A Must-Try Kindergarten Behavior System

Are constant behavior interruptions stealing your teaching time and leaving you exhausted? Do you feel like you spend more time managing behaviors than engaging with your lessons? It’s probably time to try a fresh kindergarten behavior system. In this post, I’m going to share a simple but effective classroom reward system that can make your day run much more smoothly.

The Benefits of a Behavior System in Kindergarten

The right behavior system can completely transform your kindergarten classroom, especially one that reinforces positive behavior! There are countless benefits to establishing a behavior management system in kindergarten, including:

• Increase in Positive Behavior: When you start using a behavior system that reinforces positive behavior, you will naturally see an increase in positive behavior choices in your classroom. Students will be more motivated to make good choices when they know their efforts are being noticed and appreciated.
• Decrease in Negative Behavior: As positive behavior increases, negative behaviors will naturally decrease. This is especially true of attention-seeking behavior. 
• Create a Positive Classroom Culture: Focusing on positive behaviors more than the negative can have a huge impact on the overall culture of your classroom. 

A Simple Kindergarten Behavior System You Should Try

Even though we know that behavior management systems can completely transform a kindergarten classroom, they need to be the right systems. They shouldn’t be too complicated, they should be easy to implement, and simple to switch out. 

That’s why my ten-frame reward system is such an excellent option! Here’s how it works:

Step One: Choose a Target Behavior

The first step is to choose the behavior that you want to reward with the behavior system. The reason we watch for positive behavior is that it allows us to focus on the good things our students are doing in the classroom. However, you can still “target” a challenging behavior by rewarding a positive replacement behavior. 

For example, if your chatty class can’t seem to stop calling out during instruction, you could focus on the behavior of raising your hand during class discussions. By targeting this behavior, students will naturally start calling out less. 

Step Two: Select a Reward

Once you’ve decided on the behavior you’d like to target, it’s time to choose the reward that students will be working toward. This reward should be simple to implement so that students don’t have to wait a long time to receive the reward after earning it. (This can have a negative impact on student buy-in!) Simple things like 10 minutes of extra recess or a classroom dance party are always a hit with students!

It’s also important to have a variety of rewards that you can rotate through. This keeps the reward system from getting stale and ensures that students remain motivated.

Step Three: Display the Reward Chart

The next step in this behavior system is to put the reward on display. This is an essential part of setting up an effective behavior system. By keeping the chart front-and-center in the classroom, students will be frequently reminded of the behavior they’re trying to exhibit and the reward they’re trying to earn. 

Displaying the reward chart is also a good reminder for you to be on the lookout for behavior to recognize throughout the day. With all of the things demanding your attention during the kindergarten school day, visual reminders are always helpful! You could even try to place the reward system in a place where you can access it easily during the different parts of your daily routine.

Step Four: Look for Positive Behavior

Once you have your ten-frame reward system prepped and ready to go, it’s time to start rewarding positive behavior! Instead of waiting for the entire class to exhibit the behavior at the same time, be on the lookout for individual students that you can reward for modeling the target behavior. 

When a student earns a reward, they will get to add a token to the ten frame. After the student adds the token to the board, this is a great time to add some math to the mix. You can ask the class how many more tokens they need to earn the reward. This can add some subitizing practice to your daily routine since students will start to identify the number of tokens needed without counting.

Step Five: Reward and Start Again!

Once the ten frame has been filled in, it’s time to celebrate with the whole class reward! Then you can clear off the board and start again with a new target behavior and reward. You can even swap out the theme of the reward system to keep it fresh!

Step Six: Use for Individual Students as Needed

The other thing to consider is that this ten-frame reward system can easily be adapted for use by individual students. If you have a student who is having difficulty with a certain behavior, you can target it with an individual token reward system.

The token board, tokens, and other visuals can easily fit within a folder that travels with the student. This is a great way to ensure that you’re meeting the needs of your students who need a little bit more support with behavior.

Printable Behavior Charts for Kindergarten

If you’re ready to try a new behavior system for your classroom, be sure to check out this set of ten-frame rewards. This bundle includes 15 different themed ten-frame reward charts that you can use as a whole class behavior system or for individual students.

This resource also includes editable cards for rewards and targeted behavior, so you can make sure that this behavior system is effective for your group of students. If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle of reward charts, you can find it in the Teaching Exceptional Kinders shop.

Save This Kindergarten Behavior System

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