If you’ve been in the classroom for any amount of time you know how important classroom routines and procedures are! They are the foundation for a successful classroom! Maybe you DIDN’T know this when you went into the classroom and now you feel like your classroom is a constant state of chaos! Maybe you don’t know where to begin or how to undo the setup that is already in place in your room. I’ve got some tips and ideas for you that may take some time to implement but will transform your classroom in the long run!
As a young teacher, freshly out of college, I didn’t have routines set up for my personal life, so having routines set up for my classroom was definitely not a thought I was having. I remember one year in particular that was sheer chaos. And I mean that in the worst way. Not the organized kind of chaos that I can handle. I mean, 15 students (all disregulated because my classroom was unstructured), crying, running, dumping out toys and leaving them, etc. This was when I KNEW I had to have a better plan! *Cue setting up important classroom routines and procedures. I could hear the angels singing…Alleluia! Alleluia! Now obviously, the level of chaos that was my classroom was going to take lots of time to turn around, but I was there for it. 1. I needed it. 2. My students needed it.
And yours do too. Head over to this blog post to read about the science of routines for little learners!
Ok, so now, how do we implement these important classroom routines and procedures? What do my students need to have routines and procedures for? Short answer…Anything that they repeatedly do, should have a routine or procedure. Entering the classroom, washing hands, using materials, and so on.
Now, I’m all about action steps so get your paper, and let’s get started!
Before Implementing…
- Download this list of routines and procedures. This is not an extensive list but it will get you started!
- Think through your daily schedule and make a note about where you are going to add these important classroom routines and procedures.
- Decide what the routine or procedure is going to be. What are you going to have your students do every time they enter the classroom? How do you want them to walk in a line? How do you want them to take care of their materials? How do they know when to clean up and how do you want them to clean up? Is this age appropriate? How can I make this easier for my littles to understand? If after weeks of practicing and reviewing you notice that your students aren’t successful the majority of the time (we all have off days)…re-evaluate your system! If it’s just one student, tweak the system in a way that they can be successful but the system still works for you!
For example…One year I had a student who would come in every day and open his lunch immediately and start eating. He wouldn’t just sit and eat however, he would also walk around and try to do the morning activities and leave trash and unfinished food all around. 🙂 Not getting to do this resulted in loud, exhausting, stressful meltdowns. (Nobody wants to start the day like that!)
Getting something from our lunches wasn’t part of our morning routine but we all know, it’s hard to do ANYTHING productive when we are hungry. And also…is it really a big deal if he had a snack when he got to school? No, it’s not. So we adjusted…when he came in, he could choose one thing from his lunch and then we would put the lunch out of sight until it was time for it. Then he had to sit and eat it right then, not go back and forth between activities. He got his snack with guidelines. I didn’t have food and trash all over the place. 🙂
Was it the original routine we set up? No.
Did making this exception for him throw everything off and ruin the morning for everyone? Also no.
How to Implement routines and procedures
Now the hard part…;) Not hard, just will require your patience and consistency! Keep in mind you will need to review and practice these for several days and weeks. Especially because we aren’t only building new routines…we are breaking old habits!
- Find pictures to represent what you want your students to do. Preschool-aged children are still thinking in pictures. These can be pictures that you purchase from tpt or take pictures of your students doing these routines and use those as your visual cues!
- Write introducing, practicing, and reviewing routines and procedures into your lesson plans!
A Routine- Morning Routine
- Day 1. When they walk into the classroom, walk and talk them through the steps of the morning routine. Repeat through day 5.
- Day 6-10 See how they do when they come in, give them reminders when needed…Do you remember what we do when we come into the room? Refer to visuals.
A Procedure-Walking in a line
- Day 1. Teacher shows them, “This is how we line up and walk in a line. Let’s practice.” Teacher tells students to line up, sing hallway song, walk around the room playing follow the leader to practice exactly how to walk in a line. (If you don’t want them talking, don’t let them talk while practicing.)
- Day 2. Students line up toy animals and let the animals show how to walk in a line.
- Day 3. Act out the wrong way to walk in a line.
- Practice and review and review and practice. As it is with learning anything new, students need to practice and review and be reminded about how things should be done. Be patient and be consistent.
I hope these ideas for implementing important classroom routines and procedures were helpful! I would love to hear your ideas about this and your success stories!