Dinner for Time Outs

You know you've had a rough day in kindergarten when you put YOURSELF in timeout, not once - but TWICE. No, no - not one of my students. Myself. I sent myself to timeout. I think I have hit an all time low.

One of my little guys had a REALLY hard day today and after handling the situation as best as possible, I was exhausted. I could not possibly take one more minute of stimulation; while my assistant read a book to the class, I went over and sat down in the "take five" corner.

In our classroom we call timeout "take five." I encourage students to go there on their own accord when they get frustrated or upset or angry and take five minutes to calm themselves down. We really make a concerted effort to remove the stigma from the timeout corner. I tell the kids that even Miss Minsterman needs to take five sometimes. And today was one of those days.

There was already another student in the chair (although I don't believe he went there on his own accord, I think my assistant sent him there) and I asked if I could sit beside him. "Ok Miss Minsterman, you can sit in take five with me." So there we sat. Z on the chair and me on the floor next to him. Both playing with our fingers and sitting in silence while the rest of the class went on as usual. After a few minutes I looked at him and said, "Feeling better? Ready to head back?" "Yeah, I feel better Miss Minsterman. Let's go back." We walked together back to circle where the kids were listening to the story. It was the best timeout I have ever had.

After a very long day, I realized I would have to stay at work until the building closed in order to get things planned for the rest of the week. I was bummed about one of my little guys and that I'm unable to go to a conference next week that I was really looking forward to attending. Overall, I was in a grouchy mood. I called Christopher and told him I was eating popcorn for dinner. He said he would bring me pasta.

THAT BOY SHOWED UP WITH A PICNIC BASKET. It was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. It had pasta, extra sauce, cheese, bread (one piece was half eaten; he said he got hungry while he was packing), butter, two bottles of water, plates, napkins, veggies... And we sat in my classroom on a rainy Tuesday night eating pasta and listening to Miles Davis while he listened to me ramble about my day.

I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. :) I knew timeout was good for something.