Throughout both my undergrad and graduate years, professors often times held panels with teachers. A common panel question was "What advise to you have for future teachers?" Without fail, everyone always mentioned something about classroom management, routines, and behavior management plans.
For me, this has been one on the most important aspects of my classroom, even more so than other teachers, because my classroom is so different than most. First off, my students are little. Children can start attending our preschool at 2 years, 9 months. With kids that little it is important to have clear rules and expectations as soon as they walk in the door. My classroom is the very first experience these children have had in a classroom, so that means I have to teach them how to sit at circle, raise their hands, stand in line, and clean up their activities.
Another unique part of my classroom is that I get new students all the time. My small caseload of 8 students at the beginning of the school year has grown into 25, just 4 short months later. As a special education teacher, there are three ways a student can start in my classroom. First, if a child receives services from DDD (Department of Developmental Disability) they transition into my program before their third birthday. Second, if a parent notices a delay in their child, they can bring them in for our Child Find program. If the student qualifies for services they start shortly after their evaluation takes place. The third way a student can enter my classroom is if they have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) from another school district, and they have moved into our district. This means I get new students all the time and sometimes I don't know when they are coming. It has been very important for me to have a strong classroom management system, so that when a new student come in the transition is easier and the expectations are clear.
Literature is always a great way to talk about behaviors with kids. "The Recess Queen" by Alexis O'Neill is one of my favorites. This book is a great way to introduce students to appropriate behaviors and peer interactions. The students love this book and we ended up reading it 3 times during circle time. I was also able to incorporate some fun centers that were based on the book. The most popular centers were action word flash cards using words from the book, an indoor obstacle course, and a sensory table full of sand and small manipulative for a "mini playground".
My picture schedule (made with Board Maker and velcro) has been one of the greatest management tools in my classroom. At the beginning of the year I always had students ask "outside?" or "playground, please?". With this amazing and simple picture schedule the students know exactly what comes next and there are no surprises. At the beginning of the class we go through the schedule together and as we complete activities the students move the pictures over to "finished" side. This has been a great help with transitioning students to therapists throughout the day. I also have an envelope with extra pictures for not-so-common activities, such as if a visitor is coming in or indoor games for rainy days. So, even if the routine changes a little, the students still have plenty of opportunities to prepare for the change.
I never thought that washing hands would be such a big ordeal in preschool. If anything, I thought I would have a difficult time getting my students to wash their hands. In reality, all of my students want to wash their hands, all of the time. If one student goes to wash his hands, all of the students suddenly "need" to wash their hands too. This is great for keeping my classroom germ free, but it was becoming such a distraction. So, enter the "Wash Hands" ticket. I traced a kids hand, cut out a ton of hands, wrote "wash hands" on each one, and had them laminated. Now, students can not wash their hands without a ticket. If they are given a ticket, they take it to the black basket next to the sink and wash their hands. This has also been great for keeping the kids from piling up near the sink area. I can control how many students are at the sink at a time and how often they are washing their hands.
"The Red Dot" has become a life saver for helping my kids to line up. Little ones always seem to start their lines in the most odd places. They are either so close to the door that they could get seriously hurt if the door was opened or are 20 feet away from the door. 3 Red Dots are on my floor, helping my students to line up without being in the way. Their is one leading to the playground, one leading to the classroom next door, and one at the sink.
This has also been an amazing tool for one of my more severe students who also happens to be non-verbal. Before, when he wanted to go outside, he would run. He would run as fast as he could, usually slamming the door in my face. Now, I have taught him that if he is ready to go outside he needs to stand on the red dot and wait for me to walk with him. So far, it has been a great way for him to communicate to me that he is ready in a more appropriate way.
