Classroom procedures that are taught well, maintained through high expectations and age-appropriate can make all the difference in a kindergarten classroom.
Here are my favorite ideas on how to keep from pulling your hair out by teaching classroom routines that make sense and just plain work.
Let’s not beat around the bush and pretend that there aren’t a million little things we need to teach at the beginning of kindergarten. Because… there are. But, we also don’t have to be overwhelmed by figuring out how to teach every single one of those things in an over-the-top way that keeps the attention…
Classroom procedures play a huge role in a kindergarten teacher‘s day. Wouldn’t you agree? Here is one of my top tips on how to teach kindergarten classroom procedures for using the bathroom in our classroom. My solution to teach how to properly use the restroom in our classroom on the first day of school (and…
To teach kindergarten to be independent in classroom routines takes a lot of effort. Here is how I used icons to help teach, reinforce, and get kindergartners to be independent with morning and afternoon routines. If you like this concept – you can get icons free to use in your classroom too. Let me start by…
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…
Make an end of day routine for your kindergarten class that finishes the entire day off on a positive note. Here’s how I managed our end of day routine in kindergarten. The end of the day can often be hectic – which is the opposite of how any of us really want to send our kinders home!…
Make a morning routine for your kindergarten class that sets the right tone for the entire day. Here’s how I managed our morning routine in kindergarten. This topic came from a reader: I need help with my schedule- making it flow and starting the day off right. I have 25 kids and it’s my first year…
Wintertime lasts anywhere from October to April for us in Indiana. Needless to say, being prepared as a teacher for winter and winter gear makes my life easier, saves instructional time, and ends up teaching my kinders organizational skills. Here are my sanity-saving tips broken down for you and I’ve included a free printable to…
Collecting papers in kindergarten doesn’t have to cause a headache. Here is my simple way that I collect papers in my classroom that really works. The papers. Oh, the papers. Sometimes it seems as if there is a never-ending influx of papers that sometimes makes a teacher feel like this… Can you relate? I really can’t stand…
When my students would prep their own folders at the end of the day, it involved putting papers into their folders. This means I wasn’t responsible to pass out any papers at all in my classroom. I put the responsibility onto my kinders and they handled it beautifully. Here’s how I set up a paper system…
This is my letter to you, dear first-year kindergarten teacher. Let me start by saying that even though you may be nervous as all get out – if you have excitement for being in kindergarten – then you’ve got this! Of course, there will be challenges, but that is something everyone has to overcome – so…
Things end up on the floor. Always. Every day. It’s a fact of life when you’re doing learning all day long with lots of little bodies and different personalities, learning styles and levels of responsibility. So, what’s a teacher to do with all of those floor-found things? How about NOTHING? That’s right. I highly recommend…
You’d think I like writing about the kindergarten bathroom. Not really. It’s just that using the bathroom during school plays a big part of getting the year off to a good start in kindergarten. I like to teach my expectations of how we use the restroom in our classroom with students through a procedures book…
Classroom jobs for students is a popular way of structuring tasks within a classroom. Kindergarten classroom jobs can take on a life of their own depending upon the teacher, teaching style and school building. What types of jobs should a teacher have in her classroom? Well, I may not be able to answer this exactly…