Third-Graders Passing Inspection in New Uniforms

Our school instituted school uniforms for the elementary school this fall. I recently noticed that the students were coming back from P.E. with their collars tucked down inside, their jacket collars all askew, and other myriad problems. I grew up with a father from a military family, and I suddenly had the inspiration to start a daily “inspection” routine in my class each morning, as a way of students learning to wear their uniforms correctly, and to take some pride in their appearance.

I already have my class divided into three “teams.” We have a reward incentive where we keep tally marks on the board. The best-behaving team receives a reward at the end of the day (one potato chip each–the chips being brought each week by the students which we use in spelling bee, and contributed for the class). They work hard for this reward.

Each morning, on a rotating basis, I line up each team. The first day there were eight or nine students who had not combed their hair. Today, there were two. I had one very cute little boy who had not combed his hair yesterday, show up with a spiked hairstyle all made with hair gel, something like this picture off the internet:

Spiked Gel Hairdoo for Boys, from: http://www.okiedokie.tv/gallery-boys.htm

I told him that would be a great hairstyle for Halloween, or for the disco, or for a date (he smiled), but not particularly with his school uniform. I said it was fine for today, but to try to be a bit more traditional for Monday.

A couple days ago, several students came in socks not permitted with the uniform. Today, again there were only two. Several boys came in scuffed-up shoes, and I explained about shoe polish (to eight-year-olds) and how to use it. The very next day one boy (one of the least well-behaved) showed me his newly-shined black shoes, and bragged, “and I did it all by myself!” I was so proud of him! Today I had three boys show up in newly-shined shoes.

Black polished shoes for boys, as part of our new school uniform, image from: http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1189943/2/istockphoto_1189943_black_shoes.jpg

We walked by Grade Two (coming to and from the rest rooms), and by comparison, Grade Three really looked sharp! In Grade Two, one girl did not wear any socks with her shoes, and another girl wore rainbow-colored socks–definitely not part of our school uniform! I think my class is starting to take some pride in their appearance, and are learning some positive dressing skills for the future. And we are having fun with it!

What do readers think?

Eileen

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Tags: Halloween Hair Styles, Looking Sharp, Scuffed-up Shoes, Shining Shoes

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