Counseling Preschool Students

This article focused on developing a group counseling program for preschool children to develop their self esteem, emotional awareness, and interpersonal social skills.  Previous research has stated that aggressive and defiant behavior at a young age can have long-term affects into adulthood such as depression, substance abuse, early parenthood, and poor quality relationships.  This study attempted to see if a group intervention could increase preschoolers awareness of emotions as well as decrease their teachers perception of their disruptive behaviors.

A red flag went off in my mind when I began reading about their participant selection. Because there was only one preschool class in the public school district where the study took place, it was a convenience population that didn’t include recruiting, screening, or sampling.  This definitely limits the ability to generalize this study.  This made me wonder about the rationale of their study.  As a teacher I do see the benefits of early prevention of behavioral issues in children, but it didn’t seem that their community was the best choice for this study.  One positive aspect of their participant selection was it included a diverse ethnic makeup of children and four of the eleven children were currently receiving special education services. 

In the study they used two different measures to evaluate the groups effectiveness.  The Emotional Identification Measure (EIM) was developed by the researchers doing the study and made me a little suspicious.   By creating their own assessment, there are not any previous studies that support its validity and reliability.  Even though the EIM is just a series of pictures depicting different facial emotions, there could be some inaccuracy or limits in regards to representing the correct response.  The second measure they used, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC), is an empirically based assessment that has been repeatedly administered in over 40 U.S. states so I felt it was a smart choice.  It analyzes ratings by parents and teachers in the areas of anxious/obsessive behaviors, depressed/withdrawn behaviors, fears, attention problems, aggressive behaviors, somatic problems, and immature behaviors.  This was used as a pre and post assessment in order to see if the goals were reached from an adult’s perspective.

 The group structure I initially felt was not appropriate for 3 and 4 year olds.  I agreed with meeting twice a week for four weeks because younger children need a lot of repetition, but each session was to last 75 minutes.  This is an extremely long session knowing that children of that age do not have an attention span of longer than 5-10 minutes.  However, after reading on I discovered that the session was broken into smaller components that followed a routine.  They would introduce the feeling topic of the day and discuss their ideas related to it, bibliotherapy that supported the feeling would be read and discussed, followed by a structured activity that reinforced the material presented thus far.  The next component I didn’t think was appropriate for the age group.  Children were given a homework assignment to talk to their family at home about the feeling presented that day.  A sticker was given to them to help remember and parents were asked to inquire about the feeling of the day with their child.  From my knowledge, I feel it is a lot of responsibility for a child of this age to hold a discussion at home about this topic and be able to summarize, synthesize, and remember the information two days later to share.  I did like that they incorporated centers in the classroom that extended the feeling into cooperative play to reinforce concepts.

Their results demonstrated that this type of group work was effective in improving the children’s social skills and decreasing aggressive behaviors from practicing communication, respect, and empathy with each other.  It did not address attention problems or assess for improvements in self-esteem.  Researchers also claimed that holding one session on each feeling was not enough for children to gain a deeper understanding of the topic and I agree.  One positive addition to the study was that researchers were able to identify early accounts of abuse and neglect through processing feelings with the children.

References

Waliski, A. D., Carlson L. A. (2008). Group work with preschool children: effect on emotional awareness and behavior. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33 (1), 3-21.

Coping with Loss using Art Therapy

I have been fascinated with how children’s artwork can be a doorway into their feelings, so I was excited when I came across this article.  Many children have experienced loss, which also includes both divorce and moving in addition to the death of loved ones, and not many know how to cope with such deep emotions.  In school it might translate into “a number of behaviors such as crying, withdrawal, concentration problems, aggression, and violence” (Finn 2003) and other health issues.  The stages of mourning can be difficult and confusing to both children and families, so finding therapeutic ways to help students move through the process with the help of their peers can be one way to ease the pain.

I definitely agree that bibliotherapy and role-playing are helpful strategies to use with children experiencing a variety of emotions and situations they are unfamiliar with.  Knowing that someone else, even just a character from a story, could have similar experiences to them helps children feel more at ease about what they’re going through.  A few years ago I read Rules by Cynthia Lord to my class.  It centers around a character who has a little brother that is autistic and the many ways she teaches him to function in society.  The author does not come right out and explain autism, but students in my class were able to generalize the situations in the book to be more open-minded and patient with a student in our class that struggled with very similar social situations.

