Setting Up Classroom Rules and Expectations

Setting up classroom rules and expectations is an essential part of everyone's 'Back to School' routine. A classroom environment with clear expectations will help your year run smoothly and save you a lot of headaches!

For the past two years, I have set up my expectations in an explicit way which teaches students the expected behaviours for each. I love this system because I find it's very easy to slip into the trap of throwing phrases around such as 'Please work safely', but do students really know what that means? Unless we teach students how they can demonstrate this behaviour, then we can't expect a change or expect them to demonstrate it.

Here are 3 tips for setting up your classroom expectations;

1. Positively Worded Expectations
Expectations are set up in a positive way in an affirmation format. Positively worded phrases help establish and maintain a positive classroom environment. Rule reminders are easy; "Remember, in our class we listen to each other". I have these hung up on my 'Super Students Wall' for easy reference.

Find this here

2. Explicit Teaching - Teach expected behaviours
For each expectation, I made up a social story, which explicitly explained the ways in which students can demonstrate these expectations. Here's an example from 'We listen to each other'.

Find this here.

Students are given examples of what they need to be doing in order to be listening; they need to wait until someone has finished speaking, look at the person, keep their body still and think about what is being said. While we might think these are basic skills that they should already come to school with, we cannot assume that this is true. Each student is different and comes to school with different experiences. Teach what you want to see!

Here are some examples from the other expectations;

Find the bundle, here.

When introducing these, I focus on one expectation a day. It becomes our behaviour goal and I remind students that I am looking for students who can do it. When I see students demonstrating the behaviour, I give specific feedback e.g. "I like the way you are moving safely by walking to the floor" or "I like the way you are taking turns by giving the toy to _____". Children love praise/acknowledgment and you'll find that other students will start doing the same in order to receive the praise too.

3. Ownership
Giving students ownership is important too. An activity which builds ownership is student booklets.

Students can colour and decorate to make the booklet their own. They can be kept in chair bags, tote trays or book boxes for when they need to be referred back to. Alternatively, they can be taken home to be read and discussed with parents.

I like using these books during reflection time. Ask students "What do you need to be doing?" "What can you do next time?".

These three things should help ensure your classroom runs smoothly. Remember, expectations shouldn't just be a start of the year thing. They should be referred to as often as the need arises. If you want to see something, teach it!

I hope this post has inspired you in setting up your classroom expectations.

If you are interested in the bundle, you can find it here. It includes 7 expectation booklets and 7 student booklets.

Keeping Centers Under Control

Center work happens in my classroom every day. Together, my students and I have been working pretty hard on our routine since the beginning of the year. At this stage of the year, most of my students have grasped the concept of working independently. Though, there are still a few students who need extra guidance. I'm going to share my top 3 tips that have had results :)

#1 - Noise Meter

These have been around for a while but they are very effective!

Here are my two favourites;

Calm Counter - ICT Tools

Bouncy Balls

These tools both work the same way, they use your computer's microphone to pick up on the noise level and the graphics on the screen move depending on how noisy the students are.

I have been using Calm Counter. Students must keep the arrow out of the red zone. This has been a major help in keeping the noise level down during center time. As it is real time, students are provided with instant feedback on how noisy they are. It also means that they can monitor the level themselves rather than have me tell them to work quietly. Win!

There are also apps for iPads and smartphones which can be Air Played but I have not used them yet.

#2 - Good Choices and Poor Choices Sort

 Setting up expected behaviour choices is a must. I created a 'Good Choices' and 'Poor Choices' sorting activity with behaviours I had seen. As a class, we sat down and sorted these behaviours. I then stuck them on a coloured card to make a chart that is now displayed at the front of the room during center time.

I refer to this chart when needed. "What choice were you making? what choice should you be making?"

Check this out at my TPT store by clicking here or clicking on the image below.

#3 - Clip Chart

I know this has become a 'controversial' issue but I still have a clip chart in my room. I use this as a motivational tool.

