Lost
I lost a child today. We were doing map skills, it was the afternoon, and we had gone outside to mark the place on our maps. I led the line back in so that nobody would be in the classroom without me, and forgot to watch the end of the line. I mean, I watched it, and nobody was fighting or talking., but I didn't count. We had all been in line, after all, and my class is very well-behaved.
So we returned to our seats, put away our maps, and came to the carpet with our partners. "Everyone raise hands with your partner," I said, to make sure they were sitting with their partners. T-- didn't raise her hand. "Where is D--?" I asked.
"He stayed outside," they told me, innocently. "He decided not to come in."
"He WHAT?!?" I gasped. "Sit perfectly still," I ordered, steam-rolling out of the classroom. So much for not leaving kids unattended. I rushed down the hall to see D--'s head peeking over the window of the door.
According to him, he got "locked out." Since I didn't really know what happened, I let it slide. I figured not being able to get back in when he wanted to was enough of a scare. Besides, what would I tell his parents? Your child is in trouble because I didn't check to make sure he was with the class and didn't notice for a full 3 minutes?
So we returned to our seats, put away our maps, and came to the carpet with our partners. "Everyone raise hands with your partner," I said, to make sure they were sitting with their partners. T-- didn't raise her hand. "Where is D--?" I asked.
"He stayed outside," they told me, innocently. "He decided not to come in."
"He WHAT?!?" I gasped. "Sit perfectly still," I ordered, steam-rolling out of the classroom. So much for not leaving kids unattended. I rushed down the hall to see D--'s head peeking over the window of the door.
According to him, he got "locked out." Since I didn't really know what happened, I let it slide. I figured not being able to get back in when he wanted to was enough of a scare. Besides, what would I tell his parents? Your child is in trouble because I didn't check to make sure he was with the class and didn't notice for a full 3 minutes?
posted by Jessica at 12:21 AM
2 Comments:
so you have to count every time? How about making them come in with their partners - 2 by 2, so you would only have to count half as many and could see if someone was missing more easily
An idea that we used at day camp at the Sciencenter is to give each kid a number on the first day and have them count-off. You know who's absent, so you know what numbers are the only ones that should be missing.
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