Wednesdays are observation days at our school. Parents are invited to sign up for a slot to come in to the classroom and observe their child at work. Today we had four visitors at once due to a scheduling mix-up (normally there are 2 or 3) so it was a very crowded room. Needless to say, all the children who's parents visited did not have a normal day.
The first was the set of twins, two boys who are right around 3 years old. Normally in the classroom they are pretty busy, and though they sometimes have trouble choosing a work to do they are quite open to suggestions. They usually treat their work gently and clean it up without being reminded. Today, instead one of them took out all four boxes of colored cylinders, dumped all 40 cylinders out on the floor, and proceeded to stack the boxes into a stool to sit on beside his dad. Oops, not exactly what you want a new parent to see their child (or another) doing in a classroom that revolves around respect for both people and objects. Meanwhile the other twin kept going between the shelf and mom, never really taking a work out to show her.
Another parent was treated to observing her daughter sit at a table and stare at fraction pieces for the whole half hour, seemingly unable to create a design and color it in. Meanwhile the younger sibling stood in line waiting to wash dishes the entire time. Each time I tried to help the child currently washing so someone else could have a turn, the other girl would wander off and someone else would take her place. Yes, we are trying to teach the children that there are consequences for their actions and to stick with what they are doing, but today was not the best day for that.
Sigh. Not the impression we were hoping to make for the parents. It's too bad we don't have one way windows for them to peek in to, or video days like yesterday when the classroom was much calmer. Oh well, hopefully next week's observations are better.
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