Classroom Rules

It's important that children know what their boundaries are without having TO many rules.

In our Pre-k classroom we have three simple rules to follow.

1. Keep yourself safe
2. Keep your friends safe
3. Keep your things safe

We frequently discuss these rules during group discussions and remind the kids what each one means.  If the children are standing on blocks we remind them that they need to make sure they are keeping their things safe.  If they are are running in the classroom, we remind them that they are not keeping themselves safe.  If they are putting their hands on their friends, we remind them they are not keeping their friends safe.  It's important to use similar language when discussing what behaviors the children are showing.

I know its hard but I really try not to say "because I said so" if a child asked why can't I stand on the blocks etc.  By clearly saying because you are not keeping you things safe they understand that they are breaking one of the three rules of the classroom and that the rules are in place to keep them safe. 

A few other good rules for young children include:

Use walking feet inside
Make sure to keep your hands nice
Use your words 

 

Forign Language

Kids are like little sponges and there is no time like the present to teach a anything and everything you can.  Your only limitation is yourself and how much you are willing to teach yourself in order to teach the kids. 

My son is 14 months old and when he wants more of something at meals he used to scream.  When he was younger I started to show him the sign for more while saying the word.  When he repeated the word or the sign I would clap and give him more.  Now he signs more when he wants more without being prompted.  

Easy ASL signs include:

More


Thank you


Please


All done


 (Thank you google images for the sign descriptions)

In our class the kids love to sign the ABC's.  Our one rule is that every student tries every time we practice, and practice really does make perfect.  In no time at all the kids were really starting to grasp the letter formations and were able to keep up with the song! Depending on how into signing your group is you could continue on and teach signs for animals, and other keywords that go with themes in the classroom!

Other easy language skills to teach include counting in other languages.

Our children count 1-10 in english, then spanish, then french.  They love it!

I could go on but the point is that if the children are enjoying themselves and you are willing to be patient and teach some new skills then go for it! The sky is the limit! 

Let the children be the stars of the show!

Attention.  Kids want it, need it and thrive when they get it.  In my experience children love anything that singles them out as the star even if its just for a moment.

During our morning meeting (circle) time we choose two students that have been nice friends, great listeners, and a "bucket filler" all morning.  These students get to sit in the special chairs for all of circle.  The kids LOVE when they are chose to sit in the chairs.  



It might be a song:

Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning Kati
Good Morning, Good Morning
And how are you?

Kati, Kati Jump up and down
Turn all around
Touch the ground
Kati, Kati Jump up and down
Go ( sit down, to snack, go to centers)

Sing hello to Kati, Kati, Kati
Sing hello to Kati
Sing Hello

 tune: Do You Know the Muffin Man
 Do you know this friend of mine
This friend of mine
This friend of mine
Do you know this friend of mine
His/her name is <name>

Yes I know this friend of yours
This friend of yours
This friend of yours
Yes I know this friend of yours
His/her name is <name>

tune: If you're happy and you know it

(Child's name)'s here today, shout hurray!
(Child's name)'s here today, shout hurray!
(Child's name)'s here today, she will learn and laugh and play,
Oh (Child's name)'s here today shout hurray!

Another great way to make the children feel special is to do special activities on specific days.  One that we do is Show n' Share.  We have a specific letter that we are working on every week and so every Tuesday we have a Show n' Share with that letter before lunch.  We call each child and they make a big deal going to their cubbies and hiding their show n' share behind their backs before proudly displaying it to their classmates.  Its a great way to make them feel special while reviewing words that start with the letter of the week! 

Wall Displays!

Wall Displays are my favorite part of walking into any classroom.  The best rooms are the ones that are full of color, have work that showcases the child's ability, and of course have symmetrical and visually appealing wall displays!

Here we go there are a lot of wall displays we frequently change our artwork!

Theme: KINGS, QUEENS, AND FAIRY TALES

 

For the kings, queens and fairy tales theme we wanted to ask an open ended question to illicit a creative and thoughtful response.  When asking an open ended question it's important that the question isn't to specific or to broad. 

Theme: OCTOBER 




 
 I just think this is amazing.  My co-teacher is ridiculously talented! I am lucky to work with two very creative, motivated and talented teachers :)

Positive Reinforcement!

The goal of positive reinforcement is to change undesired behaviors by positively reinforcing the good ones.  This could be with a high five, a smile, a sticker, a hug, clapping etc.  It doesn't have to be a physical reward and you can definitely get creative with this.

This is our current behavior plan:



We started by reading the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Basically the premise of the book is that everyone in the world has an invisible bucket that needs to be filled up with good thoughts.  You can fill a bucket by being a good friend, using your manners, using kind words or any other kind gesture.


After we read the story we had each of the children create their own bucket:




and then we made a collaborative class list how each child can fill and dip into each others buckets:





We then purchased a silver bucket that mirrored the appearance of the one in the story, drew a face on it and started a "good thought bucket" of our own.   Whenever the kids are "caught" filling a bucket they are asked to add a good thought in the bucket.  Our "good thought" is a pom- pom that we keep in a bucket nearby.  Your good thought could be anything! This is awesome because you can really focus on the desired behaviors that the kids are struggling with! This week for us we are working on manners, covering our mouths so we don't spread germs, and sharing with our friends.  When the kids dip into each others buckets with tattling, invading personal space (popping each others bubbles) or any other behavior that is not desired they have to take a good thought OUT of the bucket.








As a class we chose a goal (10 good thoughts) and a reward (a bike day, where all the kids can bring their bikes to school and can ride them during outside recess time).  If 10 becomes to easy then you can re-negotiate the terms.

