Nursery

I've been in Nursery since last March. I was originally called with my hubby just for 4-5 months to fill in until another person was called. Well, after that time, they did call another couple, but again, just to fill in. I should mention these weren't official calls, just requests from the bishopric and primary presidency.

Anyway, I would sub when asked and after about 2 months the other fill in couple moved into their new home in a new ward.

So I kept filling in until about 4 months ago when they finally made the calling official.

The nursery was run very well by 2 ladies when we first went in. They had both been there for over 2 years. The first one was released soon after we joined the crew. She was immediately put in as the stake nursery leader.

The other lady was a very sweet, smiley lady whom all the kids were drawn to. I was thankful for her because I'm all thumbs when it comes to convincing a child they want to stay. Although after all this time, I'm getting much better.

The smiley lady was just asked to teach the valiant 10's, and started Jan 1st.

So now we have a new leader in nursery and me. The new leader is very nice and sweet. But I must say that like me she has back problems and should not lift children. I'm sure we'll get by though.

The nursery has been well run up until now and I don't want to blow it.

We had 14 kids on the roll, but our class size fluctuated from 8-12 normally. Our typical schedule was this:

When the kids would first come we would switch back and forth from play dough to toys. Toys one week and playdough at tables the next.

Then we would go to toys. If we started out with toys, it just meant that toys were played with longer. If playdough was first, it just meant that toys was shorter.

After that was snack. This was followed by lesson/singing time. We split the group in half. we were lucky enough to have a large room that we could separate by one of those curtain door things. She would take half and do singing time, and I would do the lesson with the other half. then we would switch. Also, we teachers alternated months on who would do the lesson and who would do singing time.

It was a lot of fun and I felt that we sent a very ready group of sunbeams.

This year I've made a few changes and I hope they are for the better. Also, we only have about 6 kids.

I want to start off with the same thing each week. I think this will help the kids a little with stability. They will know that they can count on toys first every week. This will help those who need that stability.

Next we will have snack. I thought this was important to keep next because the kids are used to it being after toys.

Next we will have singing time. I put this next to keep us from being up to the tables for a long long time. Also should mention since our group is down to 6 we no longer need to split for lesson and singing.

After singing time, I thought we could have a time called finger play. This would be for play dough or any other crafty thing we might want to do. Last week we failed miserably with color with water pages. :( They are still too young of a group for that.

After finger play is lesson time. Again, they were used to this being last, so we kept it last.

So far we've done this schedule once. I'll give it another few weeks before tweaking anything.

I also wanted to mention how important it is for the nursery kids to learn certain things so that next years sunbeam teacher has an easier time of it.

Its very important that the kids learn to sit in chairs. If they can do this by the time they leave nursery, then the sunbeam teacher has one less thing to deal with.

Its also important to figure out the kids who cry. We had one kid who had a really hard time of it. His parents would always drop him off and he was heartbroken the rest of the time. they would then stay for most of the class. They tried dropping him off and just seeing what would happen and he would cry for most of the time. It was really tough. Then the idea of having his sister drop him off came up. I don't remember where it came from , but it worked!

Another little boy is reluctant to stay, but can be easily bribed (usually). Last week I merely mentioned a cookie and he was fine for the rest of the time. He even forgot about the cookie by the time I walked over, got it, and brought it back.

Another little boy would stay, but was sad, and didn't want to be involved. We would try and get him involved, but that would make him cry. So one week we decided to just leave him alone. He wasn't crying, but was standing by himself by the wall. Eventually he realized we were doing something fun and joined in. He hasn't been a problem since. He's now a sunbeam.

Currently we have the last boys little brother. Now that his brother is gone, he is very sad. He has a loud recognizable cry, so a walk to the drinking fountain isn'g possible without his mom or dad hearing him and coming out to get him. So we tried treats. This was great and he would stop crying. Still wanted to be near the door, but wasn't crying. I hope that he'll come around like his brother once he realizes we're doing something fun. One thing that I think is a clue for us is the fact that for snack time, he didn't want to sit at the table but would let my hubby (who was a sub) hold him and feed him the snack. Interesting. Ideas anyone?

The next problem we're having is another almost 18 month girl. She's very sweet and does very well until the other boy starts crying. That starts her crying. If anyone has any ideas, I'll take them!

Anyway, other ideas for helping to get your kids ready for sunbeams:

The 2 weeks before nursery we had the kids who were moving up visit primary during singing time (do they call it that any more?) for about 10 minutes. This introduces them to primary.

Also, we talked about Sunbeams a lot. And along with our last lesson we colored a little certificate that said something about being a sunbeam now.