The 2012 Top Post!

Top Post of The Year!

It kind of made me laugh when I realized that a post on behavior books was the top post of the year on my blog. And I am dedicating a new post to it because I actually have found some more books to add to the list. I have read most of them and I am still collecting throughout this year. I started off my year with bucket filling books and activities to build a classroom community like I have the past several years. I have found that this is a great way to start.

This one was my new addition book this year and I might even love it more than the original!

One of my favorite activities that we do with this book is read it and show how you can fill a bucket or spill a bucket.

As we read the story I transfer water from one cup to the other when appropriate in the book. This serves as a good visual when reading.

In our classroom we use a small class bucket that we fill instead of individual buckets. I have found that this is much easier than being responsible for 22 individual buckets. My goal was to build a classroom community so a community bucket is what we fill. Once we earn a marble for our bucket, it stays. We don't take from our bucket because as a group we earned it. When a situation comes up that would be considered a "bucket spiller" as we call it, we talk about it and refer to the book and our class pledge. Once our bucket is filled we celebrate...together! The bucket filling activities have gotten me far with kinder kids but at times you still need just a little more for some of those common behaviors that pop up every now and then. So, here we go with the list...

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. great for teaching that mistakes are ok...and how to learn from mistakes.

I do think there is a lot to be said for planning ahead for behavior... Each year we are faced with different issues and problems but we also see some of the same behaviors year after year.

As I look ahead and think of next year, I wanted to keep this in mind. We all have behaviors that are predictable and repeat with each new year. I've learned to not wait and see if those behaviors appear in August but rather prepare for those common behaviors that usually show up. I wanted to prepare lessons ahead of time and present them to the class. The story time setting is a wonderful place for this to happen especially in a Kindergarten classroom. It is a necessary part of my job to teach and model the appropriate behaviors in different school settings because Kindergarten children may never have had to learn and live with expectations prior to entering into the classroom. I was thrilled to find so many books that cover so many behaviors that most of us see in our classrooms. What I love the most is that these books are empowering to young children and that they come from the standpoint of learning the appropriate behavior. Often times with behavior management systems, this part is missing and the inappropriate behavior might stop temporarily due to the consequence but the appropriate behavior is not taught. So this new year I am stepping into the classroom.prepared for it all... Take a look at what I have found.