Positive reinforcement is the form of behavior management that is used in our classroom. The children will participate in an activity that encourages cooperation and student accountability. The students become partners in the classroom rule making process. This gives them ownership of the rules, which I find to be a very successful classroom management technique. The basic rules in the kindergarten are as follows:
1. Listening eyes and ears
2. Quiet Voices
3. Be Kind to Others and Their Property
4. Keep Your Hands and Feet to Yourself.
5. Stay in Your Seat
Positive reinforcement encourages desired behavior in the classroom which will follow them into other areas of their lives. The children will not only be striving to be good learners, but also good citizens. The students learn many important lessons from their classroom experience. The most important is that when they work hard, they earn rewards. The children are given the opportunity to earn good behavior bucks. They earn these by completing given work, following class and school rules, and by being a good classmate. The children then are given the opportunity to use their bucks to buy prizes from the treasure chest.
I strive to teach the children to monitor their own behavior and be accountable for their actions. A stop light is used in the classroom to achieve this. Each student has a small clothespin with their name on it. Each day begins with all of the clothespins in a basket. If a student does something inappropriate they are given a verbal warning. They second warning results in the child moving their pin to green. Each color on the stop light has a meaning.
· Green=Second warning.
· Yellow=Time out and/or redirection to another activity.
· Red=Time out and/or redirection to another activity, and notification of parents.
Please review these rules, rewards and consequences with your child. Good behavior is essential to a positive learning environment for all children! When all students are aware of and follow the rules, our classroom will be a happy and productive place!
Thanks for your cooperation!
