Why Do We Do What We Do? (or, some thoughts on our classroom!)

Our room is full of fall colors now, as we explore leaves, farms, and all that is happening around us in our world. We love setting the room up for play and interaction, following themes and interests of the children, and as the year has progressed I have been noticing something that I wanted to share with you.

As you know, there are "classroom jobs" in the room, and everyday your child has a responsibility to carry out. The jobs are all very popular, and a frequent question first thing is "What's my job?!"(note to self; make the job chart "readable" for the 4's!)  The classroom jobs help your child to feel a part of the running of the classroom and gives ownership as well as great interest in the happenings around them. The children  gain respect amongst their peers as they carry out their responsibilities.  The classroom jobs are: (they change every day)

•  lunch helpers and snack helpers, 2 each day, that help Agi with the set-up of the table.
• morning meeting helpers, including the "greeting person" who sends around the GOOD MORNING for the day. We've had such greetings as "toe touch" and "ola!", all original to each child. Other morning meeting helpers are the weather person, the day of the week person, and the message person. The message person composes a message with the help of the teacher, and signs it and illustrates it. We hear about how much everyone is loved, families, and visits, as well as special toys and happenings. Finally, there is a "quiet eyes" who gets to call the names of other children who are ready to go wash their hands. We, as teachers, note each day how willing the children are to listen to eachother, quiet down for the reading of the message, and generally learn from each other. 
• bell ringer, an especially wonderful job for a child who sometimes has difficulty with transitions, gets to ring the bells and set everyone in motion for cleaning up the room. And we ALL help. 
• line leader, self-explanatory, as well as the "lights" person, in charge of saving energy. 
• comforter is the job that has surprised us the most this year. Every day there are two comforters, and they are responsible for checking in with their friends who are having troubles. If there's a need for an ice pack, a listening ear, or advice, the comforters step in and help. Teachers are of course right there, but we like to listen and watch as the action unfolds. The immediate response throughout the classroom to an incident is a call for "comforters!" by a number of children. The comforters approach the needy child and ask "what do you need?" (we have modeled this, as adults) and the child responds. Some of the conversations I've heard include "When I asked if I could run with them they said no!" response "I just run with them!" (i.e. just join in, it's more fun that way). "I am missing my mommy." response "It's okay, when I'm missing my mommy I look at my family picture." (i.e. you can take care of your feelings, you're okay)  and "I bumped my knee on the blocks!" response "do you need an ice pack?" "I want to play with those blocks with them and they said no!" response "maybe if you ask please." (i.e. try asking politely, it works every time.)  In each case, the very wise and wonderful child comforter has put themselves in the others position and offered some sort of help,  showing true empathy.
  
                      
      empathy is, by definition, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   Until Next Time,   Michele