Effective elementary classroom management is the foundation for happy students and happy teachers! Read on to find out how you can master these universal elementary classroom management strategies today!
If you are a new teacher, I remember how scary the thought of getting your first class can be. Of course it’s super exciting but I remember being so worried that I wouldn’t know how to handle certain behaviors or how to effectively manage my elementary classroom.
In this post, whether you are a new teacher or you’ve been a teacher for a while, you will learn some really great elementary classroom management ideas that you can use in your classroom.
This post is all about elementary classroom management.
The Best Elementary Classroom Management Strategies:
1. Welcoming Classroom
Your elementary classroom setup really is so important. You need to take the time to carefully consider your classroom layout to make sure you are setting your students up for success.
The layout of your tables will obviously depend on the size and shape of your classroom. But be sure to sit in every seat and check that ALL students will have a clear view of the board. If students can’t see you when you’re teaching, they are going to quickly get bored and distracted.
[Related Post: 9 Essential Steps To Complete Your Elementary Classroom Setup]
Make sure you also keep on top of the clutter! An organized classroom sets the right tone for a great learning environment. Clutter and mess can be super distracted and overstimulating for some learners.
Give everything in your classroom a home and teach students how to tidy up after themselves. Label all containers so students know exactly where everything goes. This gives them a sense of ownership of their classroom and keeps the room neat and tidy. Plus, it saves you going round after school tidying up after them – win!
[Related Post: 26 Genius Classroom Organization Hacks Every Teacher Should Know!]
2. Start The Day Right
A positive start to the day sets the right tone for the rest of the day. A great way to do this is to greet your students at the door every day. I always welcome my students by name as they come into the classroom because it shows them that I value them as an individual. Some teachers even give their students an option for a different morning greeting, e.g. a high five or a hug. Doing this will seriously help you build a classroom community quickly.
A great morning routine will also help your students settle quickly into the school day. Make sure your students know exactly what you expect them to bring into the classroom with them and where it needs to go. Having a morning slide with information about lunches, the plan for the day and morning work expectations means students know what to expect. This limits the amount of fuss in the mornings and your kiddos will soon learn what to expect each morning.
3. Positive Behavior Management
The key to elementary classroom management is focusing on the positive and doing your very best to prevent negative behaviors.
I know this can be easier said than done, trust me! But if you are constantly giving your attention to the unwanted behaviors, you will soon feel out of control…it can feel like you’re playing Whac-A-Mole and nobody wants that!! It also means that those students who are always doing the right thing get overlooked which is so sad.
There are three ways you can use positive rewards in your elementary classroom: individual, group and whole class rewards. Here are some ideas for each:
Individual Rewards:
- Certificates are a great way of rewarding individual students who have done something amazing. You could choose a student to reward for different curriculum areas each week or for students showing a particular value they are working on. Parents also love seeing their children come home with a certificate!
- Similarly, you could send one positive email home to a student. I do this once a week after school on a Friday and the students are so excited to find out who got the email each Monday morning, it’s so cute.
- Secret student is another great positive behavior strategy. Basically, you choose a secret student each day and if they have made the right choices, you reveal who the secret student was at the end of the day and they can have a reward. This works really well because you can say things like ‘oh, I’m glad to see my secret student is on task,’ or ‘oh no, my secret student needs to make sure they are showing good listening,’ and the kids all think it could be them! Obviously, if your secret student didn’t earn their reward, I wouldn’t reveal who it was.
Group Rewards:
- My kiddos LOVE earning table points. They can earn table points by working collaboratively, keeping their table tidy or when everyone is on task. I keep a tally on the whiteboard of the points each table has earned and then on Friday afternoon, the winning table gets 15 minutes of choosing time. You could obviously change the reward for something that works for you.
- Some schools have the children split into houses or teams. This can be a great way of building relationships across the school and giving children another sense of belonging. If this is something your school does, use those team points as a positive behavior management tool in your classroom!
Class Rewards:
Have a visual in your classroom so your students can see how many points they have earned and how many more they need to reach the goal. E.g. you could do marbles in a jar or my favourite which is to build Mr Potato Head! Here are some ideas of different rewards you could do…
- Have an extra recess
- Have a movie afternoon
- Bring in a teddy from home for the day
- Having choosing time for the afternoon
- Have a technology afternoon
[Related Post: Positive Classroom Management Strategies To Try Right Now!!]
4. Noise Management
I think we can all agree as elementary teachers that we don’t expect our classes to be silent all the time. There is absolutely a place for talk in the classroom! But we as teachers need to be able to manage the noise levels so it is appropriate for the task.
Try introducing noise levels with your class. This can be a really great visual aide to help your kiddos see how much noise is appropriate. E.g. should they be using whisper voices or an outside voice. You can even add touch lights like this to light up the voice level your kids should be using.
My students absolutely LOVE this interactive website called bouncy balls. Basically, it uses the microphone from your computer and when the noise level gets too high, the balls bounce around the screen. I say that if they can keep the balls at the bottom of the screen for the activity, they can earn a marble in our class reward jar. It works a treat!
Obviously, you know your kiddos. I am thinking back to some of my previous classes and I know that this absolutely would not have worked aha. I think they would have made it a challenge to make the balls bounce as much as possible!!
5. Tattling
Okay, this is an important one! Tattling was a big problem in my classroom at the start of the year. The kids just seemed to love telling tales on each for the tiniest of things! Like ‘so and so didn’t put the pencil back in the pot’ right in the middle of my lesson! Super annoying!
The best place to start is to teach your students the difference between tattling on their friends and telling you something important. A great way to do this is to create an anchor chart with different scenarios on and whether it is something they need to tell the teacher about. For example, someone fell over and cut their knee is definitely something we want our kids to come and tell us! But we don’t really need to know that someone picked their nose and ate it…!
You could also try something like a tattle box where students write down what they want to tell you and put it in the box. This does stop them interrupting you if you are teaching but I honestly found my kiddos would do it just as an excuse to not do their work! For me and my kids, this was a bit of novelty that soon wore off. But hey, it may work great for you!
6. Incorporate Brain Breaks
We expect so much from our kiddos don’t we! After all, they are still so little when you really think about it. Like, yes I know we have lots we need to fit into each day, but we also need to make sure we are giving them plenty of breaks to just switch off for a second.
Adding a brain break between lessons or in the middle of activities can be a great way of preventing some unwanted behaviors from even starting. They give students a chance to get out of their seats and burn off some energy. We like to say it gives them a chance to ‘shake their sillies out!’
You could do anything from mindfulness, to watching a quick video or even a dance workout! You can check out a list of 37 great ideas you can try with your students here.
[Related Post: The Best Brain Breaks: 37 Amazing Ideas Your Students Are Guaranteed To Love!]
7. Hand Signals
Finally, hand signals can be a great elementary classroom classroom management tool. It reduces the amount of talk in the classroom and interruptions to your lessons. Use different hand signals to represent different things your students might need to ask you for. For example, getting a drink or using the bathroom.
You can either make your own or you can check out my ready made ones that you can easily edit here.
This post was all about the best elementary classroom management ideas.
