Problem Solved

Last week during Morning Meeting I noticed a disturbing habit developing among my kiddos.  Some of the kiddos were shaking their heads and saying, "Not me," under their breath when it was coming up on their turn to be selected.  I brought this observation to the class and I saw lots of recognition around the circle.  The kiddos were quick to share that sometimes they don't want to switch seats and move away from their best friends and sometimes they want to be the last one standing (when we do an activity that has us sit down after our turn).  Then we talked about how this might make everyone else feel and how it might affect our class community.  We agreed that this was a problem because it did not make everyone feel welcome.  Finally, I asked the kiddos for suggestions to solve the problem.


We have been working on problem solving all year.  I started by teaching the kiddos that solutions always need to be related, respectful, reasonable, and helpful (this language comes from Positive Discipline).  This is a challenge for little ones who often think of punishments before solutions.  As we started talking about possible solutions to this problem, the first few solutions were not surprisingly more like punishments, such as, having the culprits sit out of future greetings and activities until they were being kind or skipping offenders in the circle.  However, the more we talked, the more the kiddos began to consider ways to prevent the problem from even occurring.  Eventually we settled on two possible preventative solutions: 1) the kiddos could come to the circle separately and choose a place to sit away from close friends so they wouldn't be tempted to resist moving and 2) we could make assigned seats around the circle so that no one would feel uncomfortable about moving if necessary.

At this point, I told the class I would consider both solutions.  Of course, it seems that I've taught them too well about how to solve problems fairly because immediately one little sweetie suggested that I let the class vote.  It was hard to argue with her logic since truthfully both solutions were acceptable to me.  So this morning we had a vote.  I had the kids close their eyes and raise their hands. The kiddos voted (20-3) to have assigned seats.  When they opened their eyes and I announced the winning solution the kiddos started fist-pumping with excitement.

I couldn't help but smile.  I could never have imagined such a positive reaction to the idea of assigned seats for class activities. In fact, I suspect that had I forced the idea of assigned seats on them as a "punishment" or consequence, I would have heard lots of complaints and frustration.  Yet when they could appreciate the problem and come to the solution on their own, they were more than willing to accept the idea.  We immediately created a chart with assigned circle seats and by the afternoon the kiddos were already reminding each other where they needed to sit.  Love it!