It’s always a fine line to tread at Christmas time…..and it’s the same every year!
How do you maintain the balance of Christmas preparation, classroom management and increasingly excited children??
Christmas usually starts to take over in the last 2 weeks of the Autumn term – although you may find that practice for the Nativity starts well before this, as with the younger children it takes much more preparation!
The main thing for teachers at this time is to be organised – but in these 2 weeks it needs to be a completely FLEXIBLE type of organisation. This is because everything can be subject to change and often is…at the last minute.
I have mentioned previously about maintaining the maths and literacy element during these 2 weeks and not resorting to Christmas handouts – especially in the mornings….use your judgement about how long and how much but the sense of stability goes a long way!
In your planning, you should at this stage, have finished your curriculum teaching, or at the very worst, be just about finished. This means that any interruptions to your lessons or any changes to the timetable (of which there may be many) will not really affect things. Should the Deputy Head announce one morning that ” we are going to have a run through of the play at 9.30″ then it doesn’t affect what you were doing very much.
If your mornings are pretty much straight forward then it is in the afternoons that you need to be organised in making your “secret gifts” that the children take home.
An important point to make here is NOT to try to make too much – here are the reasons why not….
- You will still have some interruptions during the afternoons – but generally these are organised to be in the mornings as its realised that everybody is “making stuff” in the afternoons
- Things take longer to make than you think…it is better to make and finish 2 or 3 things than attempt too many and then either have to rush them or worse not finish.
- The younger the children the more input teachers and T.A’s have to make – in larger classes this takes quite a bit of organisation.
- Don’t attempt to try to do all afternoons every day….its overload both for you and for the children and at this time of year can cause behavioural problems.
- Its tiring !
An afternoon time of approximately 2 hours should not really involve more than 1 hour of practical art…after this amount of time the children will become restless.
The younger classes will have a rota system in place to work in groups with T.A’s so there needs to be other work to be done during afternoons sessions.
- Singing practice – play songs or carols
- In the last week Christmas quizzes, colouring and puzzles can be used
- Reading and also Teacher Christmas story reading to the class
I am sure you can think of many more and there are some great ideas books that can be purchased very cheaply.
Classroom management during this time
At this time of year we have 2 problems to address.
- It is the longest term and everyone is tired
- The children are getting more and more excited every day!
So how do we approach this from a classroom management point of view?
You should have in your classroom a set management plan that operates all the time. This will cover not only behaviour but also the standards of work that are acceptable. If this has been in place all term then by now it should be working well and “we all know how things should be”
Because of the time of year and the unsettled nature of the days, you have to relax the reins a little bit. Nobody really wants to be too harsh at this time of year when everything is exciting and great fun. However, you do have to still exert some control and be prepared to intervene in situations where you feel things need to be toned down. Remember – excited and tired children easily become fed up and grumpy children so it is a time to be extra vigilant.
As not too much formal work is being done you won’t need to insist on the high standards required as before, but do insist on good work in the Christmas Art and if necessary get children to repeat. You will find that you are “having a word” with children more at playtimes before letting them out to play rather than keeping them inside…..above all keep your own personal cool even though I know you will be tired also.
Keep smoothing things over – but keep things busy and active…perhaps let the children sit next to friends when doing the Christmas puzzles or little things like that.
Its a strange time in school when the usual order and (hopefully) calm gets pushed to one side and the enjoyment of a School Christmas takes centre stage (literally)
Have a great time – don’t get flustered by the “off the wall organisation” and have plenty for the children to do.
Above all it’s…… “goodwill to all !!”
Charles