Positive Behavior Management System for Kindergarten

One of the things I love to do is have my class work together to achieve goals. It builds our classroom community when we're rooting for each other and encouraging each other! I try to make sure that all of my behavior management focuses on the positive rather than the negative behaviors, and my Spud-Tastic Behavior Management System is a culmination of a lot of different things I've done successfully in the classroom, all packaged together into a cohesive system!

First up, is expectations (or "rules"). These have to be phrased positively, and they have to be simple enough to remember! My Spud-Tastic expectations each have a fun visual and are great to use as a positive reminder.

During the first week of school, when we're talking about procedures and expectations every day, I love for my students to be able to share those with their families. This easy reader repeats the rules, and is simple enough for a beginning of the year literacy activity! Once complete, students take it home to read with their families, helping to reinforce those expectations!

 As an additional reminder AND a fun cut & paste/direction-following assessment (😂), this Spud-Tastic craftivity makes a fun bulletin board display too!

We all know that adding music really helps learning stick, so I also have 3 fun piggy-back songs all about Spud-Tastic behavior! I made multiple songs, because if you sing the same song over and over again, kids tend to start tuning it out. With 3 different versions, the songs stay novel, engaging the children for longer. We sing these at the beginning of the day, or during transitions, as a fun movement break that's also a reminder about our expectations! 

Once everyone knows the expectations, then the really fun part starts! This is where you get your teammates and administration to help out with getting your students EXCITED about following the expectations! You see, any time someone gives your class a compliment - for cafeteria behavior, hallway procedures, behaving in assembly etc - your class earns a piece of their Spud! Make sure you ask your coworkers to keep an eye out to see if they can compliment your class!

Now, you can use a Mr. Potato Head toy, or you can use the bulletin board pieces to create a paper Spud. I keep my cards in a can that I've decorated and labeled - Pringles or Crystal Lite cans work well!

After the class receives a compliment, I choose a student to randomly pull a card from the can. Then they get to add that piece to the Spud! We always start with just the body, and then add on. Once the Spud has two arms, two ears, eyes, a nose, mouth, feet and a hat, then its reward time!

I keep the 16 reward cards in another can - this one I bought at the Dollar Tree and then glued on the Spud-Tastic Reward label! All of the rewards are no- to low-cost (easy on teacher budgets!) and only 3 are food rewards. Choose the ones that work for your classroom, and place them in the can. You can either allow a student to randomly select a reward once the Spud is complete OR you can select the reward in advance so that your students know what they're working towards. My rule was the reward might be earned any day of the week, but the prize would be awarded on Friday, just so that I had time to make sure I had the reward material and/or work the time into my schedule!

Of course, sometimes the whole class might not be following the expectations, but you have a couple of students doing the right thing. That's where these bracelets come in! If I see a student doing the right thing, I award them a bracelet to wear and take home! They love wearing bracelets home to show off to their families - and as soon as one child gets a bracelet, it often encourages the rest of the class to follow suit! I have bracelets for each individual expectation, as well as a general "Spud-Tastic" version!

I print these on Astrobright paper (affiliate link) and cut them out in advance. Then I just keep them handy for a moment when I "catch" someone doing the right thing! A simple piece of tape later, and the proud student is now an inspiration to the rest of the class!

I just posted this complete Behavior Management System in my TPT store - and its on sale for 20% during the Site-Wide BTS Sale August 1st and 2nd! If you use the code BTSFRESH, you'll get an additional 5% off when you check out! Check it out here: Spud-Tastic Behavior Management

Building Classroom Community With Kindness

One of the most important components of classroom management is being able to build a sense of classroom community. When your students care about themselves, you and each other, it makes a world of difference in terms of attitude, effort and cooperation! Today I'm sharing some of my best tips for building classroom community by incorporation Kindness into your curriculum!

First up is my Kindness Playlist on youtube. Click the link to find 30+ teacher-approved videos that you can play in class to help teach your students Kindness as well as well as manners, resiliency and honesty! These are great transition activities, or to play during morning meeting!

For example, this episode of "Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?", focuses on the sign language for please and thank you and gives your students the chance to identify scenarios where the alligator is using good manners. The videos in this series are only about 2 minutes long, so they're perfect for Circle Time to introduce different concepts such a taking turns, sharing and being a good sport!