Behavior Management Plan: 

I created this behavior chart to map behavior for children in need of special attention to what time of the day certain behaviors are exhibited.  It is not something that is necessary for all of the children but a good back up plan if nothing else is working.  After each time interval has passed I call the child over and discuss their behavior and what we have added to the sheet for that activity.  This way the child is aware of what their parents will be reading and is held accountable for his/her actions.  If the child recieves a number higher than 5 they are given a sticker to put on the chart next to that activity. 

My favorite...BULLETIN BOARDS!

This will not only include bulletin boards but also cubby tags, and door displays.  One of my big things is that everything is visually appealing.  I love symmetry and walking into a classroom filled with student artwork, color and creativity.  I will also be updating this one frequently as our door, bulletin boards and cubby tags change monthly!

September!!

Everyone month two bulletin boards get done, one for inside the classroom and one for outside the classroom and should flow with the theme of the month.  September was obviously Back to School themed as the boards reflect.  Lets also pretend that my ABC blocks go in the correct order instead of CAB..my bad.

 

Above the lockers tags are also created to identify an individual space for each child to call their own.  These tags should also reflect theme.  These two style tags alternated from cubby to cubby.

These are the tags that go above their cubbies on the cabinets for their nap things.  They aren't really necessary but clearly I still feel they are necessary.. :)

Here is a picture of the overall look of the cubbies with their tags directly about their cubbies and the cabinet tags!

This is the door display for September with the necessary corny catch phrase of "Pre-K is the Place to Be!" It's important when creating a door display that it is very visually appealing and welcoming as it is the first thing that parents see in the morning as they walk into the room :)

October!! 

On the second bulletin board the two blank green pieces of paper are designated for our weekly curriculum and our daily sheet.

This is the door to our room all decked out for Halloween! Pre-K is doing the Monster Mash! :)
  

Writing, writing, and more writing!

Lets get writing!! Writing journals are one of those things that kids love to hate.  Its hard work practicing letters and numbers over and over again, tracing those little dotted lines repeatedly.  Fortunately it all pays off the day that they figure it out and write their names all on their own! I am going to post pictures over the next year of journal pages that our kids do that are all created with stamps and hand/finger prints.  Just an fyi these journal pages are not in alphabetical order as they go from the easiest letters to form to the hardest.  My co-teacher scours the internet for ideas for these hand print animals for journals.  Once she finds an idea she changes it and adjusts until its what she wants and they are always creative and awesome!

Letter of the Week- Ff

For this first journal we had the children paint their hands pink not including the thumb.  Their hands were stamped down onto the paper for the body of the flamingo.  Next their index fingers were painted then they were asked to bend their finger and stamp it down for the neck.  Last they did the side of their index fingers twice for the legs and the tip of the pinky black for the nose! They only practice the letter Ff on this journal and their name is dotted out for them on the bottom so they can trace that as well!

Letter of the Week- Ee

For this journal the children were asked to create Enormous Elephants for the letter Ee.  For the head of the elephant we painted the children's knuckles grey and stamped their knuckles onto the page.  For the ears we did a thumb print on each side, for the trunk the side of the index finger and lastly painted their pinky pink for the inner ear.   

 

Letter of the week- Dd

For the letter Dd we made Dreadful Dragons.  All of the Dd's are dotted for the kids to trace as well as the D e f and d in Dreadful dragon since the kids have already learned those two letters this school year.  To create the dragons, the head is their thumb print straight forward and then another turned to the side.  The main body of the dragon is a pyramid of index finger prints and then the pinky is used to create the neck and tail as well as the orange spikes and feet.  The kids loved making dragons and got to practice D's at the same time! 

Review Week: 

This was a review week for our letters Dd Ee Ff. They had to practice each letter and then they were able to choose a stamp that started with each of those letters; Fish, Elephant, Dog.  

 

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 Letter of the Week: Pp

This week we made Plump piggies. To create the pigs the children first stamped a pink circle (twice) then did the ears and the feet with the index finger print and then drew the curly tail on with a pink marker. 

Letter of the Week- Rr:

This weeks letter is R! The children made Ripe red raspberries.  The children first drew their vines in green and then using their index finger printed 9 prints to form a raspberry.  

Letter of the Week- Bb:  
This week we made Buck tooth beavers! To create the beavers the children used a circle stamp that was only the outer ring of the circle.  Using the side of their pinkies they made two prints for the beaver teeth an then used the tip of their pinkies to create the ears.  After the beavers were dry the children drew in the whiskers and added the googly eyes. 

Review Week: 
This week we reviewed letters P, B and R.  We had them practice each letter a few times and then chose the pig, the butterfly, and the rabbit for the children to stamp. 

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Letter of the Week- Mm:  
This week we made Magnificent Monarch's.  To create these monarchs we painted the border of the children's hands black and the middle orange. The head of the monarch is a thumb print and then after they were dry the children added the antennae and the googly eyes.  

 

Letter of the Week- Hh:  
This week we made Heckling Hens.  We started by painting the children's hands brown and stamped it with the thumb up.  We then used their index finger for the feet, the nose, and the head, with orange and red paint.  Once they were dry we added one googly eye. 

 

Letter of the Week- Nn: 
This week we made Nosey Narwhals.  To create the narwhals we painted their hands, excluding their thumbs blue and stamped them on the paper.  We used the side of their hand for the horn and added the googly eye once it was dry.  

Review Week:
For this week's review the children practiced writing their M's, N's and H's.  After writing each letter 5 times each they stamped a necklace, mouse and house and were asked which letter each stamp started with.