Kindergarten Classroom Management Strategies That Work

Teaching kindergarten can be a very challenging assignment, for a variety of reasons. For one, kindergarten is the first school experience for most children. This means it is also the first time that many parents see their own child alongside 25 or more other kids of similar ages.

As a result, in addition to having to overcome the initial big feelings and separation anxiety felt by both the students and the parents, kindergarten teachers spend the year educating parents about a whole host of topics. What does “normal” early childhood development look like? How does the school support early learners who are struggling? What does discipline look like in kindergarten? How does the school balance the need for safety with students’ need to interact physically with their environment and each other? These are just a few of the conversations that will occur throughout the year.

A second major challenge in kindergarten is that the children in any given class will be on a wide spectrum developmentally. Some children will be able to “use their words” to solve problems, while others will be hitting, kicking, and biting. Some children will know to take a break or have a snack if they are feeling tired, while others may throw a tantrum, throw objects, or run away. Kindergarten teachers are placed in the position of determining whether this behavior is part of a typical developmental trajectory or whether these children might require additional support for learning disabilities, autism, and other challenges. Given the wide range of behavioral challenges, here are some suggested approaches to meeting the needs of all learners.

teacher Self-Assessment

Often, when I, as an administrator, am called down to help out with a dysregulated child in a classroom, I am met by a dysregulated educator when I arrive. Of course, it’s normal to occasionally become frustrated or even upset with children over the course of a day. Having said that, learning and modeling self-awareness and self-regulation are essential to managing challenging behaviors in kindergarten. Kindergarten-aged students often pick up on, and are affected by, an adult’s energy and mood. The first step, therefore, is a self-assessment of how your classroom is set up to manage behavior. You may wish to use some of the following reflective prompts:

• How am I using my voice? Do I have gentle, effective ways to get the class’s attention without startling them?
• Are my transitions smooth and communicated in advance to students?
• Are my instructions clear for preliterate early learners?
• Am I requiring students to sit and listen for a period of time that is outside of their developmental level of readiness?
• Does the setup of my room support a calm experience for my students, or is it cluttered, overdecorated and visually overwhelming for some?

Classroom Interventions

Some of the following may help the children in your kindergarten class to better self-regulate and deal with the many transitions that may occur throughout the school day.

Visuals: The use of a visual calendar may help a child get through an activity that they don’t enjoy because they can see that a preferred activity is coming up. The combination of words and text on the calendar can also help with literacy, of course. Post this calendar and review it to start each morning in order to provide your students with a sense of predictability about their day.

Physical activity: Kindergarten learners are naturally active, and they need more opportunities for physical play than older students. A program that starts with lots of sitting, listening, and being still will be a challenge for most children. Build in opportunities for physical activity before the problems start, and reap the rewards of more focus and better-regulated students later on. Physical activity can be as simple as starting the day on the yard, or putting GoNoodle or a similar program up on the interactive whiteboard.

Transitions: Use timers, sound cues such as chimes, and your visual schedule to help students understand that one activity is coming to an end and another one is beginning. No one likes being interrupted in the middle of a fun game or interesting learning activity, but the use of visuals and gentle sounds to provide advance warning of the need to tidy up or change activities can help to make your transitions problem-free.

Calming center: Many kindergarten learners become overwhelmed by the amount of noise and activity in the classroom. Provide a quiet space in the room where students can relax on a beanbag, put on some noise-canceling headphones, or listen to a book on a tablet.

Explicit Teaching of Self-Regulation

There are many excellent programs to help students recognize “how their motor is running.” Providing students with common language around what it feels like to be agitated or dysregulated can eventually lead to conversations around strategies to self-soothe and self-regulate. You might implement a program like Zones of Regulation, which includes color-coded morning and afternoon check-ins, and teach your students that everyone’s moods go up and down over the course of the day. You can then build on this by teaching students to use their breathing, take a drink of water, have a snack, or use other simple techniques when they are starting to feel upset.

Formal Processes

Most kindergarten teachers manage to help their struggling students improve and settle over time. In some cases, of course, a child will need more formal support from your school’s or district’s special education department. A diagnosis of a special need like autism may follow, and this may generate a report with suggestions for how to support the student in their mainstream classroom placement.

In many cases, however, the same interventions are the ones that tend to work for many other “nonidentified” students. The use of visuals and timers, the explicit teaching of social skills, and other approaches are the same teaching techniques that many experienced teachers come to understand as being valuable to most learners. While you await a formal diagnosis, there is of course nothing stopping you from trying any of the suggestions above to support a struggling student.