Sesame Street has an Everyday Super Heroes Club with videos, printable badges and more!

You can find the free membership materials here!

One of the things that has really changed my classroom community is instituting this "Saying "I'm Sorry" is the FIRST step" policy. Basically after saying sorry, the child has to ask the person they hurt how they can help them feel better. Sometimes its as simple as giving a hug, sometimes they request that the child not do whatever it was again, sometimes they ask the child to play a new game with them. It empowers the "victim" to decide how they want the other child to make amends! While I never force a child to say "Sorry", when they truly are repentant and want a way to make up with the other child, this works wonders!

Daniel Tiger is a great show for social and emotional skills, and I'll play it during inside recess or if we have lunch in the classroom because so many of the skills are applicable to my kiddos, and give me a quick, singable reminder any time an issue came up - like the one for when a friend doesn't want to play with you, which comes in handy when friends want to branch out and play with other people.

Next up is incorporating Kindness into your literacy block! Here are some of my favorite picture books that teach kindness and other character traits (affiliate links for your convenience) just click on the picture to see it on Amazon. These are great read aloud books that I love to use to teach about being kind and taking responsibility.

Another thing that I use in my classroom are these Kindness & Character Songs & Chants (freebie!) These are also great during your morning meeting or just to start your day with a quick reminder to be kind! Once your students learn them, you'll often hear them singing them during the day - or referring to them during disagreements! Click on the picture to go download them for free!

One of the things that I started last December was a Daily Act of Kindergarten Kindness. It was wonderful! My students were so happy to do sweet things for other classes, our principal and even each other! It truly made a difference in my classroom, and I was disappointed that I had waited until December to start it! Well after that I decided to start our RAKs in September! We start each school year off with a bang by doing a random act of kindness every day! Each of the acts is simple, most don't cost a thing (the few that do are inexpensive!) and require little prep, so they're easy to incorporate into your Back To School lessons! I'm sharing my September 2018 calendar with you all today, so download the calendar for free here: Random Acts of Kindness Calendar for September 2018.

Each morning we talk about our kindness act (RAK) for the day. We discuss what it may look like, how we'll feel and how the recipient might feel. We role play the different interactions, like asking someone new to play at recess, so that my students have the "script" for performing the RAKs - sometimes even the most outgoing and confident students need help opening a conversation! At the end of the day, I take a quick ten minutes to discuss the act of kindness we performed. Students share their individual stories or how they felt about a class act. Then we look at the next day's act so that we can start thinking of ideas for the upcoming RAK! For weekend activities, I try to make the acts of kindness super simple so that the kids can remember and perform them on their own (I also send home the b&w copy of the calendar so parents can help!) On Fridays we review the upcoming weekend's RAKs and discuss how we might accomplish them. For example, on the 14th, I'll make sure to teach my students a couple of jokes so they have some handy for telling to family members the next day! On Monday morning, the students will share if they completed their RAKs and how it made them feel! It truly makes a world of difference when your students are looking for ways to commit random acts of kindness!

And finally, I always taught about Martin Luther King Jr. in January. I think that's too late in the year as well. With the social climate these days, it just makes more sense to talk about these issues at the beginning of the school year as well. My Martin Luther King Jr. Pack has activities that are accessible for our young learners. It teaches the important concepts of changing the world through peace and love and that the change has to start with us.

Here are two of the activities included in the pack, easy for pre-k to 1st graders to understand!

If we start teaching about tolerance, kindness, fairness, honesty, peace and most of all LOVE at the beginning of the school year, we will reap the benefits all year long! I hope you'll be able to take these ideas back to school with you to build your classroom community! If you have tips of your own to share on building classroom community, please rustle up a comment below and share them!

Character Education: Teaching Kindness (FREEBIES)

I wasn't surprised when one of my highest attended sessions at I Teach K this summer was my Kindness Counts! presentation. Let's face it, teaching kindness and other character traits is essential if you want to build a positive classroom community and cut down on the constant interruptions due to discipline issues. Today I'm going to share a few tips and ideas from that session, to help you get your school year off to a positive start!