I agree that art is an effective means of communicating, particularly for young children who don’t have the vocabulary or ability to express their feelings.  Art is also nonthreatening and many children find it relaxing to sit down with a coloring book or piece of paper without feeling there is an alternative motive – they have complete control.  I thought it was funny that they mentioned counselors could experiment with different art supplies ahead of time so they feel comfortable using it.  I’m not sure how many counselors are afraid of using markers, paint, or clay but maybe they haven’t had many experiences as a child with these or in working with children.

I really liked how the article had a case example that explained what the students did in each session, it helped me to see the themes and activities and created a visual picture.  I enjoyed seeing how the group started, then eased into deeper exploration of feelings.  I also thought it was great that students were given the opportunity to share with the other group members what they had created each time and explain what went into it.  It used a variety of art mediums, from sketching, designing, acting, coloring, writing, music, and painting which would make any child feel successful no matter what artistic skill they believe they hold.  The group painting seemed like such a neat experience, and the take-away box they created in the last session probably meant so much to them.  The evaluation of the sessions was very positive and I almost had tears in my eyes of the children’s quotes of what they most like about being in the group.  I can’t imagine what a positive impact this has had on them!

I definitely would like the opportunity to use art therapy with children in the future, this article was very informative and I enjoyed reading the recent research on art therapy.

References

Finn, C. A. (2003). Helping students cope with loss: incorporating art into group counseling. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 28 (2), 155-165.

Promoting Social & Emotional Learning

I initially was attracted to this article because I am a strong believer in the importance of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools, particularly at a young age.  My previous elementary school, Mathews Elementary, has always strived to place an emphasis on these skills and how important it is for students to develop socially in a safe environment that provides real world relevance.  Since entering this graduate program, I have had a heightened awareness to make both process and content observations in my classroom through their everyday activities that take place in group situations.

I didn’t agree with the statement that many teachers complain about SEL activities taking away from their academic/curricular goals.  I feel that it is very challenging to effectively teach if I do not create an environment where students feel safe to share their ideas and feelings.  By taking preventative measures to teach students how to work cooperatively, you actually add time spent working on academic goals while helping students build upon the skills they’ll need to function effectively in a social world.  The complaint might relate more to teachers feeling that their standards or expectations aren’t being met when working cooperatively with a counselor on a task-oriented project for their class.

I do agree that elementary school counselors do typically spend most of their time with only a small percentage of their population with difficulties or at risk for difficulties in a pull out approach, so it would be beneficial to reach more students by incorporating SEL strategies in the regular classroom.  However, the class size might become an issue.  With an average of twenty-five students in a class at my school, it would be difficult to circulate and adequately monitor these interactions in a meaningful way when there are five groups to attend to.  Even with the counselor and teacher working together, I’ve found that many of the teachers in my school that use cooperative and small group learning do not have the awareness or skills to help students “manage their emotions, effectively navigate their interactions, and successfully negotiate their differences for optimal SEL” (Van Velsor, 2009).  I agree that teachers and counselors must work closely together in order to achieve their goals, but I feel that teachers should also be trained in ways to build group cohesiveness through process observations, decision making, problem solving, and conflict resolution.

Extending on this idea, although we’d like to believe that positive group experiences will change students in other arenas of life, the transfer of SEL skills is not always a guarantee.  Many factors influence if students will have success working in groups.  I have seen groups that work flawlessly together because of carefully selected group members, as well as groups that couldn’t function due to personality differences and leadership styles.  I have seen groups that work seamlessly in one classroom under the leadership of a teacher/counselor, only to falter in a different environment under the leadership of an adult that doesn’t model or expect the same guidelines.  Group experiences need to be set-up in a way that reap positive outcomes that help students grow and I think that incorporating SEL into academic activities is a step in the right direction to helping more students, but shouldn’t completely replace the time spent on specific populations that require more intensive guidance.

References

Van Velsor, P. (2009). Task groups in the school setting: Promoting children’s social and emotional learning. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 34 (3), 276-292.

Using Play Therapy to Reduce ADHD Symptoms in Children

Recent Study on Helping Students with ADHD

In their study, Schottelkorb and Ray (2009) explored how students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are disruptive in class, interfering with the learning process in elementary classrooms.  Additionally, if there is no intervention early on, the symptoms continue to have negative effects into adulthood.  In the past, there have been multiple studies on the effectiveness of play therapy for children that have yielded positive results.

