CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

PLANFirst Grade

Morning Time◦ Every morning, students begin their

day with a meeting time. Behavior

objectives for the day are covered

during morning meeting, as well as

greetings, sharing time, and

activities that allow classmates to

build bonds that will strengthen the

community.

◦ Students should be reminded in the

morning about classroom

expectations (Rules), teacher and

students could go over them

together.

Consistent Discipline• One main aspect of classroom management is keeping consistent with

enforcing class rules, which needs to be implemented in the routines

and procedures of the classroom daily. Class rules are a necessity, it's a

good idea to have them collaboratively formed by the students and

the teacher. Student input is very important in establishing classroom

rules. By allowing students to participate in creating their classroom

expectations, students take ownership in their behavior. Teacher and

students can together first brainstorm all of the little rules and ideas they

think should be followed in the classroom. Teacher can then compose

a list based on what her/him and students came up with. Rules should

be simple, and preferably less than 6.

• The rules should be obviously displayed in the classroom. For example,

having a large poster displayed in the classroom stating the basic rules

in the front of the room.

Classroom Rules/Expectations

• Many of the rules that student’s establish, fall

into one of the five expectations below. These

five guiding principles are as follows:

1. Always do your best work.

2. Follow directions immediately.

3. Keep hands and feet to yourself.

4. Be respectful of others, a good listener.

5. Use a quiet voice in the classroom and

hallways.

Procedures and Rules need to be Taught• Start by explaining the

procedure or rule and it’s

purpose. You can include a

handout with the written

procedures. Then, have the

students practice the

procedure, walking them

through each step with

different scenarios. As

students perform the

procedure correctly,

teacher needs to

continually & positively

reinforce the behavior.

Transitions

◦ In order to move safely around the classroom, it will be important for

students to quickly stop what they are doing and listen for directions

when transitioning from one activity to another. Several cues can be

used in the classroom to quickly gain student attention, including: a

repetitive hand clap, an “eyes on me” chant, class, class, class chant,

and a freeze game where students freeze for instructions and melt when

returning to movement. Then teacher will give instructions to follow.

Students will have 30 seconds to transition themselves.

◦ Lining Up- Students will line up next to the door in alphabetical order for

specials. The person with the line leader responsibility will always come to

the front of the line. The door holder will always line up second.

◦ Packing Up/End of the Day Routine- At the end of the day, the students

will get out their agendas and the teacher will record the student’s color

for the day. The teacher will walk around to initial agendas.

Using Attention-Getting Signals◦ Sometimes, first-graders get out of hand, and they don’t even

realize it is happening. Attention-getting signals can be verbal cues,

body cues and even sounds, like a bell, to get the children’s

attention when needed.

◦ These signals make the children stop what they are doing and think

long enough to realize what they need to do or change. For

example, a teacher may sing a little song that indicates it is time to

put materials away and line up at the door. That simple action is far

more effective than yelling out an order. Teachers can use attention

getting signals most effectively by changing them routinely so

students do not get bored with them.

To Get Students' Attention: Hand Signals

◦ Students will learn the sign language signal for restroom, drinking water,

sharpening, etc…. This allows students to quietly show me a sign that

does not overtly disrupt the learning of others when they have to meet

individual needs .

Voice Levels◦ Group Work- Students will already be in a designated group because

of tables or desks. The groups will be assigned to be sure the students

work well together. The students may work at their desks or on the floor

around the room. The groups should compromise and talk using inside

voices. We will read many community building books in the beginning

of the year to emphasize the word

Student Jobs◦ There will be a chart on the wall with jobs such as: line leader, light helper,

paper assistant, door holder, and fire drill assistant etc. Each week the students

will rotate and get a new job.

Creating Positive Relationships

◦we need to create relationships with our students that

motivate them to achieve. It is necessary to establish

consequences, to handle misbehaviors in a way that builds

relationships. The three R’s include ensuring that

consequences are related, reasonable, respectful, and

reliable. Behaving with respect should be a main focus in

the class, and consequences should follow this theme as

well. The consequences need to be reliable and consistent,ensuring that discipline is behavior‐based and not student

based, and positive relationships are still withheld following

misbehavior.

Consequence Strategies:Once class rules have been established, follow “3 R’s," which

are:

◦ Reinforcement – Reinforcement is used to provide positive

feedback and recognize students’ efforts.

◦ Reminding – Reminding is used when students are beginning

to get off task and need a gentle and respectful reminder of

our classroom expectations.

◦ Redirecting – Redirecting is used when a child needs to be

stopped from continuing their current behavior and pointed

in the right direction, as to follow classroom rules and ensure

a safe learning environment for all students.

Consequences◦ If the classroom rules are not followed, the following consequences should take place:

1. First time: Verbal reminder/warning.

At the first sign of a misbehavior the child will be given a verbal warning from teacher. Teacher can record the

warning on an assigned sheet to keep track of warnings during class time.

2. Second time: Reflection/refocus station.

If student continues to break classroom rules, he/she will be sent to the refocus station (a designated corner in the

classroom) to think about their behavior. Student should be left there an adequate amount of time, enough time to

think about his/her mistakes. Often times teachers do not wait long enough and bring students back to their seats too

early. Also, teacher could have the child lose the privilege of using the materials or participating in the class activity

until he/she can demonstrate appropriate behavior.

3. Third time: Teacher Choice: Office referral /counselor referral/loose minutes from recess.

If a student continues to disrupt the class, teacher chooses consequence here. Teacher could send him to counselor,

have him fill out a behavior reflection form during recess, or even send him to the office. At this point, student has

wasted enough class time and shouldn't be allowed to waste anymore time of other students.

4. Fourth time: Parent Contact

If the child returns to class and continues to disrupt the learning environment, a call home will be made to parents at

the end of the day to discuss the student’s behavior.

***If necessary, teachers, parents and child will set up an individual discipline plan to address any challenges your

child is dealing with in the classroom.

Visually displaying students’ positive and negative behaviors

◦ Children in first grade need a visual, even tactile way to show how they are behaving. A classroom management technique that works quite well is a color-coded chart with clothespins. Each child has a clothespin clipped to the chart. All children start the day on green, which means a good day. If the teacher sees a student do something particularly good, that student can move the clip up to blue, which means excellent. If student breaks a classroom rule, he/she will get a different color card with each consequence. These could be counted at the end of week and note sent home to parents, positive or negative.

Rewards for Positive Behavior:

◦ Each day is a new beginning. When children are caught being

good, there will be various individual and group rewards. In the

classroom, you can talk about filling someone’s bucket. You can

pretend that every person has a bucket inside of them that gets

filled when they are kind and treat each other with

respect. When students follow classroom rules, it fills the bucket of

the teacher.

◦ Rewarding students positive behavior is just as important as

having consequences for negative behavior. Students need to

be encouraged continuously. Rewards could be verbal praise or

could be small gifts, coupons, etc… weekly or biweekly.

Individual Rewards

◦ Verbal praise. The student could also receive a “happy note” that goes

home to parents so they can celebrate in their child’s accomplishment.

◦ Sticker rewards could be given to the child.

◦ Pioneer tickets for weekly prize drawings.

◦ Child may choose a special activity or game during a designated center

time.

Group Rewards◦ A group game outside.

◦ A special treat during snack time.

◦ Free choice time (computers, puzzles, games, etc.) during designated center

time.

◦ A class party