Sunday School Chaos -- Any Advice??

Have an assistant. That is a lot of young kids for one person to handle! Keep activities short, such as two or three songs, color for 5-10 minutes, read a book, do a craft. Just keep it moving and if one child doesn't like one activity, hopefully they'll like the next one. Good luck!

Last year I helped in the 3-4 yr old Sunday School room and we had 20 kids, 2-3 with behavioral issues. You will need a helper so if you know one of the kid's parents ask them to stay and help or have a sign up sheet to have a rotation of parents.

Have a scheudle... here is what we did:

9:05-9:15 kids arrive and we have them sit at the tables with a coloring sheet
9:15-9:30 singing (in another room)
9:30-9:40 Pray, Bible verse, Bible lesson (on the carpet)
9:40-9:50 activity/craft that helps review the lesson (at the tables)
9:50-10:05 free play till parents pick up

It is great if you can break things up, do one part at the tables, another part in another area (same room or different room), go back to the tables, then free play. Also lay out the rules, maybe write them up so you can point to them every time "no talking when teacher is talking" "raise hand if you want to speak" "ramain seated unless the teacher gives permission to go somewhere else (example to use bathroom or free play or move to another section)" "respect the teacher and others" "no food or drink unless the teacher oks it" and whatever else you can think of.

Now THAT is my kind of question. I teach preschool, and on Sundays, I teach 3-4 year old Sunday School.

First thing, you need a co-teacher. Without another adult, it is less likely you'll be able to get off on the right foot with a 14-1 ratio. If one kid is in meltdown, you can teach, and the other person can take that child out of the room. If three kids need to go potty, the other person can take them while you teach. Also, while you're doing circle time with the bible story, the other person can be setting up the activity at the tables.

Next, have confidence. Come up with a routine, and rules/boundaries, and stick to them with assurance and authority. Stay calm at all times -- it will make you more powerful and authoritative than if you lose your cool, in which case the tantruming (sp?!) child will have all the power.

As I said, come up with a routine, and stick to it. If your routine needs adjusting after the first day, then go ahead and change it, but try to start doing things the same way each Sunday, as soon as you can. Children find routines very comforting. They know what to expect, what happens next, and it both lessens their anxiety, and makes them feel more confident, because *they know what to do*.

In my class, the kids come in and put a sticker on the attendance chart, while I greet them and the parents. Then they have a quick activity to do as other kids arrive (either sitting at the tables to color the day's story book, or going around the room looking for the hidden cards that match the ones that they are holding). When everyone has arrived, I turn off the lights to get their attention, and give them the two minute warning, and "please finish your work." Then I turn off the lights again, and give clean up instructions -- where to put everything, and then where to go next (the carpet for story time). If kids talk or ignore me while I'm talking with the lights off, I redirect them, and wait until everyone is quiet. Then we have story time, and we do it the same way every time (prayer, each person says something that happened to them that week, and we all read the bible story in our little storybooks). Then I dismiss the children one at a time to go do the activity. I tell them I'm looking for people who are sitting quietly with their legs crossed, and hands in their laps. They all want to be chosen, so they get really quiet.

Think through every moment of the morning in your head beforehand, and question yourself about what might happen. If we're going to the tables, or getting in line to go explore the church, I don't send the whole class at once, or they will run and push. I call them to line up one at a time.

Also, practice some songs and fingerplays you can use to get their attention. I call kids to come sit down after clean up, and then if they are stalling, will start doing a fun song/fingerplay with the kids who ARE in the circle, and the rest get interested and hurry to join us.

Forgive yourself any meltdowns or messups, and see each difficult moment as an opportunity to learn. Enjoy the wonderfulness of preschoolers. Your concern about how to start the year off right leads me to think that you are a thoughtful, caring person, and THAT leads me to think that you WILL start the year off right. Have a great year!

You're smart to ask for suggestions. And yay for volunteering!

Try to sit in on a kindergarten class. You'll see that expectations are different. Do not expect to be the center of attention for 3-4 year olds. Often, teachers set up learning "centers," arranged around a theme.

Typical learning centers include: a book/reading center, art, music/movement/dance, manipulatives/toys/"discovery" items, dress-up/acting, etc.

Start with a consistent SHORT welcome ritual (prayer or song).

The children can choose which center they want to experience (learning is play!) Let them choose to stay at just one center or explore all of them.

Then end with "circle time" (a story/prayer, group game, song, or dance).

Note: Please avoid crafts, but encourage ART! There is a big difference. A craft is an activity where all the kids get the same materials and are expected to make the same product. ART is where kids get a variety of materials and some guidelines, but the finished product can be whatever they want. At this age, they're still learning which part of the crayon you color with anyway! Let them explore the materials. Inexperienced teachers think that parents want crafts, because a craft project provides some sort of cute end result. It's not developmentally appropriate though. (There is growing research on this.)

