Positive Behavior Management for Preschool, Kindergarten, First Grade and Special Needs Children

The power of positive praise 

One of the most effective and easiest tools you have is positive reinforcement.  Many of the young children that are misbehaving are doing it for attention.  Praise all the children doing the right thing, and praise them often.  Make a big deal of those doing the right thing, and whenever possible ignore the negative behavior.

Some ideas for individual praise for the children doing the right thing:

·      Go down the line and give a “High five” for everyone sitting quietly.

·      Give a “knuckle bump”

·      A simple stamp on the back of the hand is another quick reinforce a simple shape stamp ½” or so works well.  Choose something that the ones that are your usual offenders are interested in (such as a car or train). Add an element of fun by say “bam” each time they get a stamp.

·      Give everyone a sticker .  It may help to have a sheet with stickers taped on the wall.  When you catch someone doing the right thing, ask them to go pick a sticker and then come back to the group.  As the children learn to do this, they are able to do it independently so that is does not interrupt the flow of the lesson or activity.

·      Give compliments “I like the way Johnny has his hands in his lap”, “I like the way Susie is sitting quietly and watching me”.

·      Thumbs up and a smile or a wink

Some ideas for group praise when everyone is doing the right thing.

·      Hip Hip Hooray (“Wow! Everyone is doing the right thing, Let’s do a hip hip hooray”  Have the class say it together and punch the air)

·      Class treat: Have a clear jar where you put in marbles, pompoms (Little seasonal toys such as tiny pumpkins, Christmas  balls etc.).  When the jar gets full the class gets a treat.  This could be 10 minutes watching nursery rhymes on youtube, doing a favorite music/dance, a special food treat, playing with playdoh for 20 minutes.  Whatever the treat is, make sure you don’t do this same activity at other times, it must only be used as a reward to the class.  For preschool kids, I would have the amount that they need to get a treat attainable every day, or by every 3^rd day at the very most.

·      Class cheers-use a variety of cheers . See color and black and white Cheer Cards for some fun and motivating ideas

When using positive rewards, make an effort to do it quickly and often.   Using multiple methods throughout the day