Behave yourself!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business to give you the scoop on how I try to tame those wild things that roar their terrible roars, gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes, and show their terrible claws.  You know, the kindergartners.  I love it when the intermediate teachers are all, "You couldn't pay me enough to deal with snotty noses and accidents all day."  Because I'm thinking, "You couldn't pay me enough to deal with snotty attitudes and 10 year olds who have yet to discover the wonders of deodorant."  To each their own.  And kindergarten is definitely one of my favorites.  I teach kindergarten, first, AND second grade.  So like Hannah Montana, I get the best of both worlds: the sweet little people and the more independent, but still sweet bigger little people.

My first year I was pretty lucky with the kindergarten crew that came in.  Most had been to preschool and while they still needed some reminders, they weren't bouncing off the walls or using their glue sticks as lip gloss.  My second year, the new kindergartners were more like first graders.  It was a total dream.  They could have fun and still follow my rules at the same time.  It was truly beautiful.  This year I feel like I run a three ring circus most days.  {But I like to think it's the greatest show on earth.}  I had to teach them how to be students before I could teach them anything else.  It was rough for a while-and still is every now and then.  But I'm on my way to having them tamed.

One thing that my team uses that really helps is this behavior chart:

Our kiddos rotate classes throughout the day.  They keep this chart in their folders and mark it at the end of each class.  If they have a straight or sad face, we write what rule they broke so their parents know what went down.  This gives us a chance to have a little chat and try to get them back on the right track.  Parents sign it each night and return it to school the next day.  This has been a great visual for our kids, as well as a way to remind them that even though they decided to hit their neighbor in my room, they could still turn it around and get a smiley face later in the day.  We love it.  The kids love it.  And the parents love it.  Win-win-win.

Oh!  One more tidbit!  One day, completely out of desperation and frustration, I managed to find the most brilliant, wonderful, amazing solution for those kids who consistently win the Non Sequitur Award.  It even works with the Notorious B.L.U.R.T.:

Unifix cubes.

Seriously.  One day I was nearing the end of my rope with one little guy and I gave him a stack of 5 and whenever he said something off the wall, I took one.  The leftovers earned him a treat.  I still do this occasionally with my story tellers and major blurters.  They respond pretty well to it.  I give them a stack of 5 and at the end of class, however many they have left is either worth money for our classroom economy or minutes to tell me a story.  They quickly realize it's much more fun to have the money or a private conversation with me than it is to blurt out and interrupt my ever so brilliant instruction.

I hope all of you kindergarten teachers out there will link up with Mrs. Miner!  I would love to hear about your behavior management systems.  Because who knows...I could walk in tomorrow and need to come up with a totally different game plan.  Oh, the children.  They like to keep me on my toes. 

Bravo!

The past couple of years, I have been dying to use Bucket Fillers in my classroom...I just haven't been able to find a practical way to make it work with three different classes of kiddos who move around all day! 

Until the other day at a district training when I saw one of my old high school teachers and was reminded of something she did in her classroom.  She called it "Bravos".  She kept a bucket and some slips of paper in the back of the room and anytime we saw someone do something awesome, we could write them a Bravo.  This could be done anonymously or we could sign our name.  Some were serious, some were funny, but they were all full of warm fuzzies.  Each Friday before the bell rang, she would spend about five minutes reading all the Bravos for the week.  Even in high school I knew I was going to be a teacher, and I LOVED the idea.  I don't know how it ever escaped me!  (I should have written it down...)

Soooo....I spent some time today making my own Bravos buckets for each of my classes!  I made a little sign and printed it on colored cardstock that corresponds with that grade's color (we have a different color for each grade for materials management purposes).  Here's the sign:

I also made little slips of paper for my students to write their Bravos on. 

I hope the kids get into it!  I think I'm going to suggest it to our principal to use during staff meetings too!  I notice so many other teachers doing neat things that I then incorporate into my classroom, but sometimes I forget to give them proper credit or thanks!



Behave yourself!

I am lucky enough to team teach with two fabulous women.  We divide and conquer about 80 primary children each day.  I teach all of the math, and the other two each teach reading and writing.  We start out with the kids in kindergarten and get to see them grow all the way through second grade, which is my "homeroom".  I absolutely love teaching this way and can't imagine keeping the same students all day long!  (Yes, even our little kindergarten friends switch classes like middle and high schoolers! And they ROCK at it.)

When teaching this way, you have to work very closely with your teammates to ensure consistency when it comes to behavior management.  Otherwise, things get CRAZY.  FAST.  We spend a day each summer going over our procedures and expectations to make sure we are as consistent as possible within our three classrooms.  All of us use CHAMPS (am I the only one reminding strangers in the movie theater to check their conversation level?!) and have the same consequences for not following the CHAMPS chart. 

Last summer, we created behavior charts for our little friends to carry in their folder from class to class.  It lists all three classes and has a space for each teacher to note the student's behavior in that class.  Students are allowed to color in their smiley face if they are a champ during that class.  But if they receive a behavior mark for not following the CHAMPS chart, we fill out their chart and write their infraction for parents to see.  This is sent home nightly and parents are required to sign it.  This had such a positive impact on our behavior management!  Students were able to see that even though they slipped up in one class, they still had a chance to get a smiley face in the next class.  It also allowed us to conference with students as we filled out their charts.  We would encourage them to make better choices and offer suggestions for how they should behave differently next time.  We saw amazing improvements in some of our friends over the course of the year!

I don't know if any of you departmentalize, but I thought I would share what works so well for my team!  Maybe you will find it useful too!  Behavior Choices (I'm sooo new to this--there has to be a better way to post than Google docs...please tell me!!)