Lost Children, Sex Education and Challenging Behavior

During my credentialing year, I completed two practicums as a student teacher. One of these practicums was with kindergarteners. I had an a.m. and a p.m. class. The other kindergarten classroom did too. All together we had 90 kinders in half day programs. We did that is, until the day we went to the zoo.

The kinders began arriving at school at 8:00. Some brought a parent to act as an aide. Our school paid for zoo tickets for the aides and we were lucky to have a ratio of one adult to four kinders.

As we waited, I read a book about zoo animals. We talked about the animals they would see and the sounds they made. We sang "Old MacDonald Had A Zoo." At 10:00 two buses arrived and we began loading the kindergarteners onto them. Each aide sat with their four kinders.

I was in charge of three boys and one girl. One of the boys came to school two to three times a week. He had not had time to bond with me and was reluctant to listen to me. I thought he might be a little challenging on the field trip and I was glad I only had four children to monitor.

At the zoo, I explained our buddy system to my group. I paired them and told them they had to hold their buddy's hand. We all had to stay together. We decided to go to the children's petting zoo, first.

The petting zoo was small and enclosed. It would be easy to keep an eye on my four kinders, holding tightly to each other's hands. One of the boys asked a question and I began to read aloud from a display that gave information about the animals in the petting zoo. I looked up after reading and saw only two kinders.

"Oh, no!" I said. Inwardly, I scolded myself, "Great! You only have charge of four kinders and you lose half of them."

I grabbed the hand of girl and said, "Did you see where they went?"

Her eyes were big, her face solemn. She shook her head no. I looked into the eyes of the remaining boy. He shrugged.

"What will I tell my mentor teacher? What will I tell their parents?" I thought.

"C'mon." I said to the two children. "Let's find them!"

I held the girl's hand and we walked around to the other side of the display. There they were, holding hands.

"Do you remember our zoo rules?" I asked them, relieved.

"Hold your buddy's hand. Stay together," replied the little boy with spotty attendance.

"Right! We have to stay together." I said. "You guys left us. I was scared. Now we all have to hold hands."

I took his hand and we walked five abreast, as we explored the petting zoo and then the regular zoo.

At lunch time, we sat at a table next to the aviary. I unloaded the kinder's sack lunches from my backpack and we talked as we ate. They talked about the animals they liked the best and the animals they wanted to see.

They were so excited to be able to see the bears. There were so many books in the classroom that had bears as the main character. Corduroy, The Berenstain Bears, Goldilocks And The Three Bears, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See? were just a few of them.

After lunch, we all held hands and walked toward the bear exhibit. There was a big crowd in front of the wall separating the lookers from the residents. With five voices yelling, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" we made our way to the front of the crowd.

The bear exhibit consisted of a moat in front of rock platforms, fallen trees and a tractor tire swing. We stood at the wall, looking across the blue water at two bears grunting in the heights of bear passion.

"What are they doing?" asked the challenging, little boy looking up at me. The other three children looked up, waiting for my answer. People in the crowd nearest us tittered softly and also waited for my reply.

I'd always been honest with the kinders, but this didn't feel like the time for honesty. My faced flushed and the crowd around me became silent. I looked at my watch. It was almost time to meet up for the bus trip back to school.

"Um....they're wrestling!" I said. I held up my watch. "Oh look! It's time to go back and catch the bus!"

People in the crowd caught my eye as we excused our way past them. Some nodded and winked. Some laughed, amused. All seemed to be accepting of my answer. I felt the flush subside from my face as we made our way to the bus stop.

On the way back to school, the boy who had challenged me in the classroom, talked nonstop to me. He talked about the animals he had seem and even made up little stories about them.

"Hey," I said, "You didn't talk to me very much before our zoo trip. Why are you talking to me now?"

"You held my hand," he said.

The challenging behaviors stopped that day. He gave me the same respect he showed to my mentor teacher.