Most kids don't have behavorial problems. The behavioral problems stems from unrealistic expectations from adults.

SING - Kids this age love music. Even if you are giving instructions, Sing them to the kids. They will be much more likely to listen. Also, develop some kind of schedule for the kids. After a few weeks they will recognize the pattern and fall into place more quickly - they love predictability. Also, use a puppet - seriously, NO KID can resist a puppet. Lastly keep your expectations reasonable and be willing to laugh when your best made plans sometimes fail.

Thanks for being willing to serve in this manner. Not many are.

you need help...and play doh is always good. you will need a different activity every 10 minutes or so. don't have them sit and listen too long. our ss does a story, an activity, and a craft for each lesson. add in music and some free play too!

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My sister and I teach 13-15 kids in church every week. We have a tv lesson, read a story, do review, dance to music with scarves, do color pages and crafts and we have a bounce house. It gets chaotic, but we have a severely autistic child in there who is the pastor's son and he alone takes one person's attention. Thankfully, it's only for an hour and a half a week, lol. I ♥ my kids. Just keep them busy and you'll be fine.

I used to teach this age group (plus add in kinder) at a church, but I never did it alone. Even a junior high or high school student who wants volunteer hours as a helper can go a long way. If you do this, you will have to discuss with your helpers what is expected and how to "help."

Other than that:
ROUTINE! ROUTINE! ROUTINE!!!!!
and
ORGANIZE!!!!

We had assembly time and then split up to go to our classes. So, everyday before entering the class, I would have the students line up against the wall and go over the basic class rules (hands and feet to yourself, no talking when others are talking, respect etc) and also where they were supposed to go upon entering the classroom. We always started with prayer, and for the first few weeks, we went over the model for how to pray (sit/kneel quietly, fold hands, bow head, and QUIET!) and if the kids complained that they knew how to do it, I would brush it off with some people are new or I want to make sure I can remember etc. After prayer, we had our bible story, worksheet (always some kind of drawing or painting connected to the story), then would move on to a related craft, music or game. I used stations, and had EVERYTHING precut/measured and ready to go. I also had samples of the projects to show them. When I gave directions for a craft or the worksheet, the children were asked to place their hands on their heads and I would keep reminding them that they are not to touch until I said to. If your class goes to other areas of the church for a music time etc, I would get one of those ropes with handles so they can learn to walk in a line. The rules for your class should remain the same no matter where you go. When I was teaching, my class was more behaved than the older children! As long as you keep a structure to your class, then you should be OK.

You also need to discuss with the director how to deal with disruptive children. Each church can have very different rules, whether it is time outs, 3 strikes and no game, etc.

Students with behavior issues should have to prove that they can handle being near each other. Otherwise, you should try to keep them as separated as possible.

Goods luck and have fun!

By the way, a song/game that this age loves is Old Man Noah had an Arc (EIEEO!!!!) and on his arc he had 2 (insert animal of choice)!

I agree with the others--that's too many kids of that age for one person. You need a co-teacher or assistant. Ask the church school coordinator, but it could be another teacher, a teen volunteer (at our church they can earn service hours for this) or a rotation of parents. I taught Sunday school at that age level once and I'm sorry to say it wasn't easy. I also agree with the others to provide at least one activity with movement and/or singing. There is a song called "Father Abraham" with several verses and movement that the kids LOVED. You can Google it if you aren't familiar with it. We usually started with singing/movement to get the wiggles out and then broke them into smaller groups for lessons and art projects. We had parents/teen volunteers assisting with the small groups. Good luck!

Wow! 14 young kids is a lot for one person! The first thing I would do is enlist the help of the parents - work out a schedule so at least one (maybe even two) are assigned each week. You will need someone there to at least help with bathroom runs. Another option would be to enlist the help of the confirmation-aged kids, as well.

Structure is also key: start with the bible story, then an activity or art project. You didn't say if you are using a curriculum - if you aren't, there are great websites where you can download coloring pages, craft projects, games, etc. Good luck!

14 toddlers is way too many for 1 person! Don't expect it to be calm. Probably better to get lots of parents to volunteer with you each week. Do not attempt this alone.

Yeah, I have to start teaching Sunday School too, that's what I get for opening my fat mouth! ;) I would suggest maybe having some sort or rotation of having one parent volunteer with you each day. I wouldn't probably have more than that b/c parents kind of get in the way actually, but having one would be really helpful, especially when someone has a meltdown, plus 14 is a lot of kids! My only other advice is to really have a plan each day. If you are organized and know exactly what you want to do things will go a lot smoother. Since they're so young I'm assuming you won't have them for more than 30 minutes or so b/c that would be too long. You could also do sticker charts or something for each kid and they get to add stickers if they are being good, doing the task, etc. and then after so many stickers maybe they get to choose from a prize bag or something!

Anyway, good luck, I'm sure once you have a few weeks under your belt it'll be easier!