Did Stamina Break?

“Once we see our students’ stamina for the work session waning, we stop the class and have students put away their materials and join us back in the class-gathering place” (Boushey & Moser, 2014, p. 32).

This is written in the second edition of The Daily 5 and talked about in depth at our trainings, and it still leads to the question, “What exactly does it mean to ‘break stamina’?” We get asked this often because the answer can make a difference! Do we call everyone back to the gathering area at the first sound of noise or when the first child’s attention is taken away from their book, or do we wait until there are three or four disruptions?

Our answer isn’t as straightforward and direct as many people would like. We consider three things: noise level, movement, and focus. Stamina is broken when the desired noise, movement, and focus level you and your students can be successful with is no longer being maintained.

Noise level—This depends largely on the age of the students you teach. Often beginning readers read aloud, so the noise level in classrooms with younger readers may be a bit louder than it is in classrooms with older, more advanced readers. What is the noise level that allows your students to be successful while working independently? Determine this level and communicate it to your students.

Movement—We work with children, and children move and shake and fidget! Their bodies aren’t meant to stay still for long periods of time. So how much movement is too much? One of the behaviors we teach students is to Stay in one spot. This means we do not want them getting up and moving to another location in the room. Does it mean they have to stay upright and can’t reposition to lying on their stomach? Does it mean they can’t prop themselves up on the wall or sit in a different position? Not usually. We know in the time they are reading they will need to adjust and reset. The question is whether their movement is interrupting others. Are they still able to focus on the task at hand? If so, we ignore it.

Focus—Are students engaged in their task? It is very possible to have students who are sitting quietly and staying in one spot but are not engaged in their work. If one or two students display a lack of focus, it is a great time to confer with them and see if they have good-fit books or are in a comfortable, good-fit work space. If more than a few students are having trouble focusing, it is most likely time to sound the signal and call the class back to the gathering area for check-in.

One caveat to sounding the signal and calling students back to the gathering area to reflect and check in on their success is to consider how many students are being affected by the behavior. If stamina is broken in one or more ways by only one or two students, we suggest conferring with those students and setting behavior goals. It is when the break in stamina affects more than a few that we know it is time to bring everyone back together.

Determining when stamina is “broken” can be tricky, because each year it looks different in our classrooms, depending on the children in front of us. Considering noise level, movement, and focus will help in deciding what broken stamina looks like for your class, this year.