Behavior Books!

Hello Kinder Friends,

I have been asked several times to re post this post because the link from Pinterest no longer works. So, here we go again if you need this information. I love books and I was super excited to find some new titles for the coming year.

One of the hottest topics this summer has been classroom management. I have certainly enjoyed seeing and learning from all the great ideas about organizing and getting things ready for a new year. When I think of the term classroom management, my first thought actually is behavior management. 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. One thing I struggled with last year was a friend with a bad case of the...blurts.

In passing I saw this book My Mouth is a Volcano and naturally I thought of...my friend. The case of the blurts that my friend had was pretty disturbing in the beginning of the year. To be honest, sometimes it was difficult to teach because of this issue. My friend was never blurting out disrespectfully and it was never blurting off task. In fact, he was always eager to be learning, constantly engaged, passionate about every single thing in life and just wanted to be involved. All in all, he was a true blessing in my class.

One day I decided to talk to my friend one on one and ask him why he had such a bad case of the blurts. I really just wanted to know what he must be thinking as I redirect his behavior, gave the kindergarten teacher eye or when I paused for him to...stop. He really did not realize he was doing this as much as he was and he really did not know why this was a...big problem. He was so upset when I talked to him, that all he could do was cry. Eventually we were able to talk about this behavior and ways that he could manage himself in a whole group setting and we were all pretty happy!

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 year I am stepping into the classroom.prepared for it all... Take a look at what I have found.