Cosmas Noticing

Lately in my class I have been noticing and observing how student’s behavior changes greatly depending on whether they are on time or late to school.  Each morning I like to greet my students individually with either a high-five, hand shake, or some type of greeting.  From that first interaction in the morning I get a great insight into whether the student is having a good or bad day so far and how their attitude will be during the day.  I especially notice that when students come in late, it really throws off their attitude for the whole day.

              When the students come into our classroom, the first thing they do every single morning is go to their seats and take their homework folders out.  It is amazing to me that students who come in even just five minutes late totally forget to do this.  As an adult, I would think that no matter how late or early you come into the classroom, that you always do the first things first.  However, I am noticing that if students arrive late it’s as if they forget about all our morning routines and just put their stuff wherever they feel like it.

 I have one 2^nd grade boy in particular who comes to school late pretty much every day of the week.  He has been with my MT for a year already as a 1^st grader and is well aware of the classroom norms and procedures yet he insists on putting his backpack and coat wherever he wants.  I find I completely infuriating that he can’t seem to follow the rules or even try to remember but I also try to keep in mind that it is not his fault he is late every day.  His mother admits that she has no urgency in the morning to get him to school on time, so of course he is going to be off once he arrives. 

The same happens later in the day when the students return.  Every day they go to a special, lunch, and then recess before coming back for the afternoon.  When I go outside to pick them up from recess they almost always ask, “are we lining up in line order?”.  The answer is yes.  Every single time we line up to go somewhere we line up in their line order so it is so puzzling to me that they think recess is an exception, especially since they do it every day.  It seems that whenever they walk away from the normal classroom setting they forget what is expected of them until they are reminded.