The belief is that “children under the age of 10 have not developed the cognitive and verbal abilities to participate fully in talk forms of counseling and instead their natural form of communication occurs through play (Landreth as cited in Schottelkorb and Ray, 2009).”  Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) falls under the responsive services umbrella of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model because counselors are responsible for helping individual students’ needs and concerns in order for them to achieve academically (ASCA, 2005).  Although there have been positive results from studies in the past with the use of CCPT in schools, not many studies have focused on the direct effectiveness of CCPT with students that have ADHD symptoms.  The purpose of this study was to see if CCPT and person-centered teacher consultation (PCTC) could decrease the symptoms of ADHD that interfere with the students’ learning.

            For this study they used a single-case design in order to explain individual behavioral changes.  Four students were involved in the study that qualified through a diagnosis of ADHD and not currently on medication.  Researchers used the Direct Observation Form (DOF) three times a week to observe and rate the student’s on-task and off-task behavior, the Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale-Revised (CTRS-R:S) used by teachers to assess the problematic behaviors, and the Teacher Report Form to compare academic and behavioral performance to other classmates without ADHD symptoms.

Two students received 24 CCPT Sessions and 6 PCTC Sessions, while the other two students received only 14 CCPT Sessions and 12-14 Reading Mentoring Sessions (a substitute to prevent the observers from knowing which treatment each student is receiving).  Results showed that all of the students increased their on-task behaviors in the classroom during participation in CCPT or in CCPT and their teachers with PCTC.  The two students that received more CCPT Sessions with teachers that received PCTC Sessions showed a positive, significant change in their behaviors in the classroom.

I was very impressed by the information presented in this article.  This study has many implications for school counselors as well as teachers.  As a school counselor, it is your responsibility to ensure that all students are receiving the services necessary to be successful in the classroom.  If a student diagnosed with symptoms of ADHD is struggling to learn because of an increased amount of off-task behaviors, a counselor should provide strategies or interventions to both the student and the teacher in order to help them be successful academically.  In this article, CCPT and PCTC were found to be successful interventions for the students in the study.  However, it is important to gather all the pertinent information about a child before you try any intervention to assess if there are any other needs that should be addressed.

In the study, students that received more than twelve sessions showed significant improvement in their behaviors.  This is a very time-consuming process that is done one-on-one with the student.  According to the ASCA national model, elementary school counselors should be spending 30%-40% of their time on responsive services (ASCA, 2005).  Counselors must assess whether this intervention is appropriate and would benefit their campus’ needs for the time it requires.  I also was unaware of how helpful PCTC could be for teachers in order to improve their relationship with students.  This is an area I would like to further study because it might also be beneficial to teachers of students with other diagnoses.  I found this article very eye-opening as I did not realize there were specific treatments that school counselors have successfully used to help students with ADHD symptoms be more successful in the classroom.  I had assumed that these interventions were done outside of school as recommended by the student’s physician.  It is uplifting to know that during the school day there are opportunities to provide students with helpful sessions to improve their academic performance in the classroom.

References

Schottelkorb, A. A., & Ray, D. C. (2009). ADHD symptom reduction in elementary students: A single-case effectiveness design. Professional School Counseling, 13(1), 11-22.

American School Counselor Association (2005).  The ASCA National Model: A framework for school counseling programs, 2^nd Ed. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Play Therapy

What is Play Therapy?!?!

Play Therapy Works Video from APT

           Play is a child’s natural means of communication (Landreth, 2002).  Developmentally, children understand and process information in a different way than adults.  Children think about the ways of the world in a magical way, a rigid way, and a limited way based on their interactions in the environment and how things appear to them at the time.  They cannot express certain complicated emotions through words because they haven’t mastered abstract reasoning.  Words are abstract because they are made up of symbols, whereas play is a concrete experience they are familiar with.  Because children lack the ability to communicate clearly through words, play is a more comfortable medium that can help bridge the gap between their concrete experiences and abstract thoughts.

            Play therapy offers a safe place for children to work through difficulties they are experiencing in their life without the threat of real-life consequences.  Children organize their experiences, express feelings, and explore fantasies in their world without the worry of judgment.  They express and explore their self through play to reveal what they’ve experienced in the past, how they’ve reacted to these experiences, what they’ve felt about these experiences, and ultimately what they need, want or wish to come of it.   This feeling of control helps children grow, mature, and develop in a way that is not always possible in their real life experiences.  Many times we have little control in our daily lives (especially children), but if we can learn to utilize our own inner resources we can develop security to use in the future.

