Back to school kindergarten routines can be overwhelming! Students come in and they literally have to learn everything! While there are so many things to teach, and they can take a while to model and teach, it is so worth it! Spending the time to teach all of these routines now will save you time later and keep you from having to reteach them all year long!
Back to School: Kindergarten Schedule
Some of the first back to school kindergarten routines I teach have to do with the schedule. Teaching students the flow of the day saves you from the constant “what are we doing next?” and also helps you understand what is happening as well! Having a visual schedule up in the classroom helps students power through less preferred tasks because they can see when something they love comes up and also helps them understand when they are getting closer to home if they are missing their families.
I put my visual schedule on magnets and move things to the side as we have completed them so it is easy for my students to quickly see what they have done and what they have left. This is also helpful for my students with special needs because they can see how many more tasks they have left instead of the abstract “2 more hours” or “at 12:00” that we can use as adults.
Some of the specific schedule routines I teach include the general flow of the day, how to transition from whole group carpet activities to seat work, transitions between centers, and transitions between areas of the school. Students have to know expectations for how to walk in the hallway, how to behave in the cafeteria at lunch, during specials with other teachers, on the playground for recess, and more.
They also have to know the expectations for all parts of their academic schedule such as how to act during teacher read alouds and direct instruction vs. during their independent work or small group work. There are so many back to school kindergarten schedule routines to teach!
Organization
When kicking off the school year, back to school kindergarten routines for being organized also have to be explicitly taught. When you were designing a kindergarten classroom you knew where you wanted everything and how you wanted things to go, but your students have no clue! Students need to know where to keep their individual supplies and what to do if they need more.
I have students keep pencil pouches in a bucket at their table with a box of crayons, glue, scissors, and 5 sharpened pencils. I also have a crate on each end of the table and students have book bins in their crates. Their book bins keep their blue folders where finished work goes, a writing notebook, their math workbook, and their phonics workbook. This means things are ready to access at their table and yet not in the way in their workspace.
Back to school kindergarten organization routines also include what to do if they need more supplies. I have pencil cups by the sharpener where students put dull pencils and can grab a sharp one. I have drawers of crayons sorted by color so students can return missing crayons they find on the floor or easily find a new crayon if they need one. Want to color code your extra crayons? I give students a new box of crayons each quarter and we sort any old crayons into these drawers for when they inevitably lose colors. I teach students to use one crayon at a time but they are in kindergarten!
I teach my students to push their chairs in when they leave their table so nobody trips, to check under their tables for missing supplies when they get up, and to throw away all of their trash at the end of each activity. I immediately check each task as students finish so they can file them in their blue folders and I don’t have to file papers. Folders go home on Fridays and they bring them back empty on Monday for the next week. Teaching all of these little back to school kindergarten routines help keep your classroom running smoothly with more responsibility on the students!
Behavior Management
Focusing on behaviors is a huge part of any back to school kindergarten routine. I focus on individual, small group, and whole class behavior rewards to keep the focus on positive behavior in my classroom. I use a lot of Conscious Discipline strategies including the language I use and the safe place for students to calm down, but my school is also a PBIS school so I incorporate that as well.
Individually, my students earn cash for positive choices in the classroom that they keep in little baggy “wallets” in their chair pockets. When we visit the school store on Fridays they are allowed to either save or shop.
Each table in my class accumulates table points when everyone is listening, following directions, or completing work as a table. This encourages teamwork and they motivate each other at their table groups to make good choices. I do different things to keep my table point rewards interesting such as special $5 bills on Fridays for the table with the most points, a trip to the treasure box, and more.
I also do whole group class rewards that the class picks. We do 100 at a time. When the whole class gets a compliment at specials, or completed something with their best effort, I’ll mark off a box on our 100 chart. When we fill it in the class gets the prize they voted on that time. We’ve done ice cream, extra recess, pajama day, and more! Focusing on positive behaviors on the individual, small group, and whole group level helps my students do their best and fosters a good classroom community. This is why it is an essential back to school kindergarten routine to implement.
I use Class Dojo and frequently send home messages for good behaviors. These positive behavior shoutouts recognize students for doing the right thing so if anything negative does occur we already have a rapport with the families. Focusing on a classroom mission statement and keeping our rules simple (be kind, safe, and responsible) helps me focus my students on making good choices within a structure they can understand.
Skill Expectations
Kindergarten is many students’ first time in a school setting. They have to learn basic skill expectations before they can learn academics! This includes book care, coloring, writing, cutting, pasting, and attention to task! At the beginning of kindergarten I always work with teaching these back to school kindergarten skills routines so my students are “certified” to use different school supplies.
We will practice reading books by turning the pages carefully, putting them back properly, and discuss how we take care of books like they are precious. We don’t want to eat, drink, or color near our books! We discuss how we color carefully in the lines, want to color entire things without leaving white space, and how sometimes we can pick whatever color we want and other times we want to color things to make them look realistic. We discuss and model pencil safety and how we only write with pencils on our papers, not other things in the classroom or people.
Students get scissor and glue certified before they are able to keep these in their pencil pouches for easy access. Students learn how to use white glue with just a dab will do and glue sticks without twisting the entire glue stick out at a time. We do lots of process crafts in the beginning where the whole idea is just to practice cutting and pasting and they can make whatever they want. Many students need practice holding scissors properly and figuring out how to cut. Students that need a lot of support often find success practicing cutting upwards by taping paper to ends of tables so they can master the scissor strokes. Learning what to cut and glue is an important back to school kindergarten skill!
