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I loved teaching. I have taught K, 1st, 2nd and 5th. When I was a teacher, I had children needing me all day long. It didn’t matter if I was reading with another student, testing someone on math or talking to another teacher. When they needed me, they couldn’t see anything except that I was in the room and available to talk – their hands would go up and be waving like crazy. They would stand at my desk, starting at me, while I would be talking to someone else (it makes me giggle to think about it- they were so sweet!)
I was glad that my students trusted me enough to know that I would help them if they needed something, but once I had to start doing things like End of Quarter Testing, I had to put a stop to the interrupting. I didn’t want the students that were working on their testing to be distracted.
That was when I implemented the Excuse Me card. I had a sheet of paper and I laminated it. It said Excuse Me and left a blank space for the child to write. Each time that they needed me… whether I was testing another child or talking to a teacher, they could slip me an excuse me card.
The card said “excuse me” on the top with 3 lines on the bottom for them to write what they needed.
Example: “Excuse me… Can I have a drink of water?” or “Excuse me… Can I exchange my book at the library?” It was easy for me to answer with a head nod or shake.
You can print as many as you want here (The cost is $0.99 to have access & then you can print as many as you need)
You will have 4 per sheet (your copy won’t say SAMPLE 🙂
We have been able to implement the excuse me cards into our routine at home for phone calls. It works wonders. If I am on a phone call and the kids need me, they will slip me an Excuse Me Card. I can help them right away without having to stop my conversation. It is great when I am on an important call. Our 3 year old doesn’t understand yet, so she does the rule of touching my arm with her hand until I find a breaking point in my conversation.
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