Before we start our centers, I remind students that I am looking for students who are working hard, making good choices, working quietly, sharing and trying their best. At the end of the session, I go through and praise students and move them up the chart. When praising, I make sure I give specific feedback e.g. "I like the way x, was turning the pages carefully at the reading table". By giving specific feedback, it shows the students that I am watching what they are up to even though it appears that I am busy with my group. At the end of the day, students at the top of the chart are rewarded with Dojo Points. I also make sure to emphasise that those students who didn't move up or moved down still have a chance to move up in the next session. Positivity is key!

You can check out my Clip Chart by clicking here, or by clicking on the image below.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

FLASH FREEBIE!

In celebration of reaching the first TPT milestone, I am offering a Flash Freebie! Click on the picture below to get your own copy.

These are a great visual reminder for "Turn & Talk" times in your classroom. I have these stuck on my mini whiteboard and refer to them all the time.

Enjoy!

Week 3!

This was our 2nd full week of school, and my 1st full week on class. Last week, I was on half days so I could complete the literacy and numeracy assessments. It was a pretty good week...until Friday afternoon. My cat passed away and so understandably, I was pretty upset. I'd had him for 7 years. He was a rescue cat, I adopted him from the storm water drain when he was half kitten/cat. So my plans of blogging and sharing what we had gotten up to, went out the window. I spent the weekend grieving and planning for the week ahead.

So here we go, here is a summary of what happened in Term 1, Week 3!

On Monday, I introduced our behaviour system. Here is what my behaviour wall looks like. You can find the rules and tablet posters in my TPT store.

There are 3 apples; Super Students, Think About It and Teacher's Choice (yes, it's basically a simplified version of the clip chart). Students start the day on "Super Students". I will give a verbal warning. After the warning comes the "Think About It" level. At this point, the student's caterpillar is moved down. I remind them to think about their actions, The next level is "Teacher's Choice". At this point it can go different ways; time in the thinking corner, sent to the supervisor or parent contact. Obviously this depends on what has actually happened. Students can move back up the apples if behaviour improves.

In terms of rewards I have student punch cards.

These cards have 6 boxes. They align with the class rules. If I see students following the class rules, they get a tick. At the moment, 3 ticks = reward card, which aligns with the whole school rewards system.

I also use Class Dojo. 10 points = a raffle ticket. At the end of the week, a name is picked and the student gets to pick from the prize box.

So far this system is going well :)

We continued with our activity rotations. Can already see how settled the students are in working in their groups. The only thing that we need to work on is moving to the next table. Transitions can be pretty tricky!

We also had a discussion about playground rules. I whipped up this 'Playground Rules' reader to help teach safe play in the playground.

This week, we learnt about green, blue, purple and brown. I varied the techniques. We did crayon rubbing, paper chipping, painting and sponge painting.

Monday afternoon was our first whole school assembly. So before we went, I read them my 'Assembly Rules' reader.

I probably seem a little bit obsessed with readers, but I feel that students are more likely to listen and understand if the information is presented to them in a book with visuals rather than me just talking at them. With each page, we stop and discuss WHY.

I was quite proud of my students, they sat up nice and straight and did not talk the whole time, even though it was kind of hot in the hall.

This week, we also did nursery rhymes. We looked at Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill. We covered where to start reading from, directionality and full stops. Now all my students can tell me the name and purpose of a full stop. Almost all of them can now tell me where to start reading from. Yay! for progress!

We did some sequencing as well as word matching. I used these fabulous resources. Click on the pictures to find them on TPT!

In Math, we started learning about 2D shapes. We sorted shapes using multi-attribute blocks. Sorted shapes on the IWB and played Crocodile Hop (which I absolutely love!).

We also started talking about finding shapes in the environment. I found this amazing song on YouTube to introduce the concept. It was a big hit. I had a squiz at their other videos too. This channel is fabulous. A must subscribe for any teacher!

