a best-seller this Christmas, at least according to my statistics. One of my girls that got this said doll for Christmas proceeded to repeatedly grab her crotch when she described how the doll worked. Lovely.
We usually do a prayer theme with the kids at the beginning of class, so I decided to ask them if they learned anything about why we celebrate Christmas in Sunday School.
"I didn't go to school on Christmas"
"No, Sunday School," I said, "like the little class you go to at church."
"My school was closed."
"Yeah, we got to stay home from school for 2 whole weeks!"
"But did you go to church?" I asked.
"Yeah, we went to church!"
"Well did you go to Sunday School?" I asked, determined to get a quality answer.
"I go to preschool. And next year when I'm 5 I'll be in Kindergarten"
"Well can somebody tell me why we celebrate Christmas?...it's somebody's birthday," I prodded.
"Birthday cake!" Yelled one of my students
"Ooooh, birthday cake is my favorite food!" I joined in...
...and we digressed from there.
Well, at least I tried, right? The kids were so hyped up with pent-up energy that it was all I could do to keep them from just running in circles the whole class.
It was an exhausting morning...and one I won't soon forget :)
"I got a play kitchen."
"I got a stuffed horsie"
"I got a care bear movie"
Aw, isn't that sweet.
The most popular gift that I heard about was quite possibly the most unusual. 3 out of my 15 little girls said they got a doll that goes potty. GROSS! I mean seriously, I can't imagine wanting to change a diaper. There are, however, so many little girls out there that find the act so exciting that the "doll that goes potty" was a best-seller this Christmas, at least according to my statistics. One of my girls that got this said doll for Christmas proceeded to repeatedly grab her crotch when she described how the doll worked. Lovely.
We usually do a prayer theme with the kids at the beginning of class, so I decided to ask them if they learned anything about why we celebrate Christmas in Sunday School.
"I didn't go to school on Christmas"
"No, Sunday School," I said, "like the little class you go to at church."
"My school was closed."
"Yeah, we got to stay home from school for 2 whole weeks!"
"But did you go to church?" I asked.
"Yeah, we went to church!"
"Well did you go to Sunday School?" I asked, determined to get a quality answer.
"I go to preschool. And next year when I'm 5 I'll be in Kindergarten"
"Well can somebody tell me why we celebrate Christmas?...it's somebody's birthday," I prodded.
"Birthday cake!" Yelled one of my students
"Ooooh, birthday cake is my favorite food!" I joined in...
...and we digressed from there.
Well, at least I tried, right? The kids were so hyped up with pent-up energy that it was all I could do to keep them from just running in circles the whole class.
It was an exhausting morning...and one I won't soon forget :)
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