Today I am so excited to talk about one of my favorite topics:CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT!

I have said it before, classroom management was something I worked REALLY hard on over the years. One year I had the worst year of my life when it came to teaching and I vowed to never let it happen again. That summer was spent researching strategies. There were trial and errors after that, I feel like my next years were the best after implementing my strategies.

I think I can thank Ron Clark for that! I used a lot of this methods and let me tell you. THEY WORK.

Here is what I did to create a great classroom management plan:

1. On the first day of school I send home a copy of his Essential 55 rules (affiliate link).

I add my own little alterations to this and cross out what is not age specific and try to make it look fun. I let the parents know that it looks daunting but we ALL are going to follow these rules. Parents and myself included. During my meet and greet I let them know that I am a huge supporter of good manners. Good manners make good listeners which in turn makes good learners. I feel like I sound soooo strict at the beginning of the year. Trust me, things ease up!

With these rules come some serious manners. If you walk in to my classroom, we are loud but focused and you will always, always be greeted at the door by one of my students who will shake your hand and welcome you to our classroom. It works wonders, I promise. And when your admin catches sight of it? You will be so proud. The first through fifth grade teachers actually send their students to my class if they need a review of rules. If I used these in KINDERGARTEN I am pretty sure you can use them anywhere.

2. Create the sense of family.

I have a mini lesson on how we treat our family at home. Would we stick up for them? How would we feel if a family member was hurt? Etc. I would let them know that while we are at school, we are FAMILY. This is how we should treat one another. Over the first couple of weeks I remind them “would we do this to our family?” if there are any missteps.

3. Behavior Charts: Do you or Don’t you???

There happens to be a big movement on getting rid of behavior charts (I even attended a training on it) but I truly believe it depends on the kiddos you have in your class. Three years ago I didn’t need them. I had behavior issues but working together one on one worked very well. Two years ago when I tried this, it just didn’t work. I had a very visual group so I put my behavior chart back up. Seeing the “goal” of being on green helped tremendously. This is the chart I use in my classroom:

You can purchase this from Really Good Stuff

I pair these with my behavior calendars:

I would let the kiddos choose something from my treasure box if they finished the whole month on green. Don’t have a treasure box? You could get creative with this! Award them with a special activity. Let them work wherever they want in the classroom, sit at your desk for the day, eat lunch with you…. the list could go on and on!

There is a place to leave notes on the behavior charts and I used this as a quick communication tool with parents.

4. Have patience

Just giving kiddos a set of rules isn’t going to make everything fine and dandy. It is something you need to work really hard at the first few weeks. It always works for me to be very strict at the beginning to let the kiddos (and parents) that I am serious about rules and manners. Once things start to settle and the kiddos get a good grasp, I ease up a lot. It is just something that has worked really well for me over the years.

If you have any specific questions on how I implemented certain things, feel free to leave me a comment! Or send me an email! I would love to chat 🙂