Friday, January 7, 2011

Chewing on Art Supplies?


Ok, is this just my students?  I don't know what the deal is with students putting art supplies in their mouths!  And it's not just the younger students, I think I've caught students in all grades I teach.  I don't get it.  I remind them that those art supplies are used by all the students in the school, so not only is the "chewer" getting a bunch of germs, they are spreading their germs to everyone else!  One day back in November, I caught one of my first grade students sticking a pencil in his mouth and "redirected" his behavior.  About 10 minutes later, he came up to ask me a question, WITH the pencil in his mouth, and he had chewed the metal part off!  I told him he was done for the day- if he wasn't going to respect the art supplies, he wasn't going to make art.  (He was almost done anyway...)  I showed his teacher and the next morning he knocked on my classroom door and brought me this note with a new pencil.  It's kind of funny now, I just don't understand what motivates the gross behavior!

Anybody have any magic tricks to make it stop?

10 comments:

  1. I think you're doing the right thing, making a big deal about it. If it doesn't stop, you could consider woodless pencils. Instead of the soft wood they would be biting into something with the consistency of a metal rod, which would be less satisfying and they'd probably stop pretty quickly! They also make something called "chew"lery, designed for kids to wear like a bracelet or necklace but chew on. Probably only appropriate if they are specail needs kids, though.

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  2. we have fixed this problem at my school by having kids with oral fixations chew on the extra straws that come with juice and milk in the lunchroom. We don't hand them out freely to everyone, just if we notice a kid who is a chewer they get one during work time to save our supplies and help the kids focus. I have a problem with kids wanting to eat/taste the paint and oil pastels. That one boggles my mind.

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  3. There's no solution...it comes with being a kid, I think. We never use pencils in my room, but I do have trouble with them putting crayons in their mouths...YUCK! I think sometimes they are not even aware they are doing it. I do want a solution for damaged supplies though. No matter how close I seem to watch my students they break or just destroy things. I've tried shaming them, punishing them and still I find things broken and torn. At least your little fellow was sorry.:-)

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  4. Scissors are about the only supplies I haven't seen in mouths. Markers, crayons, just about anything. Another problem is erasers disappearing! I finally said I will put out erasers every 9 weeks and if they disappear or don't last that long, they are out of luck!

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  5. I catch my students of all ages doing this every now and then. I have had a big problem with erasers. By the beginning of December we had just a few left. Although I had more, I told them I didn't and we'd have to make it work. I put out new ones for the semester and lectured all of my classes on putting materials back where they belong. We'll see if this works.

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  6. I have two batches of art supplies: those in good condition and those that are very used up "worn out". The students know that if they don't take care of the art materials that are in good condition, they may have to use the "old ones" instead.

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  7. Yes, my kids (all ages) put everything in their mouths. If it isn't something from the art room then it is something out of their pocket. That's ok if they want to chew up their own stuff, but not ok when they take the saliva laden thing out of the mouth to pick up a pencil or crayon. I've seen them put the scissors in their mouth sideways and act like they are trying to stretch their mouth open more. ??? Don't know about that one. I've also caught one with his mouth chewing on the edge of the table. I've been teaching for 33 years and this has only been something I've seen in the past few years. I wonder if it is an immaturity thing as a LOT of my kids seem immature.

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  8. I hate it when I put out brand new pencils and by the end of the day all the erasers are bitten off and spit out on the floor. I can't ever seem to catch them on the act of doing it. It drives me nuts. I usually tell them, and it's the truth because I have over 900 students and pencils run out fast, that I would walk around the middle school by my house and pick up the pencils off the ground. They were totally grossed out. I also told them that the kindergartners love to put the pencils and crayons up their noses, that usually stops the oral fixations pretty quickly.

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  9. I ask them if they would lick the table...it's the same as putting that pencil in your mouth...ewwww! Shocking to them to even consider this.

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