Next week will be a busy week too! We are starting our numbers, letters and sounds programs as well as our 'Me' unit. Now that we are fully settled, it's time to get down to business! I asked my students what they wanted to learn about and they all named a bunch of wild cats. I am thrilled, not just because I am a cat person, but because animals are really interesting to learn about. Have found a nifty way to link it into the 'Me' unit.

That's about it for now :)

Enjoy the week ahead. Happy teaching!

My first week of Kindergarten!

This week was the start of the 2015 school year in Australia.

I was super excited to start the year with my new class. My room is pretty much finished, the only things I need to add are my tote tray labels. Once I have that set up, I can post some pictures of the different areas in my room :)

There is one particular item that I am quite proud of; my class letters. This was a project that I worked on with my mum over the school holidays. She bought me some plain, white letters and we jazzed them up with some paint, paper, rhinestones and stamps.

They sit on the shelf behind my desk. They have been getting a lot of attention from both the students and colleagues :D

The first day flew by. I started off by introducing them to our morning routine (greeting, song and calendar). I made sure to teach them the quick "Good Morning", not that slow "Gooooooood Moooooorning Miss.....".

Once that was done, I introduced them to the activity rotation. Eventually these will be literacy activities/centers, but for now they are fine motor activities. Each table had a different activitiy;

1. Name and Number tracing with dry erase markers
2. Peg Boards
3. Threading Animals
4. Puzzles

I let them roam around to each table. I wanted to see how they would go with the option of free choice. It went smoothly. Each student completed each activity, there weren't any fights over materials and if an activity was full the students would just move to another free spot. This allowed me to spend time with each student and take their photo for the First Day Certificate.

After that, I read them a story; I Am Too Absolutely Small for School by Lauren Child.

I love Charlie and Lola books. They are always a big hit with the students. I think this book fit in perfectly with the first day of school.

By the time I finished the story, it was time to go for a toilet break and start eating lunch. I couldn't believe how quick the morning session went!

After lunch, we did some singing as a whole grade. I am a little rusty with the hand actions that go along with some of the songs! I'm sure I will get better with them as this will be a regular thing :)

Our "first day take home craft" were these super cool First Day of School Crowns made by My Heart Belongs in Kindergarten. Click here to check them out!

It looked awesome seeing all of Kindergarten walk out of the building to greet their parents with these crowns on. I'm sure the parents loved it too! :D

Before home time, we had developmental play. This was a good opportunity for me to see whether the students were interacting with each other or just playing by themselves. It was nice to see that they were all interacting with each other.

I had a great first day, though I was pretty tired by the time I got home. I need to get back in the swing of things!

Day #2 was just as good.

We started off with the morning routine. Then we had a discussion about classroom rules. I introduced one of the most important rules "We listen to each other". We talked about how we listen (Give Me 5) and then I read my Listening book (I like teaching things through stories).

That became our goal for the day, to work on our listening.

Then we moved onto the activity rotations. I wanted to see how they would go by spending 10 minutes at each activity and then moving on. I had put out their name plates before school, so this also served as a test to see if they could recognise their own name.

I just love how awesome these look!

Overall it was a success. I now know who needs a bit of work on name recognition and will be making up some activities to help with that.

The activities were the same as the day before. I explained the routine of having a timer; when the buzzer rings, it is time to stop and listen. Then we had a go at tucking chairs in and moving to the next activity in a calm manner. The timer I used can be found here. Once again, that took up the whole morning session and it was then time to have a toilet break and start eating.

After lunch it was singing, and then we learnt about the colour red. During the activity rotation, I did a quick assessment of colour knowledge. Most students knew all their colours, but there were a few who only knew a few.

We started off by singing two songs; I can Sing a Rainbow and the Colour Song. Then we made a list of things that are red. After that, I made a drag and drop activity on the IWB where students had to sort the red items from the rest. We then did a "Red Apples" paper piecing activity. They came out pretty good and I cannot wait to hang them up on Monday! That took up the time until recess.

We finished off the day with play. I joined in with the cooking corner :)

I had a fantastic first week with Kindy! Am looking forward to the year ahead!