Consequences with Kindergarten

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Classroom Discipline Chatboard

Consequences with Kindergarten

by tryingtodobetter

Jun 25, 2011

Hello all! Well I just finished my first year as a Kinder teacher and it was a somewhat crazy year. I like to think that my little experience is what led to this but apparently I did a great job according to my observations. Anyways I am trying really hard to have a smoother running classroom next year and I need some advice. My classroom was monitored by the stoplight system, where if a child misbehaves they move to yellow/red etc. My consequences for being on yellow was silent lunch and for being on red was also silent lunch and a note home to parents. This system seemed to "work" until one of my students parents complained and said they didnt believe this was working for her child...which in all honesty it wasn't. So does anyone have any suggestions on what my consequences should be...? This is what I have come up with so far...the students start off in green, if they misbehave they get a warning, if they misbehave again they move to yellow (silent lunch), if they misbehave yet agai...See More

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Sara On 6/25/11, tryingtodobetter wrote:

This system assumes that consequences work to modify behavior in all children and if only that were true. Some people and some kids are wired differently. Some kids don't have any delay mechanism and what enters their head however fleeting is what they do - they act on every impulse and it's as if they'...See MoreOn 6/25/11, tryingtodobetter wrote:

This system assumes that consequences work to modify behavior in all children and if only that were true. Some people and some kids are wired differently. Some kids don't have any delay mechanism and what enters their head however fleeting is what they do - they act on every impulse and it's as if they're propelled forward by some motor.

Consequences assumes that the child has the ability to stop, remember, reflect and consider the consequences of their action. K children particularly are learning how school works - it's not an automatic process for all of them.

But that the system worked for most of them is the good news. What you're assuming now is that your consequences are the issue - modify the connsequences and the errant child will then modify their behavior. We do a lot of that in society too - we change the conseqences for criminal actions and yet our jails are still full to bursting. The U.S has more people in prison than any country in the world but our crime rates are far from the lowest in the world.

But that doesn't help you. Is it always willful misbehavior as in "I fully know I shouldn't do this and I'm aware of that but I choose to do it anyway"? Or is it issues of childhood - impatience etc.?

Some lessons aren't learned immediately on presentation - I give kids the opportunity to reflect on what they did and together we brainstorm how that happened, what went awry, and what we can do differently the next time around to keep it from happening again. But that's me and what works for me and what you're doing is mostly working for you and that's great.

> So does anyone > have any suggestions on what my consequences should be...? > This is what I have come up with so far...the students > start off in green, if they misbehave they get a warning, > if they misbehave again they move to yellow (silent lunch), > if they misbehave yet again they move to red (they call > their parents and explain what they have been doing in the > classroom), and if they choose to misbehave AGAIN then they > go see the principal. I appreciate all the help! Thanks!

Jun 25, 2011

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Stellaluna Sara has written an excellent response. Read it carefully.

In my class the focus is on problem solving when faced with an issue. You didn't say what the misbehaviors were that you were trying to change. In my experience, kinders are impulsive and most of the time are not trying to misbehave. They are unable to see the consequences of their...See MoreSara has written an excellent response. Read it carefully.

In my class the focus is on problem solving when faced with an issue. You didn't say what the misbehaviors were that you were trying to change. In my experience, kinders are impulsive and most of the time are not trying to misbehave. They are unable to see the consequences of their actions and/or may not know *alternative* ways to act that are more appropriate.

So before there are consequences (what is silent lunch?) you need to ensure that they fully understand behavioral expectations and what those look like (telling them isn't enough)

When someone does something that needs correcting we stop for a moment, I point out the problem and ask if anyone has a suggestion for helping the child make better choices. Once a solution is reached we make sure the offender understands and then thank both the offender and the one who gave the solution for helping us to learn how to work together.

