Wait for the Chimes!

In the classroom I work in, things run so smoothly, thanks to a little creativity from the teacher.  She has downloaded fun songs and sounds on her computer and has set them each to go off at a certain time each day, indicating to the kids when to clean up and get ready for the next activity.

For example, each morning at 9:30 the kids hear the song, "I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas...."  This means that its snack time!  Then at 9:40 they hear "5 little ducks went out to play..." and they know its time to clean up and go line up for recess. 

When its time to change from one learning center to another, they hear little bells, or funny noises like a rubber ducky squeaking.  This is so helpful to these kindergartners!  They enjoy singing the songs as they clean up, and they know that they need to be all done cleaning by the time the song is over.  This is great for the teacher, because she doesn't have to constantly remind the kids what to do!  They hear the sound or song and they KNOW! :)

Classroom rules include, no tattling unless you are getting hurt, no bullying, raising your hand before you speak, only getting drinks and going to the bathroom during recess, walking in the halls, and listening when the teacher is talking.

The teacher has many different ways of enforcing these rules.  She has a behavior chart with four color blocks on them: blue, green, yellow and red.  Each student has a clothes pin with their name on it.  Everyday the kids pins start on green.  If they are being extra good that day, the teacher will tell them to move their pin to blue (which means at the end of the day they get a small reward from the treasure chest.)  If a students breaks class rules, they are asked to move their pin to yellow.  That is a warning.  If their behavior still doesn't improve they are moved to red, and they lose a privilege, like recess. 

The teacher also has pieces of a puzzle that she puts up when the class as a whole is doing well, and once all of the pieces are up, they get a class party!

It works well and the students all respect the system.  Its great!