The therapist provides a different type of relationship with the child than they are used to, one that focuses on facilitating the inner growth of the child.  The therapist has deep empathy, unconditional positive regard (such as warmth, acceptance, etc.) and congruence.  This is shown through kindness, patience, understanding, respect, and confidence in the child.  The therapist uses a multitude of verbal responses to show the child they are interested and accepting of the child’s behaviors, validate and clarify the child’s perceptions of their experiences, help children become aware of emotions through reflecting feeling, facilitate decision making, encourage freedom of expression, and use esteem-building statements to help children experience themselves as capable (Ray, 2011).  In the presence of these qualities the playroom becomes a place where children will show what they feel through the toys, through what they do in the playroom, and through the stories acted to get them out in the open to be faced.  The relationship between the child and therapist becomes the technique for fostering change and understanding.

            Human beings are motivated to preserve their current state of being and have the desire to enhance themselves.  As children use play to explore and express themselves, their own perspective of the world emerges.  Children are the experts on themselves, and it is the therapist’s job is to assist them in finding the answers they are seeking inside of them.  The emphasis moves away from a therapist telling a child what to do, and instead empowers the child to become more self-aware through the playing out of their inner world.  No one can know as much about any human being’s inner world as much as themselves.

The child dictates the pace and nature of our work, which in turn protects the child’s autonomy in the role of the engineer of the session.  Children in play therapy do not establish specific goals for themselves; the therapist trusts their capacity to discover their own strengths.  Play therapy helps children know and accept themselves by developing positive self-concepts, greater self-responsibility, increased reliance on themselves, and decision-making skills.  A child must have self-understanding before they can respect and appreciate the differences of others. Constructive change occurs when children are empowered.  Additionally, active involvement from caregivers is vital to seeing the whole child and situational concerns that might arise.

            Bratton, Ray, and Rhine (2005) identified the need for finding effective treatments for children suffering from emotional and behavioral disorders.  There are long-term consequences resulting from untreated childhood disorders that not only affect the individual throughout their lifespan, but also become a larger cost to society (Bratton et al., 2005).  Play therapy is a responsive technique that takes into account a child’s developmental needs, but has not gained widespread acceptance as a practical treatment due to the small sample sizes of studies (Bratton et al., 2005).  This article sought to use a meta-analytic review to produce an overall treatment effect by combining the results from ninety-three play therapy outcome studies over the last fifty years of research (Bratton et., 2005).

Their analysis proved play therapy to be a statistically viable intervention that further concluded with humanistic approaches yielding higher outcomes than non-humanistic treatments (Bratton, Ray, and Rhine, 2005).  However, many of the studies lacked specificity and details that limited the relationship between treatment variables and treatment outcomes (Bratton et al., 2005).  Play therapy does demonstrate effectiveness in children’s behaviors, social adjustment, and personality (Bratton et al., 2005).  Additionally, increasing the number of sessions increases the efficacy of play therapy, yielding more intrinsic results rather than quick symptomatic changes (Bratton et al., 2005).  Also, parent involvement increased the positive outcome of play therapy by including more components of a child’s system, with filial therapy having a high effectiveness in working to change the parent child relationship (Bratton et al., 2005).  Since most research on play therapy uses a design where groups either receive play therapy or no intervention at all, there is still a need to compare its effectiveness with other child treatments (Bratton et al., 2005).

References

Bratton, S. C., Ray, D. C., & Rhine T. (2005). The efficacy of play therapy with children: A meta-analysis of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 36(4), 376-390.

Landreth, G. L. (2002). Play therapy, the art of the relationship. New York, NY: Routledge.

Ray, D. C. (2011). Advanced play therapy, essential conditions, knowledge, and skills for child practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

So You Had a Bad Day...

We all have those days when everyone is on edge, it might be a series of rainy days or after an illness.  These are some thing you can try when your child is in a funk and you want to get them back on track.  It's a great interruption to the flow of the day that rejuvenates your energy to reset your mood.

1. Deep breath. I call out, “Deep breath!” Then everyone stands up and we all take long, slow breaths while we raise our hands over our heads.  Then we let the air out slowly while we lower our arms.  The whole movement is very slow and purposeful.  We might do that a few times, then go back to our regular day.

