Merry Christmas!!!

One of the biggest changes I endured in making the switch from kindergarten to preschool is the absence of a long Christmas break! I didn't even get Christmas eve off this year because it fell on a Monday. And tomorrow, I go back to work.  Now most of my students have had a four day weekend with families, obscene amounts of sugar, new toys and very little amounts of sleep! In short, tomorrow is going to be hell!! The question is, how will I deal with twelve very grumpy, sleep deprived, sugar crashing three, four and five year olds? Well, since partaking of liquor is frowned upon during school hours, I will just have to put my happy pants on and make the best of it. After years of dealing with the week after Christmas vacation, I know exactly what to expect and what not to expect on the day after Christmas break or in my case, day off!

What to expect...

• Toys From Home: Now, even though my preschool may has a "no toys from home" policy, I will not be surprised to see that at least half of my students will bring in at least one toy they got from Santa. Leading to them wanting to play with them during play time. I will gently explain to them why it is not a good idea and reminding them of the "no toys from home" rule. To which I will get the response, "But my mom said I could!" And right there I have lost the battle because, I can't go against mom! So I pull out the no fail idea that I often use in a situation like this. I get right down in the students face and in my most secretive voice I say, "Oh Jenny, that sure is a beautiful toy, you must really love it a lot!" Jenny nods sweetly. Then I say, "I bet you would be sad if something happened to it." Jenny nods again. "Well then you should let me take toy to the office where it can be safe. I wouldn't want one of your friends to try to hurt it!" I promise it works!
• Crying: As I said above, my students will come back to school overtired and nursing a sugar hangover causing them to be very sensitive. So I need to definitely pull on my both my patient pants and my sympathy pants. Lots of hugs and good set of listening ears will be necessary here. *This is a great opportunity to strengthen relationships with my students.

  

  "But my mom said I could bring it to school!"

 What not to expect...

•  Getting anything accomplished: I have lesson plans for tomorrow and the rest of the week, but I am pretty sure that I will not get through anything I have planned. And I am alright with that. The kids will dictate how the day goes, I will offer them the activities I have planned but I will not expect them to participate. I will also not expect to have an official circle time, choosing rather to invite them to listen to a story if they want to. There will be, weather allowing, lots of outside play!

I will follow our daily schedule in that everything will happen in the same order as it always does, but the overall theme of the day will be  Free Play! Most importantly, I know my attitude will set the tone for the day so I will claim the quote "It doesn't matter if you feel it, make them feel it!" Meaning that even though I may be wishing I was on a week long break, I will not show it. I will make my students feel like I want to be at school. That I am happy to be at school and hopefully if I am good enough they, too, will be happy to be at school and have good day!