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Hi, I am a pre-service teacher and I was wondering what classroom management skills I can use when the students are engaging in very active activities? I want them to be able to have fun and be fully enagaged but, I am worried that it may go out of hand or become too rambunctious. Any advice?

Hi,

I am also a pre-service teacher.and I can share some things I have seen from other teachers. From my experiences in the classroom with little ones (Pre-K), it seems like keeping the groups kind of small if you can, or giving the students something to do seems to work, rather than the teacher standing in front of a large group just demonstrating everything. Sometimes this can invite unwanted behavior if someone becomes unfocused. If the students each can have a small job, adding an ingredient, holding a model, just something that gets them involved, and then you can switch the participants out frequently so they know they may get picked next, so pay attention! 

If you are doing physical activity where everyone is active at the same time, be very clear to set up concrete boundaries in the beginning. Such as maybe having those colored dots to stand on, and making sure everyone has enough room to do what is asked without infringing upon someone else, so making sure the environment is conducive to the activity.

Hi,

What is a pre-service teacher?

Teresha Sutton

Hi Tamar,

I found that I have the same issue with classroom management. When it comes to a classroom filled with 20 hyper children, it can be difficult at times to try and keep everything orderly. I found that if you are doing an activity that involves movement in the students, it can help a great deal. Not only are they using their minds but also their bodies! A simple song or dance pertaining to the topic that you want to teach has always helped me! I hope it helps you too!

Hello, my name is Kristine and I am a student in my last year at the University of Northern Iowa.  First and foremost, make sure you have clear, set, expectations for your students.  Let your students know what you expect of them.  How to handle materials, what voice level you want them at, and anything else you expect of them BEFORE you start your lesson.  Reassure them that you want to have fun and want them to learn, but this can only be done if expectations are followed.  Also, let students know what consequences are to follow if expectations are not being followed so they are aware ahead of time of what can and will be done, if they choose to not follow these expectations.  Science is a time where students should explore and learn on a different level and in different aspects.  One last thing.  Make sure you follow through with your expectations and don't have 'empty threats'.  Students need to know that you are serious about expectations and want them to learn and take away as much information as possible. Hope some of this helps.

Hi! I am studying to be at teacher at the University of Northern Iowa. I am currently in a science methods course and we have been learning about science in an early childhood classroom. In Kristine's post above, she provides great information about setting expectations for your students. I agree that students need to have clear expectations in the classroom because it helps them stay on task and keeps the learning at the center of the classroom. One idea that we have been talking about when creating expectations for your students is having the students create the expectations. Students can't make the expectations for every lesson, but they can help set year long expecations for the classroom. Instead of asking students to come up with a set of rules, ask them open ended questions that allow them to start thinking about what they should do classroom and what they shouldn't. Examples of this could be: What should our classroom look like? How should we make our friends feel in our classroom? When students take part in creating the classroom expectations they will mean more to them. When they mean something to them, they will follow the expectations. I hope this helps!

Hi! Im a student at the University of Northern Iowa where I am studying elementary and middle level education. I am in a methods of teaching science course right now and learning about teaching science in early childhood classrooms. I do not yet have my own classroom or my own experience with applying classroom management skills in the science classroom but I have seen some ideas from my field experiences I have had and some things that we have talked about in my classrooms. Making sure that students know that the objects  they are using in there experiements are to be used as tools not toys. This surprisingly helps more than you think it would. Setting expectations is really important as well and making sure the students know what they need to get done and the consequences if they do not get it done or if they are using the tools incorrectly. 

Hey! I am a student and University of Northern Iowa studying Elementary and Middle Level education. I am in a Science methods class and classroom management class currently. In management we talk alot about keeping the students on task and having less distractions. I would reccomened modeling how to use the tools. Make and expain a poster with all the directions of how each tool should be used and what they should be doing during that time. When they know how to use the materials there should not be any missuse of them. Telling them what you should see from them when you walk around lets them know exactly what they need to be doing. Stray away from saying don't throw don't run ect. stray away from the negative directions.  I also reccomened using small groups as you walk around to monitor the class. I hope this helps!