First up is my Kindness Playlist on youtube. Click the link to find 30+ teacher-approved videos that you can play in class to help teach your students Kindness as well as well as manners, resiliency and honesty!

For example, this episode of "Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?", focuses on the sign language for please and thank you and gives your students the chance to identify scenarios where the alligator is using good manners. The videos in this series are only about 2 minutes long, so they're perfect for Circle Time to introduce different concepts such a taking turns, sharing and being a good sport!

Sesame Street has an Everyday Super Heroes Club with videos, printable badges and more!

You can find the free membership materials here!

One of the things that has really changed my classroom community is instituting this "Saying "I'm Sorry" is the FIRST step" policy. Basically after saying sorry, the child has to ask the person they hurt how they can help them feel better. Sometimes its as simple as giving a hug, sometimes they request that the child not do whatever it was again, sometimes they ask the child to play a new game with them. It empowers the "victim" to decide how they want the other child to make amends! Daniel Tiger is a great show for social and emotional skills, and I'd often play it during inside recess or if we had lunch in the classroom because so many of the skills were applicable to my kiddos, and gave me a quick, singable reminder any time an issue came up - like the one for when a friend doesn't want to play with you which came in handy when friends wanted to branch out and play with other people.

Here are some of my favorite picture books that teach kindness and other character traits (affiliate links for your convenience) just click on the picture to see it on Amazon. These are great read aloud books that I love to use to teach about being kind and taking responsibility.

 

Another thing that I use in my classroom are these Kindness & Character Songs & Chants (freebie!) 

One of the things that I started last December was a Daily Act of Kindergarten Kindness. It was wonderful! My students were so happy to do sweet things for other classes, our principal and even each other! It truly made a difference in my classroom, and I was disappointed that I had waited until December to start it! Well this year I decided to start our RAKs in September! We're going to start the school year off with a bang by doing a random act of kindness every day! Each of the acts is simple, most don't cost a thing (the few that do are inexpensive!) and require little prep, so they're easy to incorporate into your BTS lessons! I'm sharing the calendar with you all today: Random Acts of Kindness Calendar for September 2017.

 

And finally, I always teach about Martin Luther King Jr. in January. I think that's too late in the year as well. With the social climate these days, it just makes more sense to talk about these issues NOW. My Martin Luther King Jr. Pack has activities that are accessible for our young learners. It teaches the important concepts of changing the world through peace and love and that the change has to start with us.

Here are two of the activities included in the pack, easy for pre-k to 1st graders to understand!

 If we start teaching about tolerance, kindness, fairness, honesty, peace and most of all LOVE at the beginning of the school year, we will reap the benefits all year long! I hope you'll be able to take these ideas back to school with you to build your classroom community! If you have tips of your own to share on building classroom community, please rustle up a comment below and share them!

Activities for the First Day of Kindergarten

Fun and simple ideas for the first day of kindergarten

The first day of school can be stressful - for both teachers and students! Here are my tried and true first day of kindergarten activities to make your day go smoothly!

 

The first thing I focus on with my kindergarten students is teaching Routines & Procedures! I cannot stress enough how important it is to take the first 2 weeks of school and devote it solely to teaching Routines & Procedures. This will be the foundation of your whole year. Teach your students what is expected of them and how to function in your classroom and you will reap the benefits ALL YEAR LONG!

But, which procedures should you teach first? Have you heard the saying "Maslow before Bloom"? The first day of kindergarten is when you have to make sure you take care of your students' needs and anxieties so that you can eventually start teaching them. In my experience, almost every  student will come in on the first day of kindergarten WORRIED ABOUT THE SAME 3 THINGS! It will save you so much heartache and hassle if you address those 3 issues FIRST! And the BONUS is that you can turn taking care of these NEEDS into engaging activities for the first day of kindergarten that will make your students happy and comfortable in your classroom!

#1 How do I get home?

When their parents walk out the door on that first day, our students immediately begin stressing about the end of the day! How will their parents find them? At what point will they be able to get out of this place? What happens if their parent forgets or gets lost? What about taking the bus - how will they know which bus or daycare van to board? It is super important to ease that anxiety, and if you start your first mini lesson with "Here's what we're going to do at the end of the day to make sure you get home." I GUARANTEE you will have every one of your students listening raptly!

