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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Dear New TK and Kindergarten Teachers: Get Them Under Control

When an administrator walks into your classroom he is looking for many things but you can bet your last dollar that your classroom control is what he will notice first. Forget Common Core, Big Idea, Curriculum Maps, room environment, your highly engaging lesson, etc. if the kids are hanging off the ceiling. I hope new teachers are looking around for strategies that might work in their room so they can rock out behavior management. It is crucial. Set the tone now, while you can. Read on and see if this might be a solution!


So mine is a little different than most but I made sure I was using academic language to stay consistent with Common Core. Right? You can put this together in no time but the real work is in modeling this until you feel like screaming. When students are not doing what you expect, refer back to the chart. Ask them, " Are you on task?" " Are you being a learner?" No matter what, expect a five year old to say yes, regardless of what he is doing! Anyhow, this is far more explicit and will be a good management tool if you use it daily.  For very young children you can use a small photo on the end of each clothespin, as well as their name. This will serve as a scaffold for them. It is important for them to recognize their own pin and care about its placement
Allow children to make mistakes and the Oops can be a warning. If  behavior improves move their clothespin or students have nothing to gain by getting back to workand making better choices. Forgive them. Students at this age can be really impulsive and often give little thought to the consequences of their actions. What system do you like to use in your classroom for behavior management? If you like it you can grab it {here} and leave me a comment if you want.


10 comments:

We Teach Like A Rockstar said...

Thanks for the freebie! I love reading your posts!!! Amber ~ Kindergarten Rocks Blog

lorena said...

Hi Fran,

Thank you so much for sharing this. I wanted to try the clip chart this year after years of pulling cards. I agree that you need to be consistent, no matter what behavior management system you use and that our students need to be held accountable for their learning, no matter their age. This definitely is a great one for young learners and ELLs because of the visuals.

Thanks, again!
:)
lorena.

Unknown said...

Thank you very much for the poster. We are implementing PBIS in our Campus.

Amanda said...

Thank-you for this freebie! We have a school-wide behavior plan that we have to follow and students can't "move back up" when they make mistakes. One child is going to have a special system, and I was looking for a clip chart system for him. This is perfect! I'm hoping "the powers that be" will see the benefits of allowing students to move back up.

Amanda
A Very Curious Class

Chrissy said...

Hi, friend! I'm now teaching K in an urban district; I have the chattiest class ever! (well, probably not, but you know how I feel ;-) I'm also using a clip chart that I created, in conjunction with a calendar for the folder that goes home each day. Most parents are very interested in their child's behavior and ability to stay on task.

Do you have a magic potion for the never-ending walk through the hallways, lol?!
:-)Chrissy
ReadWriteSing

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing. I really like the child friendly language and how it is phrased in a positive way.

Unknown said...

Thanks for this chart. I have something like this that I had started to use this year. But it does not have the ability to go back up which I think is so important for - as you say- these impulsive little ones- I do like the oops! They all experience that! Thanks again- 5K in Dallas

The WE in ME said...

Hi, thanks for the freebie, I love it. When I went to print it out it did not print properly. Any suggestions?

Pingles said...

Hi there,

These are so cute, I like the academic language!

marge said...

Thanks for this! I love the idea of going up or down depending on their behavior. I have one in my class now but this looks better. KG Crayons rock!