3 Classroom Management Tips for the Beginning of Kindergarten
Boy do I know how challenging the beginning of kindergarten can be! As a kindergarten and first grade looping teacher I have had my fair share of chaotic first days of kindergarten. I will spare you the details, but let’s just say I’ve seen it all from kids hiding under tables, throwing books, and running around the classroom. The first weeks…actually months…are HARD in kindergarten! Here are my five classroom management tips for the beginning of kindergarten to help you get your classroom from chaotic to calm.
Tip #1:
On the morning of the first day of kindergarten I like to stand at the classroom door to greet each student and their family. I am very adamant about not allowing anyone to enter my classroom until they have checked in with me and I have gathered all of the necessary information. This system helps to lessen the chaos and allows for a slow trickle of people into the room instead of a mob of students rushing inside and disrupting the calm. When I greet each student at the door I do the following before I invite them inside:
Clip their name tag to their shirt which includes their first and last name, my name, and their picture label (see tip 2)
Ask what they are having for lunch (cold or hot) and direct them to our lunch bucket if they brought a lunch from home
Ask how they will get home at the end of the day (pick up, bus, or after school care)
Direct them to hang up their backpack on a hook and put their coat in their cubby (labeled with their picture label)
Have another adult inside the classroom help them find their desk and start their morning tub
Tip #2:
At the beginning of kindergarten many of the students in my class cannot yet recognize their name. This proves to make many things challenging such as students finding their cubby, finding their lunch stick, finding their desk…you get the picture. To help kindergarteners learn to recognize their name and to cut down on the chaos of having 25 or more students need help finding all of their things I label each student’s items with their name and a corresponding picture label. I keep these labels on student’s materials throughout the entire year.
Tip #3:
Setting up the classroom is one of the most exciting parts of teaching especially when you get to set out the new crayons, pencils, and glue sticks! However, the years I teach kindergarten I have to contain my excitement and remember to not put out all of the classroom supplies. On the first day of school I only put pencils and crayons at the tables. These are the first supplies that students will use on the first day. Other supplies such as glue sticks and scissors won’t be put out until I’ve had a chance to teach the expectations of how to use each school supply and we are ready to do an activity that requires that supply. I have found that if I put all of the supplies out on day one, many students will be distracted by them. Unsavory behaviors can also arise if students haven’t yet been taught the expectations for how to use each supply such as using scissors to cut things other than paper, rolling the glue sticks up to the very top, or forgetting to snap the lids on the markers all the way.
Click the image to the left to check out my Kindergarten Back to School Bundle in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
If you are gearing up for the beginning of kindergarten and looking for more resources to help you contain the chaos and bring on the calm check out my Kindergarten Back to School bundle filled with reading, writing, math, and classroom management essentials!
-Ashley @ Little Learning Ladybugs
