Classroom Procedures Book for the End of the Day
When it comes to the beginning of the school year, teaching classroom procedures to kindergarten is extremely important.
Here is how I taught going home procedures using a classroom procedures book or rather, a social story.
Let me tell you why I chose a social story, show you how I taught procedures to get folders ready and give you a copy to make your own end of the day routine book too.
Why a social story?
I like to use social stories the first few weeks of school. It’s almost like they are magic.
Here’s why…
You have to cover all kinds of classroom procedures in kindergarten. And you can’t skip anything. I’m not kidding. You pay for it all year long if you do.
It can be extremely overwhelming though to teach procedures in ways that keeps kindergartners attention that first day of school (and first few).
So, I decided to create a book that could teach procedures for me. A book that were exactly the steps my kinders would take in my room. A book that included pictures of our room.
It was almost a breather to read them our classroom procedures book aloud in a crazy busy day. Okay, if not a breather, at least a chance to sit {wink}
Before the end of the day arrived, I would read them this “How we go home” social story.
It listed out each of the steps in our going home process.
Read more: Classroom procedures for the end of the day >>
The classroom procedures book included pictures of me doing each step.
It also included pictures of me doing one or two incorrect things just to spice up the book and make it interactive.
And it features our classroom routine icons (which you can use for free too).
What to do
I highly encourage you to make your own social story too. It can work magic those first few days of school.
- Read it every day 10-30 minutes before you start your going home procedures.
- Praise students who accomplish steps just like the book explains.
- Redirect students to the book who need help remembering what to do next to see if they can find the solution.
- Give yourself lots of extra time to get it all accomplished. Don’t rush the end of the day.
Be completely engaged and on top of your class when they are actually practicing and trying it.
Set yourself up for smooth afternoons. Put as much energy and focus into getting this part of your day running the way you want that you do.
Your kiddos will do this set of classroom procedures every day no matter what else is scheduled for the school day so don’t skip out on teaching the small stuff.
Like seriously, teach how folders have to be held right side up so that everything doesn’t fall out!
How to teach your end of the day routine
Okay, what do you want your end of the day to look like in April?
- Do you want to be reminding kids to check their cubbies for papers?
- Do you want to be holding up lunchboxes trying to find the owner?
- Do you want to be able to have pleasant conversations with students while the rest are getting themselves ready?
Think about what you want your end of the day to look like in April (many months after being in session) and teach for that.
That is your goal – take this time of teaching end of the day procedures right up front the first 20 days of school to do whatever will help your class get in line with that goal.
Use this type of social story book to help.
See the book
If you love this idea and just want to steal my copy to use in your classroom – you’ve got it!
But the cool thing is, you can make one too.
How to make your own
So, do you want to make your own? I’ve got your back.
Teachers have requested a copy of this for years to make their own version. Now you can!
- Take photos of you doing each set of the routine as you want to teach it AND a couple of photos of you doing the incorrect thing if you want to fix problems before they start.
- Insert your photos into this editable Going Home Procedures Book (you’ll need Google Slides or PowerPoint to edit it). You agree to these terms of use. [downloading help]
- Change the text to match your procedures and to match your expectations.
- Remember: keep the text simple!
- Print double-sided.
I used these fonts for the editable book in case you want them too:
Cover Title: KB Stick to the Plan | Text: ABC Print | [How to install a font]
Make it a class book
Want to extend your classroom procedures book to keep kids working on this procedure longer than the first 2 weeks of school?
Take pictures of your kinders doing each step throughout the first two weeks.
This rewards those students doing the desired behaviors.
Replace your pictures with theirs and place your completed classroom book in your classroom library. But be sure to read it aloud that third week of school once or twice before getting ready to go home.
Let’s wrap it up
There you have it – a social story that helps you teach your end of the day routine in a very kinder-friendly way.
Remember, you could always keep an extra copy in your beginning of the year emergency sub plan folder too – just in case.
Want to see more classroom procedure books? You can check out my classroom bathroom procedures book. I may have been a little dramatic with that one.
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
I had a stash of a few things that only came out for play time.
I had a drawer of dinosaurs, felt boards, baby dolls/board books, a bin of dress up, bin of firefighter dress up/old piece of a garden hose ;), bin of mailman dress up with empty envelopes/cards a visor and satchel. But anything from center time was up for grabs too (once we had procedures down, that is).
At first I picked out what to put out and limited them to just those things but they also had a lot more time to play in the beginning because I built it in. I generally phased it out as a planned thing during the third week of school.
KindergartenWorks what kind of things do you do for playtime if it is even for just a few minutes?
Awesome – I can relate. Taking back control by making it super routine based ban often free you up (at least it did for me) and made it much more enjoyable! I also let them have “play time” if they finished getting ready which was very motivating to some. Even if it was like 3 minutes – it was worth it to them. But we also didn’t earn it as a class if they didn’t handle daily transitions fast enough 😉 (because we literally wouldn’t have enough time in the day) That worked like a charm to get everyone where they were supposed to be on some days! Ha!
Hi Leslie! Thanks for sharing so much great info. I’m just curious what program or app you use to make your classroom procedure stories (bathroom, end of the day). Thanks!
Hi Maggie, I used Microsoft Word (or maybe even Powerpoint one year). I try to keep it simple 😉