Preparing Your PreK Class for the Holiday Chaos
October has rolled around which also means the holidays are also on their way.
During the holiday season though, teachers often experience that their classroom suddenly turns abnormally chaotic.
There seem to be more whining, tantrums, and children start testing their limits more than they normally might.
Although a little disruption is normal during this time, we can minimize the impact the holidays have on our classroom by being proactive.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as the holiday season approaches.
Expect some restlessness, emotional meltdowns, and testing behavior.
Children tend to absorb the energy around them and the holidays certainly make people busy and excited. Also, it can be a busy and even stressful time for families filled with family trips, activities, and events.
This means your students are probably seeing changes in their schedules and routines, such as staying up later than they normally would for a fall festival or having relatives visiting their homes.
These events and changes can be a lot of fun for children, but also stressful and tiring.
Tired and overwhelmed little ones may misbehave, become emotional, or even shy away or refuse to participate in classroom activities in an attempt to escape the busyness.
They’re not “being bad”, they’re stressed.
You can help your students by making sure your own classroom isn’t overly busy with endless activities and by trying to stay consistent with your routines.
For example, having your “party” at the same time you’d normally have a snack can reduce disruption.
Remember to plan with your students in mind.
The holidays always bring a whole new level of inspiration for fun activities and crafts for the classroom, but be mindful that you’re not getting swept up in the excitement and forcing activities, especially when it comes to process art.
We can become so excited about making cute handprint turkeys and Santa beards to display and send home to parents that we don’t remember that for children, the process and experience prior to the finished project are where their learning really happens.
And they might not want anything to do with the craft altogether.
Make sure you’re giving your students plenty of time to explore and enjoy their art and crafts and that they still have plenty of open exploration too.
An indicator that your kids might not be enjoying the activities is if they start resisting participating. Don’t be afraid to give a child who’s not interested permission to do something else or opt-out.
Also be mindful of overplanning events such as parties, parades, and performances and their lengths.
Plan for more Gross Motor activities and whole-body movement play.
Depending on where you live the weather can be having a serious impact on your ability to take your students outside, and sometimes they’re only able to be outside for a limited amount of time.
All of that energy that they’d normally be able to release by running around the playground is hard for little ones to contain.
As a result, you might find them running around, wrestling, and becoming overall antsier in the classroom.
You can try to buffer some of this extra energy by planning lots of gross motor games and having more activities that require whole-body movement. Here are a few ideas:
Incorporate more dance and movement outside of group time
Create an indoor hopscotch
Make a large road around the classroom that they can move cars around
Have a separate group time for stretching and yoga
Provide weighted blocks and large, weighted toys for their center activities
Rotate through calming sensory bins
Have large yoga balls and balancing beams available indoors for them to use
Take small groups on small walks around the school
Be flexible with your plans.
Maybe you had planned to make mummies or paint pumpkins for that day but you can’t seem to get your kids to sit still long enough to even get the paint out.
If it’s become more stressful than fun for you and/or the kids, it’s okay to change plans.
There’s really no point in insisting on completing the activity if you’re spending 80% of that time redirecting and trying to get them to pay attention.
It’s perfectly fine to reschedule the activity for a different time/day or just drop it altogether and move on.
Reach out and recruit help.
If you need help, ask for it.
Having an extra hand who can shadow and sit with some of the children that are busy or having a hard time can make all the difference in a classroom, especially during the holidays.
Asking for help during classroom parties or messy activities like playing with pumpkins or baking holiday treats can keep the classroom from spiraling out of control while you’re busy trying to keep the flour in the bowl.
Ask if there’s a floater who you can ask to step into the classroom, or if your assistant director is willing to come in for a little bit with you. You can even recruit parents and help them get involved.
The holidays can bring lots of chaos with them.
With children filling up on treats, staying up past bedtimes, and having to stay indoors because of snow or rain, it can be a bit much.
But it’s also a lot of fun and a great time for special events that you wouldn’t normally do.
With a little bit of planning and forward-thinking, teachers can turn all that extra energy into a lot of fun.