Attention to task is probably the hardest skill for my students to master in kindergarten. We start with very short minutes where they work the entire time and we celebrate big! I’ll practice setting three minute timers and they have to work on their task until the timer goes off. Visual timers on the board are helpful so students can see how much time they have left unless your students will just watch the timer the whole time. Being able to work for a set amount of time is important so students can learn they can always add details or push through to persevere instead of coming up to say “I’m done!”
Communication and Social Expectations
Students learn so much more than academics in kindergarten. They are also learning important communication and social skills! Teaching these back to school kindergarten routines and expectations at the beginning of the year will help create that positive classroom culture your students need to thrive. I explicitly teach appropriate talking times at the beginning of the year. Each teacher has a volume level they are comfortable with in their classroom. I believe young people grow through conversations and I don’t mind if they are talking as long as they are completing work. My only rules are that they have to keep an inside voice after we discus voice levels and they can’t be talking while I’m giving directions or direct instructions.
We discuss the difference in when you have to raise your hand such as to request help or participate, and when you can just talk naturally such as in small group conversations. We also talk about how to be kind and safe and appropriate conversation topics. If something comes up that is not appropriate for school I will talk with that individual privately and make sure everything is safe and ok moving forward. Students grow socially by giving the chance to talk and as long as they are working and growing, why can’t they chitchat while they work?
Hygiene
Hygiene also needs to be included in back to school kindergarten routines! I have a bathroom in my classroom so we utilize that. I explicitly teach students how to flush before they leave and how to properly wash hands at the beginning of the year. I don’t do hallway bathroom breaks because that takes a lot of time in my opinion, so we only use our class bathroom. I allow students to go all day as needed as long as I’m not actively giving directions.
I tell my students it’s a good time to go during play times, independent work, etc. instead of while I’m reading a story or giving directions unless of course it’s an emergency. At the beginning of the year I’ll call students one at a time to go with plenty of time before lunch, recess, specials, and other transitions, and then throughout the year they start to learn when to go so they won’t have to all go before we leave the classroom!
I also have tissues out and students can get up and get those as needed. Students bring water bottles and they can get up and get those as needed. I have multiple trash cans and teach students to throw away trash at the end of each activity and keep our classroom clean. Allowing students to make these decisions for themselves minimizes interruptions in the classroom, makes students responsible for themselves, and teaches them to make smart choices. If they do one of these things during directions, they won’t hear and will not know what to do. They quickly learn how to make the most of their time once they are given good and bad models for these choices and some autonomy to try it out.
Center Expectations
Back to school kindergarten routines include center expectations in my classroom because centers are really important to me. We do reading centers, math centers, and play centers! The most important part of these are transitions so I usually start modeling how to switch centers with simple play centers. I’ll divide students into groups and give each group a puzzle or simple play center.
When the timer goes off I help them clean up and see if they have cleaned up appropriately. Then we practice either coming to the carpet to regroup or switching to the next center. Once we have understood how to transition between play centers it is easier to do the same thing for academic centers.
I introduce reading and math centers once at a time so it takes a few weeks for us to build up to lots of choices like I want my students to have. During the first days of kindergarten I’ll start out with everyone practicing one reading center at the same time such as read to someone, then introduce a word activity such as a puzzle or roll and read, and soon they will have enough reading centers to make choices and complete full rotations. I do the same thing for math centers. You can check out the August resources I use or grab all the activities for the first month of school here!
I find it really important to model each center and monitor students before allowing them to do them independently. This is why when teaching this back to school kindergarten routine, I don’t pull a teacher group for the first few weeks and am simply available to roam and step in to each group as needed. This time is crucial to setting my students up for success by helping them reach my high expectations.
Once they know how to do the centers, work until the timer goes off, and clean up appropriately, I know they are ready to work more independently or in their groups while I pull for interventions, assess, and more. I can keep the center structures the same and simply switch out the phonics or math focus and they will be successful.
Basic Back to School Kindergarten Routines
Basic routines in kindergarten include some of those things you forget students new to school simply don’t know. These can include everything from your classroom morning routine like what to unpack in the morning, where to sit during whole group instruction vs. when you want them in their seats, and more. My students have an assigned seat for homebase but during centers I allow them to have flexible seating and sit where they want.
I do reserve the right to move them if they are not making a smart choice and completing work in the area they chose themselves. This is the area you may want to think of some routines that are unique to your classroom that may be different than mine. What back to school kindergarten routines do you want your students to know to make your life more predictable and less chaotic?
Kindergarten Routines Save Time!
Although it may seem like you are taking a long time just teaching basic skills, these back to school kindergarten routines are the key things that will help your classroom run smoothly. When you are not constantly taking time reminding students to keep their areas clean and organized, and students know expectations, they are better set up to be independent, kind, and focused on learning social and academic skills. Take the time to teach back to school kindergarten routines now so you don’t have to teach them all year!
Grab these Back to School Kindergarten First Week Lesson Plans!
There are so many kindergarten routines to teach at the beginning of the year. Print and go with these first days of kindergarten lesson plans and make sure you are teaching all of the little things your students need to know to succeed this year.
