I Love Splitting The Group!

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I have a group of mostly boys. Two of them I can GUARANTEE you have ADHD. They are great boys but they have no self control at all despite their ages (5.5 and 4) and the constant reminders. The rest are typical hyper, busy boys!

I have been dividing my group of 9/10 preschoolers into two rooms. One group gets the main center time and table rooms while the other group can play at the circle time room with those toys. The chaos is so much less now and they are playing with people and toys that they weren't before.

1.5 weeks of doing this and I am not going back! They are all together during arrival play time, meals, circle time, and outdoor time. Otherwise they are divided!

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by EntropyControlSpecialist

I have a group of mostly boys. Two of them I can GUARANTEE you have ADHD. They are great boys but they have no self control at all despite their ages (5.5 and 4) and the constant reminders. The rest are typical hyper, busy boys!

I have been dividing my group of 9/10 preschoolers into two rooms. One group gets the main center time and table rooms while the other group can play at the circle time room with those toys. The chaos is so much less now and they are playing with people and toys that they weren't before.

1.5 weeks of doing this and I am not going back! They are all together during arrival play time, meals, circle time, and outdoor time. Otherwise they are divided!

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by EntropyControlSpecialist

I have a group of mostly boys. Two of them I can GUARANTEE you have ADHD. They are great boys but they have no self control at all despite their ages (5.5 and 4) and the constant reminders. The rest are typical hyper, busy boys!

I have been dividing my group of 9/10 preschoolers into two rooms. One group gets the main center time and table rooms while the other group can play at the circle time room with those toys. The chaos is so much less now and they are playing with people and toys that they weren't before.

1.5 weeks of doing this and I am not going back! They are all together during arrival play time, meals, circle time, and outdoor time. Otherwise they are divided!

The group dynamics make a HUGE difference.

[Meeko]

We often split into groups. We have 16 daycare kids.

One group of 16 = chaos much of the time.

Four groups of 4.....easy street!

[Heidi]

okay...so for those of you who do this, how do you group them? Is supervision an issue?

I generally only have 4-6 kids, but the 2 1/2 year old in my group is having some super-2 behavior (again). Hitting, grabbing, "mine", etc. He is the oldest in the group, and I already see my 16 month dcg picking up some of this.

I've tried giving him his own area, because I understand that having 3 babies grab your stuff is frustrating. But, he doesn't stay put, or if I turn my back, sometimes gets into trouble, and he finds it. Although he is of normal development intellectually, his social development seems to be a bit delayed. NO self control yet at all...not even a little, it seems!

So...back to my question. How do you supervise 2 or 3 groups in different areas? There must be some trust involved, right? Sight OR sound? Mine seem to need sight AND sound at all times!

Added: I've reintroduced gating off areas, and at least they're aren't screaming hysterically when they see the gates anymore. whew!