I also won't force children to play with others. I may encourage it in the case of a shy child or outcast... but I have seen that in most cases when there is a child who others don't want to play with it is because that child has not been nice or plays too rough. In that case I may ask why does he/she think the others don't want to play with him (usually... "I don't know") "Go ask and see what they say. Come back and tell me" I love watching the kids in this scenario... these little 5 yr olds are brutally honest and so matter of fact. When the offender hears the reason why..... if it just the other kids being mean then I deal with it... but most of the time they come back and tell me that the other kids don't like something he/she did. "Go ask them what you can do to make it up to them."

In kindergarten it is tough to have a set and consistent plan because the children are so egocentric at this age that they often have NO idea why they are being punished. Instead... work on helping them expand their world view, see things from others' point of view and work to solve the issues they don't like.

Classic example.... how many times does a child complain to you that so and so hit him and you find out later that it was a total accident and the kid was just bumped. I teach my kids to tell the offender that they didn't like getting hit. If it was an accident the offender usually looks surprised. "Oh, I didn't mean to.. sorry"

My rule is if someone tells you that they don't like something you are doing, you need to stop. If you don't THAT'S when a consequence may come in play..... but I try to make the consequence match the situation.

The children aren't allowed to "tell" on someone until they have attempted to solve the problem.

If you want something a bit more structured, there are excellent resources out there. "Time to Teach" is a seminar that has great ideas all put together. First you identify a behaviour you want to see. How to come to the carpet ready to learn, for example. Then you explicitally teach them what this should look like. It takes time. Then you have the kids practice the behavior. If you have an offender.... you give them ONE re-direct that is calm and explicit. "Johnny, I need you to sit on your bottom with your hands folded." Johnny is still rolling around and bugging kids.... you send him out for a re-focus. You need a team teacher to support you. It is NOT a punishment but a chance for the child to re-focus and rejoin the group. If he can't re-focus, then he needs to leave the room.... usually escorted by admin. ...but this RARELY happens. The kids want to be in the room, and the re-focus gives them a chance to reflect and change their behavior. The program is a bit more complicated than that, but that is the general idea.

:)

On 6/25/11, Sara wrote: > On 6/25/11, tryingtodobetter wrote: > > This system assumes that consequences work to modify behavior > in all children and if only that were true. Some people and > some kids are wired differently. Some kids don't have any > delay mechanism and what enters their head however fleeting is > what they do - they act on every impulse and it's as if > they're propelled forward by some motor. > > Consequences assumes that the child has the ability to stop, > remember, reflect and consider the consequences of their > action. K children particularly are learning how school works - > it's not an automatic process for all of them. > > But that the system worked for most of them is the good news. > What you're assuming now is that your consequences are the > issue - modify the connsequences and the errant child will > then modify their behavior. We do a lot of that in society > too - we change the conseqences for criminal actions and yet > our jails are still full to bursting. The U.S has more people > in prison than any country in the world but our crime rates > are far from the lowest in the world. > > But that doesn't help you. Is it always willful misbehavior as > in "I fully know I shouldn't do this and I'm aware of that but > I choose to do it anyway"? Or is it issues of childhood - > impatience etc.? > > Some lessons aren't learned immediately on presentation - I > give kids the opportunity to reflect on what they did and > together we brainstorm how that happened, what went awry, and > what we can do differently the next time around to keep it > from happening again. But that's me and what works for me and > what you're doing is mostly working for you and that's great. > > >> So does anyone >> have any suggestions on what my consequences should be...? >> This is what I have come up with so far...the students >> start off in green, if they misbehave they get a warning, >> if they misbehave again they move to yellow (silent lunch), >> if they misbehave yet again they move to red (they call >> their parents and explain what they have been doing in the >> classroom), and if they choose to misbehave AGAIN then they >> go see the principal. I appreciate all the help! Thanks!

Jun 25, 2011

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Leah Excellent suggestions Sara and Stellaluna!

Other articles that may be of interest are: Rewards in the Classroom, Elementary Classroom Rules and Management, Love and Logic Basics, and Tattling Versus Reporting.

Just click below and on the title of your choice.

Jun 28, 2011

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