Now, this doesn't mean that you need a big long lesson about ways to get home. I sing a song about the different ways we go home, and use some felt board pieces as I sing. Then we do a simple pictorial graph where each child colors an icon about the way they get home and adds it to the class graph. Later on in the week we'll continue the lesson with an emergent reader and then we'll create our first Class Book! Tip: make sure parents fill out the going home info at your Back To School Night, so if a child is unsure, you can refer to your list! Here's an example of our "How Do We Go Home?" graph - I always have my students color their picture and write their names on the back before adding it to the graph.

At the end of this first mini lesson, you have your first class graph to display, which you can refer to throughout the week - counting how many students walk home versus ride the bus etc. So you're incorporating your first Math Standards at the same time as alleviating their Number 1 Fear! Later on in the week we'll continue the lesson by having each child color their own emergent reader to take home and read, and then we'll create a class book where every child gets their own page!

  Grab all of these activities in my How Do We Get Home? pack!

#2 Where's the bathroom?

The next thing you'll need to teach, because at this point in the morning it's going to be a NECESSITY, is Bathroom Procedures!  At the beginning of the year, kindergarten students have bladders that are about the same size as a Chihuahua's. As the year goes by, you'll be able to train them to "hold it" for longer periods and to almost go "on schedule" but at the beginning of the year, that potty sees a LOT of use! And of course, to 5 year olds, knowing where the bathroom is and preventing embarrassing accidents, is high on their list of anxieties. 

At this point I quickly go over how we ask to go to the bathroom, what terminology we use (because no one wants to hear "I gotta poop!"), where it is and what we do inside the bathroom - and what we don't do! If you have a single classroom bathroom, your procedures will vary from those who have to walk the entire class down the hall to the bathroom. 

In my class, we talk about closing the door, wiping, flushing, and hand washing. I actually demonstrate our handwashing because it makes me cringe to see children get a handful of soap and then stick their hands under the tap and rinse it all away before they even had a chance to lather up! I created a Handwashing Procedures Pack which includes pocket chart sequencing pieces, a poster to hang by the sink, a printable b&w reader and a cut and paste sequencing sheet. 

 

 # 3 Am I going to get fed?

After you've taken care of their most pressing biological need, its time to focus on their stomachs! Every child wants to know when they will be fed! It's especially important in Title I schools, where some children may not get regular meals at home, to reassure children that you WILL feed them every day. Once you've covered that basic fact, you'll have to go over Cafeteria Procedures because it's a totally different experience than they're used to from eating at home. 99% of your students  have never held a tray in their lives. Don't let the first time be when it's full of food and a milk carton AND they're attempting to walk AND find their seat in the cafeteria! That's just going to lead to disaster (and extra clean up for your custodians!). I have an EDITABLE Cafeteria Procedures FREEBIE for you too!

I play the Cafeteria Procedures powerpoint on my Smartboard and we discuss each slide. If you don't have a Smartboard, print each slide and show them to your students as you discuss the different points. Also, talk with your cafeteria staff beforehand and get a few trays to practice with. Ask if they'll let you do a "dry run" of the salad bar/cafeteria so your students can see it all beforehand. Ask your Special Ed, Speech and Counseling coworkers who aren't yet pulling their students to come down and help out with the first couple of lunch periods. Game Changer Tip: when your students get their lunch trays, lay their milk down on its side rather than standing it upright! We tried it last year and we had fewer dropped trays without that unwieldy milk carton causing issues!

Once you've gotten through these first 3 activities for the first day of kindergarten, it's probably time to teach your students how to line up and walk in the hallway. Don't forget to grab your FREE Line Up Chants - they make lining up a treat! I put mine on a ring and hang them by the door so we can choose a new one periodically - keeping it novel means that your students are more likely to pay attention!

Using these activities for your first day of kindergarten is sure to make your day go smoothly! And chances are, if you can start your school year with a good first day, the rest of your year will follow suit! Being sensitive to student needs is the best way to build good relationships with your students and create a warm and welcoming classroom community!