Creating a Simple Kindergarten Behavior Management System

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Managing behavior in kindergarten can seem like a daunting and complicated task, but simplicity is actually the answer! The most effective tools for kindergarten behavior management are simple, straightforward, and easy to use. In this post, I’m going to share some tips for creating a simple kindergarten behavior management system that will support your students consistently all year long!

Creating a simple kindergarten behavior management system

The Importance of Behavior Management

It is absolutely essential to have a system in place for encouraging positive behavior choices in your classroom. If you wait to deal with behavior until negative choices are made, you will quickly feel burnt out when it comes to your classroom management. 

Instead, a behavior management system that focuses on positive reinforcement will create an environment where students are motivated to make positive choices. I’m going to walk you through the process of setting up a simple behavior management system for kindergarten. It really doesn’t take much time or effort at all to create an effective tool for behavior management in your kindergarten classroom.

How to Create a Simple Kindergarten Behavior Management System

The behavior management system I’m going to share in this post is a whole-group reward system. These incentives are one of the easiest ways to address negative behavior while encouraging positive choices. You can have this up and running in your classroom in just a few steps: 

Step One: Prep the Reward Chart

The first step is to choose a reward chart that you can keep on display in your classroom. The reason it’s so important to keep your behavior management system visible is to remind everyone in the classroom what you’re working toward. Having it on display also reminds you to watch for students who are demonstrating the target behavior. 

A classroom bulletin board with a jar containing snowflake tokens

Whatever you decide to use for your reward chart, plan to use the same format all year long. This makes it much easier to create a routine of rewarding your students for positive behavior choices. It also makes it easier for students to know what is expected of them, since there won’t be a moving target of reward systems with different criteria that change every month.

Step Two: Prep the Tokens

That doesn’t mean your behavior management system needs to look the same all year! Instead, you can prep a variety of different tokens to use with your reward chart all year long. It’s super easy to swap out the tokens that you add to the jar. The format of the behavior management system remains the same, but the change in tokens can add novelty and motivation.

A jar reward chart with a variety of token options

You can switch out the tokens each time the students fill the jar and earn their reward. Your students will be eager to start the process over again so they can see what the next tokens will look like! Since tokens are small, they are easy to prep in advance and tuck them away until you’re ready to use them. 

Step Three: Introduce the Behavior Management System

Once you have the reward chart and tokens ready to go, it’s important to introduce the behavior management system to your students. You can share that they will be working towards a reward as a class by filling up the reward chart with tokens. They earn tokens for the jar by demonstrating the target behavior.

A jar being filled with heart tokens

As I’ve shared in previous posts about whole-class incentives, you don’t have to wait for the entire class to be demonstrating the target behavior at the same time. Instead, identify individual students who are doing a great job and invite them to add a token to the jar. Be sure to explain to the rest of the class what the student was doing to earn the token because they’ll definitely want to take a turn!

Step Four: Swap Out Goals and Rewards as Needed

The key to simplicity in behavior management is adaptability. The behavior management system you use should be able to address a wide variety of behaviors. With the system I’m sharing in this post, it is easy to target specific behaviors that pop up all year long. You can also easily revisit behaviors as needed without changing the format of your system.

Goal and reward visuals for a behavior management system

For example, you can set a goal to walk quietly in the hallway at the beginning of the year, as that is a common challenge for new kindergarten students. After reaching this goal, you set it aside in order to target other behaviors that pop up. However, right before winter break you might notice your students being chatty in the hallway again. You can easily retarget this behavior without creating a whole new behavior management plan. Instead, you just need to swap out the goal!

The same is true with the rewards. You can swap them out as needed in order to keep your students motivated to earn tokens. Student interests change all year long, but you don’t need to switch up the entire behavior management system in order to accommodate those changes. You can easily swap out the rewards to match your students’ current interests.

Printable Behavior Management System for Kindergarten

Would you like to set up a simple kindergarten behavior management system in your classroom? I’ve put together a resource that you and your students will love! This Fill-a-Jar classroom management tool will help you reward positive behavior choices all year long. 

A classroom bulletin board with a jar display containing stars

This resource comes with two different jar options, along with 16 sets of tokens that you can use to fill the jars. It also includes goal and reward pictures so students can clearly see what they are working towards. There are both seasonal and non-seasonal token options, so you can keep your students motivated and on track all year.

If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this printable behavior management system, you can find it in the Teaching Exceptional Kinders shop or on TPT.

Save These Kindergarten Behavior Management Tips

Be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite kindergarten board on on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find this simple behavior management system when you’re looking for ways to streamline your classroom management.

Creating a simple kindergarten behavior management system

Amy