TCC Test: Establishing Routines and FREEBIES!

Its been a minute since I've worked with kindergarteners! I forgot just how much work kindergarten teachers do to engrain rituals and routines into students minds and behaviors. The reminder that they build so much of the foundation that we all work off of has made me appreciate kindergarten teachers even more! Throw a kindergarten teacher a hug TODAY!

Two of my little people practicing "Buddy Reading".

Establishing rituals and routines can be tedious but it is an essential part of good classroom management. It needs to happen in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that you do with your students so that they understand expectations and consequences. Lining up, coming to the rug, getting water, using scissors, sliding down the slide, partner work, independent work, blowing noses, and so on and on and on and on, over and over and over again! Oh, it's painful, but the payoff for a few weeks of tedium is a year of peace!

I'm a big fan of the collaborative expectation setting approach. For example, today we are going to use scissors but I think we should make a list of rules to follow while we use them so that we can all be safe. Turn and talk to your partner to create 1 rule you think we should follow to be safe when we use scissors in our classroom. Partners share their rules and I chart them. When the chart is complete I ask what the consequence should be for someone who chooses not to follow the rule. Usually a warning and clip move is the decided upon consequence. The result is a memorable discussion and chart to display and refer to through the year.

After our discussion and expectation setting I give them an activity to practice their new ritual/routine. For the next few weeks, every time we use our scissors, we review the chart before we begin the activity. After that it's typically smooth sailing because the expected behavior has been engrained in their minds and they understand the consequences.

To make establishing these rituals and routines a little easier I'm sharing my anchor charts and activities for cutting and gluing with you for free!