I have students who constantly want to use the restroom. The newest thing with my class is kids saying they "forgot" to use the restroom when we went as a class. Then they have an "emergency" 20 minutes later. I'm sorry, if you have to use the bathroom that badly, you wouldn't have *forgotten* to go when we took a break. I remind the whole class to use the restroom at class break time so they don't have to leave in the middle of us doing something. I don't let those go when they say they "forgot." It still keeps popping up though. Any suggestions? This is 4th grade, BTW.
I take tickets for needing to use the restroom at unassigned times. We go 4 times a day. I have also had them give up recess time for going to the restroom. You know very quickly who really needs to go and who is playing you.
We go just about every hour to hour and a half. I make mine sit out at recess if they have to go other times. This helps a lot... My friend uses a money system in her class and her kids have to pay $50 to go at an unscheduled time.
When my students took a class bathroom break EVERYONE had to go into the bathroom. No exceptions, no "I don't have to go". I told them they at least had to go in and wash their hands. For one thing, it's just good hygiene to wash your hands throughout the day. Plus, I know if I wash my hands after not having gone to the bathroom for a while, it makes me have to go. I figure the hand-washing might "encourage" more kids to go during the bathroom break.
I also use bathroom tickets and it helps TREMENDOUSLY!! Each of my students gets 3 tickets every Monday. They owe one ticket every time they go to the bathroom. If they use over the 3 tickets, then they owe me 5 minutes of recess every time they go after that. Also, if they ask to use the bathroom within 15 minutes of coming back from recess, then they owe me 2 tickets. If they don't have any bathroom tickets, then they owe me 10 minutes of recess.
On Mondays, I reward the students who have all 3 of their bathroom tickets from the previous week. If you don't hold students accountable for going to the bathroom they'll go ALL the time, especially in the upper grades. Most of the time the kiddos can hold it until the next recess.
I've attached my bathroom tickets. I just make enough copies for each student to have 3. I then laminate them so that they'll hold up through the year. I keep track of the tickets by writing their classroom number on the back of each ticket. Then I have my assistant pass back the tickets on Mondays. Best of luck to you!!
when they go in a notebook so you have a record of how often, etc. I started doing this a couple of weeks ago and it has cut way down on how many times kids asked. I keep it by my library check out and the child has to sign his or her name and what time they leave the room. It also assist me in knowing where kids are in case of a fire drill or an emergency. I have one girl who consistantly goes at the same time everyday. It's quite interesting to see the patterns.
I love these! I got a note last week from a parent saying that her son knows when he needs to go and I should let him go if he asks. Now I can save his tickets and let her know just how ofter he actually goes. Thanks!
We have a school-wide pass that's in their planners, so we can see just how often they are going. We have four scheduled restroom breaks daily, and the students can go during class with the teacher's permission. I like being able to see when they've gone.
Start little by little. Dont let them go between recess and lunch for example. I make sure they go right after the bell rings as we walk in. They know they cannot go during this time. Now it is in the morning. They have to go before school. After lunch I dont worry about it because they just ate and all, but if they do it a lot I would talk to them about it. Set the ground rules and be consistent and things will be ok. As a teacher you can tell when a kid really needs to go and when they are just bored.
Now, if they have to go during class time to get a drink or use the restroom, they have to give up 5 min of recess. That way, I won't get in trouble for not letting them go if they really have to. Amazing how many don't really need to go if they have to lose recess time! BTW, I also teach 4th.
I teach fifth grade, and I used something I call a "passport." It is about the size of a 4x6 card. On it, it has five empty blocks plus an area for the child's name. They get one of these a quarter. Every time a child asks me to go to the restroom or locker during class, I "stamp" their passport with a stamp that has my name on it.
My homeroom is actually only with me two class periods of the day, and we schedule five-minute breaks inbetween classes when kids are free to use the restroom and go to their lockers, so five "stamps" are more than enough. I also include a "one day late" block on the passport, which allows a kid to turn in one homework assignment one day late without penalty.
If kids lose the passport, they are out of luck for the quarter. At the end of the quarter, any kid who hasn't used all of the stamps on his passport is eligible for a special drawing. A five-dollar Jamba Juice card is incredibly motivating.
I found a graphic of an actual passport somewhere on the Internet and just customized it for my class. It's a system that works beautifully for me so far.
I had students that were not going during our scheduled restroom breaks, so I started giving them one freebie a week out of class. Then if they have to go during class they have to move their card on our behavior chart. This has really cut down on leaving during class. One of my students missed 85 minutes of class in 26 days just because he wasn't going when the class did. This has stopped.
02-15-2008, 01:00 PM
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