Effective classroom management varies by grade, especially in Kindergarten where energy and enthusiasm abound.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
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Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
Jordan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He has experience in Public Education as an Administrator, Science Teacher, and as a Coach. He has extensive experience with School Discipline, PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, MTSS, and Trauma-Informed Care.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
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All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
All the energy. So much energy. Kindergarten is a very unique time for our scholars. School is new and fresh, as is much of the learning.
Teaching Kindergarten is unique in our profession as you often have the highest levels of engagement amongst your classes but with that attentiveness, you also get all that energy we mentioned before!
Kindergarten teachers have to meet that energy and harness it to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round…and not falling off! I have a deep respect for kindergarten teachers, y’all are awesome.
Effective classroom management is the instructor’s ability to create an environment in which their students can learn at the highest level. We should be striving to remove or mitigate any and all barriers to success for our kids. This means different things at different levels and can vary from lesson to lesson.
Even your room design can play a big part in the success of a Kindergarten classroom. Can your students move from the necessary places without disturbing a classmate? Can they access what they need without your immediate help?
In previous articles, I have written about the need for the instructor to gauge the needs of the lesson and the particulars of the students in the class. This still applies in Kindergarten. What conditions are necessary for success? What do you need your students to do?
This is consistent with other ages until you factor in that your students may have not been in a school setting before. Sure, many of them may have attended preschool but this isn’t a given.
Before you can jump into specifics on your lesson, you're going to need to teach your kiddos how your classroom works.
Be very basic, and very specific. You need procedures for everything they need to do on a regular basis. Your responsibility is huge in these students' educational careers. Not only are you going to teach them the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but you have to teach them how to do school as well!
Every school and every classroom is likely to be different to some degree so I am going to stay a bit general with our strategies and try to keep them broad enough to apply to your setting.
No matter what, remember why you're focusing on classroom management strategies to begin with: because your students deserve the best opportunity to learn that you can provide.
Keep reading below for classroom management tips to make your kindergarten conducive to success!
Arrival routines should be designed in a way that eliminates unnecessary conflict or distractions. There are several factors at play here including buses, car drop off, and breakfast, among others.
How your school handles those things is largely out of your control. Focus on what is within your control; your students' arrival in your room. Where do they put their things? Do they have access to the materials they need to start the day?
Everything needs a home, and a good label maker is your friend here. Be meticulous and detailed about where each item belongs and when they can be accessed.
Ok, your kids have arrived. Now what? Teach your students how the class will function. What is a “whole group”? What is a “small group”? Where do they go for each? What should be on their desk?
Keep it specific, but I would word your directions as expectations in lieu of rules. This is good advice for any grade level but it's particularly helpful for younger grade levels.
If you try to list everything your students aren’t allowed to do in kindergarten you're going to need a bigger wall for all those rules.
Instead, focus on what you expect them to do. This leaves less room for interpretation.
Model your expectations for your students. If you want them to organize and store pencil boxes a certain way, then you should organize and store a pencil box when you give them that information. Provide a visual, provide an example, and be sure to do more than just tell.
After you show them – maybe even quiz them. Have some fun with it and act out various ways of doing things and ask your students to give you a thumbs up or down for the correct procedure.
You need several attention-getters. Your students need to know what each of those means and you need to practice it as you introduce it. Call-and-response works great. Here are a few staples to try and a couple of fun ones if you so choose.
Teach your students how to use appropriate voice levels for the situation they are in.
Make a habit of referring to this list as you transition to and from activities every day. Practice makes perfect here, remember this is going to be a work in progress. Stay positive, and stay consistent.
Assign jobs and roles to everyone. Design your class like a small community. Everyone needs a role to fulfill to make the community function. This gives them an outlet to get rid of some energy, interact with classmates, and a vital role in your classroom community.
Have some fun with it, rotate the jobs, and include a few special designations such as feeding the class turtle or taking a note to the office.
A few things to consider as we wrap up. First I would recommend spending some time teaching your class how to make it through a day in the event you have a substitute.
This seems obvious, but preparing them ahead of time can be very beneficial to their productivity during that day and your substitute will certainly be glad you did so!
I would suggest doing this early and far ahead of time before you actually are out of the class for a day so your class is primed in the event you have an emergency.
Also, I always advocate for PBIS in schools and classrooms, and kindergarten is a fantastic place to instill some positive behavior reinforcement with classroom rewards.
Create a reward system for your kids, and they will be motivated to meet your expectations. These don’t have to have much value – or any at all. It just matters that they are valued by your students. I would suggest having a system in place to track points for positive behaviors such as LiveSchool, and I would also like to point you toward our posts concerning classroom rewards for a great resource that can totally transform morale and engagement in your room no matter the age level.
For more strategies you can use with young students you should also check out our elementary classroom management resources. You can also further your research by checking out our list of the best classroom management articles.
Are you looking for more classroom management tips? Check out episode 34 of our podcast.
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