2. Jumping jacks.  We all stop what we are doing and do 20 jumping jacks.  This is especially good when they seem to have extra energy and need to use it.  It’s hilarious to see the littler ones trying to coordinate their arms and legs.

3. The color game. If its not raining I take a stack of construction paper (each piece a different color), some tape and some tacks (I used to leave these in a drawer by the front door) and take it all outside.  I tack or tape a whole piece of the paper to trees, the car, a bush, the front door….making sure they are spread out but I can see all of the colors from my chair (that I have set in the middle of it all).  Then I sit in the chair and gather all of the kids around me and I say, “Ready……RED!”  Then they have to find the red paper and run to it.  Once they are all there I call out another color and we keep doing it until they are exhausted.  Sometimes I modify the game by calling a kid’s name with a color.  You can let the older ones go faster with this version.

4. Play stations in the kitchen.  Fill the sink half full with water & utensils, fill a 9×13 pan with rice, another with straws, a plastic bowl with beans.  Set it all on the kitchen counter (table, whatever) and set the timer for 5 minutes.  They play at each station for only 5 minutes then they switch.  You stay in the kitchen with them the whole time giving attention to their made up games.  In 20 minutes it’s over.

5. Emergency toys. I keep toys tucked high up in a closet for just such an occasion.  Pull them out of the closet and set the timer for 30 minutes.  Once the timer goes off….the toys get put away for at least a month.  That’s the only way they will work the next time.

6. Play a game.  We’ll all sit and play something unbelievably dull, like Go Fish or a simple board game.  Sometimes all they need is for you to stop and give them your full attention for 15 minutes.

7. Music.  Music is a-MAZing for this kind of problem.  If I don’t have the time to play games or make pans of rice in the kitchen, I will turn on some fun kid music and we’ll all dance around to one song.  Mommy dances too (and Daddy if he’s home).  One song can reset everyone’s attitude.

8. Tear paper.  Sometimes we all just need to do something wild and completely unexpected.  So I will give each child 3 pieces of construction paper and we’ll stand in a circle and when I say, “GO!” we all start tearing up our paper and throwing it on the floor.  We jump around and scream and laugh and giggle and fall down and throw the paper around for about 5 minutes.  Then I say, “STOP!” and we have to clean it up as quickly and silly as we can.

9. Lie on the grass.  Often, when it’s not too wet, cold, hot….we go outside and lie on the grass.  Everyone takes turns telling what they see in the clouds or, if there’s no cloud, I will ask them a question and we take turns answering.  Sometimes we will do it on the trampoline instead of the grass.

10. Drink something green.  I put green food coloring in either lemonade or water.  I gather everyone in the kitchen and give everyone a glass of “Green Goop” and we all drink it at the same time.  We drink it as fast as we can and be silly.  If it’s been a really rough day, burping is a must.

11. Crawling.  I have everyone put shoes on their hands and crawl around until I say stop.  Then they have to freeze like a statue until I say go.  Sometimes I’ll call out pieces of furniture for them to crawl to.  We’ll do this for about 15 minutes then stop and put the shoes away.

12. Baths.  These are not get-clean baths.  These are play-baths.  15 minutes in the tub with a few toys and no washing hair.  Just time to stop everything and play in the water.

13.  Read a book.  If everyone is tired I will grab a book and read it aloud in an unusual way…with an accent, like a monster, while acting it out, hanging upside down off of the couch….something that makes it different.

14. Hold hands.  Sometimes everyone just needs Mom for a few minutes.  So we’ll hold hands and walk around, outside if possible but inside works too.  I’ll say something like, “Tell me what you liked about today,” and we’ll walk and talk and touch for a few minutes.

15. Quizzes.  I’ll line them up in front of me and zing them with questions.  They have to answer really quickly and if they take too long I say, “Zing!” and they have to fall down and get back up again.  (If you’re not feeling creative, just think of a favorite book or movie and ask them questions about that, “What’s the name of the character that_____,” “Who had the last line in the movie?” “What color was ____ wearing when she was running?”, etc.)  This is especially good for nursing moms that need to sit for a few minutes and the older kids are needing attention.

16. Color their name. I write their name in really big, puffy letters and they get 3 Crayons to color it in.  No sharing, no trading…just 3 colors…GO!

17. Have a snack.  You sit with them and talk for just a few minutes.  Don’t set them down and walk off.  Just sit there for a few minutes and toast your glasses together and say, “To a better day!” and eat a little something.

