Ultimate Kindergarten Routines and Procedures List

When we became teachers, we all had dreams of our kids sitting quietly and doing their work.  But before you can even think about teaching content, you need to teach your kindergarteners how to exist in a classroom.  For some of them, this is their first time in a school!  You might feel pressured to start teaching content right away, but the more time you invest teaching routines and procedures at the beginning of the year, the more time you will have to teach content later on.

I’ll never forget my first day in kindergarten when I told my kids, “When I call your name, line up at the door.” I started calling names, and my kids started forming a mob at the door. A literal mob. It took me a second, and then I realized that they had NO CLUE what a line was!

Fast forward a few years, and now I know just how many things I need to teach my kids how to do. The list is ENDLESS. Even if I think they might know how to do something, I teach it anyway. I model it, and we practice, and practice, and practice some more.

The Big Ones

Here are two of the most important routines that I teach my kids right away.

1. Lining Up

Yes, I figured things out after my first year of teaching. Now I teach my kids how to line up at the door when we need to go somewhere. However, over the years, I’ve found a few problems with just “lining up.”

Problem 1: Everyone wants to be called first. You’d think there was some sort of cash reward for being the line leader. Nope, you just get to wait in line longer than everyone else. Congratulations!

Problem 2: Chatty Cathy and Punchy Peter can’t be near each other in line. Let’s be real. There are always a few kids who can’t be near each other if you want to get going within the next hour.

Problem 3: Life is over if Friendly Fiona isn’t near her “BFF.” There’s always one kiddo who EVERYONE wants to be next to in line. That poor kid! S/he just wants to wait quietly in line to go to lunch and everyone is pushing and shoving to stand next to him/her for 2.5 minutes!

Problem 4: No one wants to be last. You call the last person. They refuse to line up. You’re not going anywhere today, friends.

So a few years ago, I started using vinyl line-up dots. I cut them out with my Silhouette Cameo (they’re about 1.5″ x 1.5″) and stick them on the classroom floor.

I use classroom numbers for things like book boxes and pencil pouches, but I don’t put numbers on the dots.  I teach my kids to show me they’re ready to line up by showing me a calm body and a quiet voice.  Once they do that, they get called to line up.  Expectations are consistent, so my students know what to do to get called to line up.

2. The Bathroom

The bathroom is always a tricky situation because every time someone has their hand up, I think they have a brilliant answer to my question! As it turns out, they either…

1. Want to tell me a story about their hamster

or 2. Need to use the bathroom

More than likely, it’s usually the latter. They look so enthusiastic about answering my math problem, and then they’re just asking for permission to go to the bathroom. I have a bathroom in my classroom, so it’s not a huge deal for them to go. But I hated how it was interrupting our lessons.

So a few years ago, I implemented the use of American sign language into our classroom. Now, when a student has to use the bathroom, they just put their hand in the air and do the bathroom sign (shown below, and you shake your hand back and forth).

They say nothing. And I say nothing. I just nod my head “yes,” or shake my head “no.” And it’s finished. I can keep on teaching and no one even realizes that someone asked to use the bathroom!

A Freebie for You

Whether you’re new to teaching or not, take some time to sit down and think of what routines and procedures are important to help your classroom run smoothly, and schedule time to teach, model, and practice those with your kids. The more time you take now, the less you will have to re-teach later!

 

Are you ready to get started? I’ve done all of the work for you! Click here to download my list of routines and procedures and start checking them off!