Classroom Management in different grades

In my placement, I observe different classrooms from kindergarten to second grade. Since these are the youngest ones, they need a lot of attention, a lot of reminders, as well as a lot of consistency. They are curious so their attention span is incredibly short as well. It was really interesting to see how different teachers approach classroom behavior. What I noticed from all the teachers that I wish to implement in my own classroom is to use songs to either catch their attention or to help them finish tasks. For example, if the students are too noisy and the teacher needs the students to listen to what she has to say, she will start by singing a song and including dance moves that force the students to stop what they're doing and follow along. It is not only fun and catchy for everyone to listen to and follow, but it is an effective method of having the students focus on the teacher. Many teachers also have the students follow the clap routine until they all start following and be quiet. Sometimes, the teachers would yell as well and even the opposite is used when the teacher will just stop, look at the kids, waiting for them to be quiet, and slowly the whole class will stop talking. These are all very useful techniques that all the different teachers have used in the classroom. Understandably, each method is used on different grades and also different classrooms since every classroom has a different dynamic depending on the students and their personalities.

The size of the classrooms ranges from 20 to 28 children. However, the school is unique in that it has different periods where they separate children into classes of language ability. For example, there is a classroom where the students' mother tongues are english and that is only a classroom of 13 children. The classroom size is small because most of the students' mother tongues are obviously french. They are all in the same grade in each class as well. Although it would be easier if the school combined two small classrooms, I respect their decision to keep grades separate because it also provides a smaller teacher to student ratio, thus a more intimate relationship between student and teacher.

All the students are well behaved but as they are young children, they feed off of one's energy and if one student is daring, the rest of them will follow. When this happens, the teachers constantly are reminding the students about the rules and expectations of the students in the classroom and as a form of punishment, will ask the student to change their seat or to not participate in the activity that the rest of the classroom is doing. This is an effective method as well because all students want to participate in the fun activity and want to do so with their friends. When taking away these variables, the student believes he or she will be less excited about the event taking place and be more aware of their actions. With all these different classroom management techniques, I could really tell that the teachers all genuinely care about their students and although they are strict with the kids, they are also loving and helpful.