Hitting & acting out in class

[windorabug]

Hello,
I have just started teaching a cooking class for 3-6 year olds 1 day a week for
about an hour. It has been a real challenge for me.
In this recent group of kids I had one boy who clearly didn't want to be there (I spoke with his mom about it but she kept bringing him to class)Today he was having a tough day and hit (out of anger & frustration) a friend of mine that was helping out. I just kind of froze up & didn't know what to do.
It is a large group of kids & I have never done anything like this before but I felt like, other than this boy, I had a good handle on the kids & they seemed to be having fun.
I tried empathizing with him but I couldn't really spend the whole class helping him through his personal issues ykwim?
This boy won't be coming to anymore classes (his group of classes is done) but I have 2 more groups of classes coming up.
How should I handle this kind of behavior if it should come up again?
Thank you o' wise mamas of MDC!

[LilyGrace]

Can you make a cool off corner? Bring a mat, some crayons and paper and allow them to head to the corner when they're upset or angry. As long as it's not a punishment ("You may join the class again when you've cooled off), it should work fine.

[Polliwog]

Get an assistant. Probably more than one. You said that you have a large group but how many children in the group? You need someone who can stay with the main group if you need to step away with a child or work with the child herself.

You should probably have an area with other materials. A few art materials and toys set up in a corner of the room where children can go if they don't want to cook. Not as a punishment. As a teacher, I know there's always a child or two in a group who don't want to particpate in a group activity.