Behind the Curtain: Behaviour Management in Kindergarten

Behaviour Management is one of those things that, as a teacher, you often do automatically, but today we had a teachable moment. Half of behaviour management is solving the problem before it happens. Because of Remembrance Day, students missed their Gym period this morning. They did an excellent job at listening respectfully during the assembly, but by the afternoon, you could see the energy coming off them in waves.

So we thought that this was a perfect excuse to walk over to Baird Park for some extended outdoor play. The only problem was, they couldn't focus on our safety discussion. Everyone needs lots of chances to make good choices, but as I explained to them, if they couldn't listen in the classroom, it was probably not safe to take the group out into the neighbourhood. Even this appeal to reason didn't work, so I had to tell them that we weren't going after all.

They were quite upset, especially those that had been paying attention, but we have to deal with students as a group (although Ms. Moniz and I do divide and conquer on occasion over shorter distances). Next we talked them out of finding someone to blame fairly quickly because it was clear that it wasn't anyone's fault (it was the group dynamic that needed to shift) and redirected them to centres.

After about 20 minutes of classroom play, I recalled them onto the carpet and made the offer again: Could they listen? Yes. Were they focused? Absolutely.

So off we went to capitalize on the last of the fall sunshine. As a teacher, you want to give kids those happy endings, but my first priority is always their safety.

In the story above, I was worried that if they weren't able to focus, they might not listen when it counted. Getting off the play structure on someone else's timeline isn't highly motivating, after all.

I also want to ensure that students feel safe in that they can trust me to follow through on what I say. I try to be as consistent as possible in my expectations and I feel like those choices pay off in the long term.

Yesterday, for instance, we checked in on our science experiment from Friday. The water absorbing crystals (follow the link for background) had turned to jelly, which was super exciting. Everyone wanted to experience them for themselves. We had to figure out something that was fair and some students needed help understanding what that could look like. Building trust through consistency and logical consequences makes this easier.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten isn't so far from the truth sometimes:

But you aren't really here for the words, I know. Here are some pictures from the past week:

Painting egg carton poppies

 Students wrote Remembrance Day words from our weekly poem on strips and glued poppies next to them. Some were made into a wreath.  

Others were strewn at the bottom of our school display.

We learned how thermometers worked by placing them in hot and cold water. This is an organic extension of the learning in the Doctor's Office:

 Work also continues apace in the Doctor's Office itself:

Writing an eye chart

Looking at X-rays.

Administering to baby

 Water Absorbing Crystals Experiment:

Together we added food colouring and crystals to warm water

Jellies in the water table!

Yours in learning,

Ms. Goegan

P.S. Library is suspended in honour of the Bookfair, but will resume as normal next week, although on a new day due to the long weekend.

P.P.S. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday and Friday. There are a lot of you, so we'll do our best to stick to agreed upon times. Please knock if you are waiting past your time and the door is closed!