Hello! I teach 4K at a private Christian school. The 4K room was moved this year to the old fifth grade room further down the hallway away from the student bathrooms. There is no bathroom in my classroom, and I am wondering how to handle situations in which a child needs to use the bathroom outside of scheduled bathroom break times. I am very hesitant to send a four-year-old all the way down the hallway and around the corner to use the bathroom alone without teacher supervision...but I don't know what else to do. I do not have an aide who could walk the child down there. Suggestions?

[KT_203]

Ugh that’s tough.

I teach prek mixed 3/4 and I do let the older kids sometimes go to the bathroom alone. BUT not at the beginning of the year. Later once I know I can trust them.

[ruralteacher]

We meet in a church basement. Our room is at the end of a long hallway, with no in-class bathroom. We definitely have scheduled potty breaks throughout the day where everyone is required to try and go, but invariably, there is always at least one time per day when someone needs to go outside of the schedule. In that instance, I say, "Potty break, please get a book!" and they line up with their books and we all trek down to the bathroom. They sit and look at their books while the student does their business, then we all go back. We are supposed to keep the children within sight and sound at all times. Sending them down the hallway without an adult is not allowed. Occasionally, there will be a "floater" adult who goes around helping, and can be asked to take the child to the bathroom, which is lovely because then the whole class doesn't have to be interrupted.

[MissESL]

ruralteacher Has a great idea! That way everyone is doing something productive while the child who needs to go is...doing something productive!

For children that young, I think it’s hard to limit the amount of times they get to go...probably not the best choice to move you so far from the restrooms!

[Gimet]

I agree with ruralteacher. At this age line of sight supervision is very critical. I posted large shapes posted on the wall in our bathroom and students stood under the shape after I named it, the shapes were different colors so the helped with reviewing shapes and colors. If we were waiting outside while other children were using the bathroom, students stood against the wall and we would sing songs, count to 10 (frontwards and backwards), do fingerplays, answer questions--who is first in line second? last?, etc.