Sharing

Today’s special activity for the five year old class was stringing together the clay beads they made yesterday in preparation for their big Mother’s Day Tea, which takes place in about two weeks. The lead teacher called students over one at a time to assemble their bracelet, while the other students worked independently or in small groups on activities of their choice. Another teacher also went around, as I did, to assist the students and make sure that they stayed on task.
Being a new face and a younger student, the students are always coming up to me, saying “will you play with me?” or “Will you help me color this?” It can be hard when there are four or five kids, all pulling you in different directions. Today, especially, I introduced the idea of sharing my time with all of them. I explained that I can’t be in five places at once, but that I would float around the room, sharing my time with all of them. It took a little while for them all to understand this and that asking me several more times wouldn’t help, but they ended up catching on. I did puzzles with two girls, then helped another with coloring, and then worked with a boy on his math/spatial skills. And in the end, it all worked out. When I go back on Monday, we’ll see if they remember or whether I’ll be greeted by a group of enthusiastic kids all wanting my attention. I’m guessing it’ll be the latter, but at least they are excited. We will see what happens come Monday.