18. The Whisper Game.  I say, “Let’s play the Whisper Game!” and set the timer for 5-10 minutes.  That whole time you sit and talk but everyone has to whisper.  Do what you can to make it silly and animated, like lean to their ears or tiptoe around the room while you’re whispering.

19. Animals.  I sit on the couch and and gather them around, with an arm length between them.  Then I call out animals and they have to act like that animal until I change the animal.  I might switch it up by calling out a specific child’s name with an animal.

20. Slow down.  This one is good to do after any of the other activities.  We all move and talk in slow motion.  I will walk around and they follow me and do what I do….all in slow motion.  Then I give them turns being the leader.  This is fun, but it takes the energy back down and you’re ready to go back to normal.

As you can see, the main focus of these activities is to stop what you are doing, stop rushing, stop being frustrated and spend a few minutes together doing something completely different.  It is essential that Mom or Dad participate - that’s what really pushes the reset button!

Compliments of Lisa Pennington

Prevent Behavior Problems with Clear Classroom Procedures

Bonnie Murray believes the secret to warding off at least some behavior problems is establishing positive classroom procedures for daily tasks and activities.  This article was written and adapted from her published book, The New Teacher's Complete Sourcebook: Grades K–4, by Bonnie P. Murray, ©2002, published by Scholastic.

The secret to warding off at least some behavior problems is establishing positive classroom procedures for daily tasks and activities. Your students will appreciate your consistency, and once they have internalized classroom procedures, the day will run that much more smoothly.

Of course, choosing the right rules and procedures for your classroom is an individual decision. But be sure to define what you expect of students from the very beginning. Remember to take time to teach procedures during the first days and weeks of school.

Here is a list of general procedures to teach. You can adapt them to your grade level and school setting:

1. Entering the room — Enter quietly and politely; remove your hat if you're wearing one; don't interrupt other students; follow the appropriate procedures for each time of day (e.g., morning, after lunch, after a special class).
    
2. Lining up — Stand up quietly; push in your chair; take all necessary items; line up without touching others or talking; face the front of the line; watch where you are going.
    
3. Leaving the room — Tell me where you are going; take the correct hall pass; do not run or play in the hallways or restrooms.
    
4. Beginning the day — Enter the room politely; put away your backpack, lunch, and coat; turn in your homework; sit at your desk and read alone or do before-school work silently.
    
5. Ending the day — Clean off your desk; leave out your work notebook; pick up any trash within three feet of your desk; stack your chair; collect your mail; wait quietly to be dismissed.
    
6. Taking out/putting away/caring for supplies — Share group supplies; recap markers and glue; check the number written on the supplies to make sure they belong in your group basket; if something belongs to another group, return it to them quietly.
    
7. Participating in group lessons — Do not bring anything with you unless I ask you to; politely find a place to sit where you can do your best learning; sit flat, not on your knees; listen carefully for new information; raise your hand to speak; do not speak when someone else is speaking.
    
8. Obtaining help with assignments — Quietly ask the students at your table for help with directions if you need it; if you are working alone, raise your hand to get help from me; if you are working with a group, ask them for help in understanding how you do the assignment.
    
9. Handing in finished work/homework — Make sure your name is on your paper; place your paper upside down in the "finished work" or "homework" basket.
    
10. What to do with unfinished work — If I ask for work to be turned in, let me know if it isn't finished; if I ask you to keep an unfinished project, put it in your class work notebook.
     
11. When and how to use the school restroom — If I am not teaching the whole group, stand by the classroom door with your hand raised; if I say "no," wait for a better class time to go; if I nod, leave the room quietly; do not play in the restroom; return to class before two minutes have passed (promptly).
     
12. When and how to use the drinking fountain or sink — When I am not teaching the whole group, you may get a drink; take only a three-second drink; you may bring a water bottle to keep on your desk; if you need to wash your hands, use only a little soap; wipe up any water you spill.
     
13. When and how to use the pencil sharpener — At the beginning of each assignment, the person I've chosen to be the "Pencil Sharpener" will invite you to have him or her sharpen your pencil; if your pencil breaks during an assignment, use a community pencil; only the "Pencil Sharpener" can run the sharpener and empty it.
     
14. Being a classroom helper; learning a classroom job — If you get a job on Monday, see the person who did the job last week during silent reading time, ask him or her for the job description card, and have him or her help you on the first day. For the rest of the week, it is your responsibility to remember to do your job.
     
