AIBU? Children have to do star jumps when they yawn in class?

[geekgirl]

We have a newish head, and this is his latest brainchild . Even if they're caught yawning discreetly behind a hand, the children in his class (years 5 & 6) have to go to the hall to do 10 star jumps every time they yawn.

Dd1 has allergies, and particularly suffers with house dustmites. Despite anti-allergy bedding, antihistamines etc., she often has problems getting to sleep and is tired the next day as a result. It's not her fault. I just thought... WTF?!

I doubt it will last once the children realise they have a perfect excuse to leave class to jump about a bit!

I don't think making children be active to wake them up is unreasonable.

Seems a bit daft. How long will it take the kids to realise that to get out of a lesson for a few minutes they just have to yawn?

With respect to your DD - send a note in explaining the situation.

ludicrous

complain

I had to reread your name then to check this wasn't a wind up!
I can sense yawning competitions coming on..... and why is it so bad to be tired?

Is it a punishment, or a way to get small children, who really should be doing more jumping and less sitting in stuffy classrooms, to be able to get more oxygen onto their systems?

If I am yawning at my desk at work I often get up and have walk around - star jumps would certainly help me brush away that 'falling alseep after lunch' feeling.

We yawn or sigh six times per hour [factoid]. Oh I used to know why, hmmm something about end tidal capacity I think, there are graphs and things...anyway we all do it, perfectly normal, doesn't mean they are particularly bored or tired.

Complain brandishing sciency factoid, I'm sure the new head will be most interested

I just thought... what a knob . We're a little village school and the previous head was all warm and friendly. This one tries very hard but I can't hack his style. It's a small class - 14 children, all well-behaved. No need for military-style drill.

oh Blu more oxygen into their systems ?!

Oh no, I imagine all the children at the OP's school will have O2 sats of 99-100%

It is difficult to know how muhc of a knob he is being without knowing why he is doing it.
If it is just to wake them up then I can see what he is trying to do, but it's badly thought out and will be a nightmare for teachers to regulate (will there be someone in teh hall at all times to watch them do it? What about disruption to the class etc etc)
Or is it a 'punishment' for being too tired to pay attention? In which case he is a twat.

What a meanie complain.

Oh sorry

I thought there was something proper-sciencey about yawning, though, and it was to stimulate breathing? I forget what.

Arts grad

Oh, definitely complain, anyway, because even though he has had enough experience in schools to be a Head, he will never have thought of the 'deiberate yawning' ploy, and he won't have a clue that his poor teachers are having to deal with this nightmare, and they won't be able to say so in a staff meeting, and he won't have thought through provision of a yawning supervisor, etc etc.

Best complain.

Can't help yawning reading this thread. It's catching isn't it? So if the teacher draws attention to the yawner, then someone else will yawn, and soon the whole class will be doing star jumps. [gets up to do some star jumps]

I think a yawn is stimulated by something, possibly CO2 levels. Oh I can't rememeber. I do remember being suprised and amazed that we do it unconsciously 6 times an hour, that's the sort of thing to impress dinner party guests with.

Science grad but a long time ago now

That's just silly.

In DS's reception class, if the teacher decided that they were all reaching a point where they weren't concentrating, she would randomly hoosh them outside for 10 minutes running around getting the silliness/tiredness out of their systems, and then back in to concentrate, but by year 5 & 6 if it hasn't resulted in the whole class being out in the corridor star-jumping and giggling then they must be a peculiarly boring rule abiding set of children.

And jumping does make you breathe more...I think it is something to do with CO2 levels, too...

I'm not suggesting they massage their arteries through bones a la Brain Gym, you know, Slubber!

(Grade A A level biology, in old money..you know before the exams got easier)

why we yawn (well, sort of!)

If you massage the carotid sinus in your neck your heart rate drops.

[Spock]

I doubt the head will want that sort of thing going on much though.

Its a terribly compulsive word isn't it!

Slubber - I agree, carotid artery massage sounds WAY too mujch like deadly unarmed combat.

Would giving them amphetamines be better, do you think?

oh and the other teachers in that class (it's taught by three part-timers including the head) have been told to enforce it too.
Today's teacher said she'd turn a blind eye to dd1's tiredness.
I do actually think he's a total knob. It's not the first knobbish thing he's done.

He does sound like a plonker geekgirl, I think Stealthy's whole class whooshing sounds much better idea.

Blu, hmmm I think amphetamines sound an expensive idea. Perhaps one one those flashbang grenades lobbed into the class by the Head would be a cheaper and more inclusive option.

I think a flashbang is the way to go, a rookscarer would do it - huge dose of adrenaline and voila awake class.