bathroom break

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bathroom break
By Carolyn

The way I have handled my bathroom break this year was to send kids to the bathroom by rows. I agree with the above post that taking a whole class presents a transitional problem. This is why as soon as we were finished
with math, I read, then wrote on the board the day's journal entry. While kids were taking their bathroom break by rows, the others were quietly engaged in writing their journal entries. With this method, there was no wasted time for kids to wait for their classmates out in the hallway while they used the bathroom.
At the beginning of the year, it became apparent to me that my fifth

grade students were going to be bathroom break abusers. Some left the classroom for as long as ten minutes. I told the kids that I was writing down the time they left the classroom, and for every minute they were gone over their allowed time (3 minutes), they would owe me five minutes of recess. I had no more bathroom break abuse after that.

Now the problem you have with the bathroom will depend upon your individual class. I don't think the younger kids abuse it as much as the older ones. Also, I have taught the little kids, too, and I had to concern myself with accidents. The little kids seemed to have so much less control than the older ones.

I think that in the end it will depend upon the grade level and class you teach. Monitor the kids carefully for signs of bathroom abuse. If you don't believe a child has to go to the bathroom, or he/she wants to go not long after a bathroom break, then tell the child that he/she has to give up 10 minutes of recess for the privilege of going to the bathroom. In almost all cases, the child will say that he/she will stay rather than leaving the classroom.