15. Getting into work groups — Take all the materials you will need; greet each other; complete the task doing your personal best; make sure each person signs the project; thank the others in your group.
     
16. Using the classroom library — When I am not teaching the whole group, you may check out a book. To do so, select a book (you only have three minutes at the class library) and sign out the book on the sign-out sheet. Take good care of the book; when you are finished, return the book to the basket and check it off the list.
     
17. Handling seatwork pages — As soon as you get a paper, print your first name and last initial at the top on the right-hand side and today's date at the top on the left-hand side.
     
18. Preparing for lunch  — Wait quietly at your desk; when your lunch number is called, get your lunch or lunch money and line up in order; take everything with you, as you will not be allowed to come back to the classroom after we leave for lunch; while you're waiting in line, think about the way you need to behave in the lunchroom and on the playground; while you're at lunch and at recess, find one person who is behaving responsibly and be prepared to tell the class what you noticed.
     
19. Getting a tissue — You may get a tissue from the closest of the four tissue boxes whenever you need one; you don't even have to ask; throw the used tissue away immediately; make sure it lands in the trash can; get right back to work.
     
20. Lunch count/attendance — "Hot lunch" means you are having school lunch; "cold lunch" means you brought a lunch from home; move your attendance tag/magnet/clothespin to the "hot lunch" or "cold lunch" sign/spot; wait patiently for your turn.
     
21. Throwing away trash — You may throw away trash whenever you need to if I am not teaching the whole group; do not play basketball with your trash; make sure all trash lands in the can; pick up trash even if it isn't yours.
     
22. Turning in lost items — Ask the people around you if they lost the item you found; if not, write your name and the date on a slip of paper and tape the item to it; if it is money or something valuable, put the item and slip on my desk for safekeeping; if not, put it in the Lost and Found box; give yourself a "pat on the back" for being honest.
     
23. Locating lost items — Ask the people around you if they found the item you lost; if not, check the Lost and Found box; if it is not there, ask me at a time when I'm not teaching the class; if you find it, thank the person who turned it in; next time, try to take care of your things. Consider going through the Lost and Found box at the end of each month with the whole class. If an item remains unclaimed, give it to the person who turned it in.
     
24. Pledge — When you hear/see the signal, stop what you're doing immediately and stand up; place your right hand over your heart; say the Pledge of Allegiance respectfully; during the 30 seconds of silence, quietly think about the things you want to learn today and how you will act in class and on the playground.
     
25. Visitors in the classroom — When visitors enter the room, let the designated classroom "host" or "hostess" greet them; when the host or hostess rings the chimes, get ready to listen to and look at the visitor — a smile is great!; when the host or hostess introduces the visitor, say, "Welcome to our class, __________"; remember, most visitors are here to watch you learn, so be ready to explain what you are working on; treat visitors respectfully.
     
26. Fire drill — Stop everything; stand up and head for the door quickly, but without running or pushing; do not cover your ears; do not make any side trips; the classroom "fire chief" takes the fire drill packet and leads the line outside; the second person in line holds the classroom door for the rest of the class; the third person in line holds the outside door only for our class, then becomes the last person in line; wait patiently, calmly, and quietly in line outside until we are allowed to go back to what we were doing.
     
27. Signals for attention — When I need your attention, I will ring the chimes (or sound the rain stick, open the music box, etc.); as soon as you hear the signal, stop what you are doing, look at me, and listen for directions.
     
28. Helping other students — In a cooperative classroom, it is good to help one another; if someone needs help with directions or reading an assignment, help him or her if you are able; if someone needs help with understanding the problem, tell him or her to ask me for help; never put down another student who asks for help.
     
29. Organizing desk — Remove all loose papers; decide if they should go home or stay at school; put papers that should stay at school in the front pocket of your work notebook; put pencil or art supplies in your school box; put your folders and work notebook on the left side of your desk tray; everything else goes on the right side; pick up your trash.
     
30. What to do during free time — If you finish an assignment, first work on any unfinished assignments that are in the front pocket of your work notebook; when you finish those, you may choose to do your classroom job, read a book, write a story, illustrate a book, make up math problems, work on a research project, peer-tutor someone who needs your help, or create a song about what the class is studying.

BP Murray. Head off behavior problems with classroom procedures [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/head-behavior-problems-classroom-procedures