Moving After School has Started- Help Please

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I found out today that I am getting a new student next week. We will be in our fourth week of school. My room is a self contained sped room with four students returning, so they already know eachother. I have two new students to the room as well, all boys. The class has gotten to know eachother, establish routines, etc. in the past few couple of weeks. My new student will be the only girl in my room. My room can be kind of crazy at times, I have several students who can become rather aggressive (towards the teacher) and I'm sure it will be an overwhelming transition at first.

For those of you who have moved after school started, was there something that the teacher did that stood out in your mind to make the transition easier? I'm thinking of different ways I can help my new student transition and not feel so overwhelmed, and would like to hear from those who have been there.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Bump. Anybody?

 

[kidzmom3]

I don't know if this will work in your situation, but we were assigned a "buddy" in the classroom and a big sister in the school. They helped us find places, know the routines, have someone to sit with and talk to. Also, do the parents know she will be the only girl in the room? That is kind of strange. The poor thing may feel very out of place.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I don't know that the parents know or not. I didn't have a chance to bring it up at the meeting. It really is not that strange. I am a self contained room for students who need a behavioral/life skills curriculum and for whatever reason, many more boys than girls qualify for these types of settings.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I went to 10 schools.

I can only think of one beginning of the year move though.

I only liked to blend in.

I cringe at the movies/tv shows where the new kid has to be introduced. I would have died. But I have also seen it in documentaries and apparently it can be quite effective.

My teacher that year did once single me out. Happened to be that my bus was last that day (we didn't leave the room until our bus had arrived). She wanted to know why the class didn't like her. I was the ONLY new kid and that was VERY uncomfortable. It was 5th grade. I do not know what she was thinking--but I would suggest not using the new kid to figure out those kind of things.


If you opt for her to introduce herself to the class, I would later just let her blend in.

Go ahead and prep whatever you have done for the other kids now--so that the day she arrives, it will be like she was always there.

Since she is the only girl and it seems your kids give you a hard time, I would be especially vigilant for how she is treated in the class. Certainly this would depend on the grade. But I did have an incident in middle school.


Blend as best you can is my advice. It eases the transition. (in my experience)

 

[Buckalew11]

I'd never put my DD in a classroom of only boys.
As a parent, that'd be very upsetting to me to find out. How old are these kids?
Under the circumstances, maybe the parents are used to it but I wouldn't go for it.

As someone who came into a classroom in the middle of my 4th grade year, I think the teacher definitely made a difference in my transition. I'm not sure what she did but she did it well. I felt included and loved the 1st day of school. however, when the teacher paddled a boy right in the middle of the classroom, I almost had a stroke. She *hit* him with a wooden paddle! In NJ where I had lived all my life, teachers didn't paddle. It was barbaric to me. So, I was a bit afraid of that teacher even though the kids were very accepting.

Good luck!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I agree...try to have her blend in as much as possible with your routines. She'll likely figure it out from the other kids what your signals and things are from watching the others. You shouldn't need to directly teach them to her the same way you taught the class as a whole.

And for what it's worth on the boy/girl ratio, the few times I've seen girls in that kind of situation, the girls ended up being the ringleader of the trouble in most occasions. They had no trouble fitting in.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

There are only seven kids in the class, and there's really not much choice. This is actually very common in special ed- far more boys than girls qualify. I did have another girl, but she moved away yesterday. I could always get another girl later in the year, but this is the classroom the child needs to meet her academic needs. I don't think any of the other self contained rooms have that many girls either.

 

[emdav]

For a contained classroom, I would make sure the new student knew all the classroom rules and felt ownership of them. My ds went to a contained classroom with only three weeks left in the school year. They introduced him one day and had him start class the next. The teacher really talked up the idea of having a new student.

I'm surprised at the objections of having only one female student. Parents of girls who have such needs are well aware of the boy/girl ratio. My ds has 12 kids in his class and only one girl. Last year there were three girls. I was shocked there were so many girls.