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Any suggestions for a child who does not nap and is disruptive?
Main Post:
I'm gonna boil it down to the main points since it could go on for a while. Nap time in our center is from 12-2:30, there's no way to shorten it or anything. I always tell the kids in my class that they don't have to nap, but they do have to lay quietly. I have a 4 year old in my class three days a week who basically refuses to nap, but is disruptive to the point where they keep other children awake. It's a noticeable pattern that on the days they are not there, the class falls asleep relatively quickly and stays asleep for most of nap time. On the days this child is there, a majority of the class stay awake for a majority of nap time and become disruptive themselves.
They are being disruptive by crawling or walking around the room. They will climb under tables and crawl under chairs. They will try to climb up shelves at some point. They will do everything they can to try to keep other children awake with them such as crawling over their friends and poking them or trying to yell at them to talk to them across the room. Today, they crawled around a shelf so they could reach another child and played tug of war with that child's blanket. It was to the point today that the assistant director actually came in to redirect them.
I've tried a variety of things including moving them by themselves between shelves, sitting next to them, patting their back, laying down next to them, using positive reinforcement with the whole class for laying quietly for nap time, and offering them a choice of where to lay during nap time (I typically keep the children in an assigned place during nap time.) None of them have seemed in any way effective.
I'm looking for suggestions for what to do to try to remedy the situation. The director almost seems afraid to do something because one of the child's parents is on the board of directors. The assistant director suggested moving them to another room where the children sleep/where their friends aren't in order to try to keep them from being disruptive to my class. The director said she doesn't want to just jump to giving them something to do during nap time, and I honestly believe that even if we did give them something, it might distract them for a few minutes, but they would be disruptive anyway once they get bored. Mom said about trying to do some type of behavior chart that rewards them every 10 minutes, which is something I have tried without success with previous clients when I worked in BHRS. I told mom I would ask around to see what other people suggest, which is why I'm turning to reddit. What are some suggestions for getting this child to lay quietly? What would you do in this situation?
TLDR: Alternatives for nap/suggestions to get a kid to lay quietly
Top Comment: Giving a child nothing to do during nap time would most certainly bring out these behaviors, even in adults! We always, at all of my centers, have given kids small quiet activities/toys to play with on their mats after they've attempted to lay quietly for 30 minutes. I'd really suggest giving this child some different things to do during nap. One of our four year olds didn't like the activities we had, so mom even brought her some special ones from home - it stopped all of her naptime problem behaviors and she's been happier since!
Transition from nap
Main Post:
First time preschool teacher here teaching a 3/4 class in a public school.
Anyone have advice for waking up from nap? The schedule is nap, bathroom, snack, outside. I have been waking them up at the same time and I feel like it’s chaos between cleaning/removing cots, kids hungry, waiting for the bathroom, and getting antsy. I also tried staggering wake up, but then they all finished eating at different times and it became the same issue of some kids waiting around finished with snack getting antsy while others are eating.
I have 20 students with 1 bathroom in the class. There is a girls bathroom across the hall with 4 stalls that we can use.
Here is where I’m looking for suggestions:
Should I wake up the girls first and bring them to the hallway bathroom? While the boys stay in the room to use the bathroom one by one?
Should we start snack all together, and what should the students who are done be doing?
How do you guys do it in your classroom?
Top Comment: Get their snack ready on the table while they're asleep, wake them up and have them all sit for snack and do staggered bathroom breaks during snack, if you have an aide/co-teacher one of y'all pick up the mats/cots while the other watches the class