Routines and Procedures

“Routines are the things your students will do over and over again. Procedures are the steps your students need to take in order to accomplish a routine.” (Rachel Vincent)

This resource aims to help teachers establish consistent routines and procedures that support students' success in the classroom. All instructional staff are expected to explicitly teach, model, and provide authentic opportunities for students to practice classroom routines and expectations throughout the school day. By establishing routines and procedures, students will learn to follow directions, manage emotions, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions in and outside the classroom.   

Many routines will be taught on the first few days of school and reinforced during the first six weeks, with frequent opportunities for students to practice daily. Students are given multiple opportunities to practice routines, transitions, and procedures after having them explicitly modeled by staff and supported by visual and verbal cues. Consider using different chimes, callbacks, gestures, and other Attention Grabbers Links to an external site. to keep the student interested.

According to Hemmeter, Ostrosky, and Fox, "engaging, predictable environments and ongoing positive adult-child interactions are necessary for promoting children's social and emotional development and preventing challenging behaviors" (2006). Accordingly, establishing, reinforcing, and maintaining consistent classroom routines and procedures supports Learning Behaviors: 

• Demonstrates Interpersonal Skills
• Demonstrates Responsibility
• Demonstrates Collaboration
• Demonstrates Perseverance
• Demonstrates Initiative

Early Childhood teachers should consider the variety of routines and procedures that are completed or used throughout the day and develop a plan to intentionally teach, model, and reinforce expectations. The Routines & Procedures Guide for Early Childhood Classrooms Links to an external site. details typical routines and procedures that are often used in early childhood classrooms. This guide can be used as a reference to support intentional planning and implementation or teachers can develop their own guidelines.

By developing clear and consistent schedules and routines, students can:

• Feel in control of their environment;
• Feel safe, secure, and comfortable;
• Know what is happening now and what comes next;
• Know how to do an activity or task; and,
• Engage in learning

It is recommended that teachers provide the most scaffolding and reinforcement during the first few weeks of school, with a plan to reduce scaffolding and supports gradually over six weeks as students are successful and demonstrate increasing independence. Staff can revisit expectations and increase reinforcement as needed to support student success, following an extended break, or when new students join the classroom.

Rather than taught as a stand-alone, many routines and procedures should be taught within the context of the setting (e.g., centers, recess, content/subject). For example, distribution and storage of materials can be taught, practiced, and reinforced during Getting to Know My Math Students lessons. Other ideas are included throughout this course.

Routines & Procedures Guide for Early Childhood Classrooms

Resources

  Routines & Procedures Guide for Early Childhood Classrooms Links to an external site.

  Routines Planning Sheet Sample (Kindergarten) Links to an external site.

  Routines Planning Sheet Sample (PK3/PK4) Links to an external site.

  Routines Planning Sheet - Blank Template Links to an external site.

  NCPMI Responsive Routines Planning Form Links to an external site.

These sample plans for the first ten days of kindergarten provide a suggestion for developing routines and procedures within the context of the HCPSS kindergarten program and instructional materials. The completed sample plan can be adapted or teams can use the template as a starting point for planning.

Sample Plan for the First Ten Days

Resources

  Sample Plan for the First Ten Days Links to an external site.

  Planning Template for the First Ten Days Links to an external site.

According to the National Council of Special Education, visual supports aid and enhance communication. A visual is considered an object, photograph, sign, or picture used to identify an object or communicate a task. For all young learners, visuals support social and emotional development, structures and routines, and communicate behavior expectations. Young children can also learn through visuals as they develop the ability to read. Finally, visuals can improve understanding, prevent frustration, and promote independence for all children in your classroom.

The following visuals are provided for classroom teachers and support staff to provide clear and consistent communication to students throughout the day to promote independence and understanding. Classroom teachers and support staff should introduce classroom routines and procedures by modeling and providing visual cues for students to refer back to throughout each task. 

Visuals should be used to launch routines and procedures and should remain as a part of the classroom environment throughout the school year.

Resources

  Classroom Visuals Links to an external site.

Attention grabbers are positive classroom management tools that promote community building. Call and response is great strategy to use with young children as a cue for students to stop what they are doing and pay attention to the speaker. It involves the staff saying a statement and teaching the class the correct response. For example the staff may say, “1, 2, 3, eyes on me!” and the students respond with “1, 2, eyes on you.” This strategy is typically verbal, but you can add in hand and body movements, too. Consider teaching a new call and response at the beginning of each week. 

Attention grabbers can be used by all staff across the school day. Please share this resource with paraeducators, lunch and recess monitors, and Related Arts teachers.

Attention Grabbers

Resources

  Attention Grabbers Links to an external site.

At the beginning of the school year, there are many procedures and routines that classroom teachers and support staff must prioritize to ensure the safety and well-being of all students. The Pro-Tips document is intended to highlight specific topics such as dismissal, field trips, indoor recess, and team sprinkle procedures and routines that you will need to discuss with your team to establish implementation before the first day of school or during the school year.

Pro Tips

Resources

  Pro Tips Links to an external site.

Whether entering school for the first time as a Pre-K or kindergarten student, this will be a young child's first time in a formal, public school setting. Related Arts teachers will need to explicitly teach, model, and provide authentic opportunities for students to practice classroom routines and expectations within their classroom or instructonal setting. Related Arts teachers and Pre-K and/or Kindergarten teams should work together to discuss consistent routines and procedures to support student success in multiple locations throughout the school building.

Launching Routines and Procedures in Related Arts

WHY

Related Arts teachers should discuss with the Pre-K teacher and support staff routines, procedures and supports that can be used during their time with students to make the learning experience as successful as possible. This will provide young students with consistency in multiple location and alleviate any issues that may arise due to the Related Arts teacher not knowing how classroom procedures are run.

During the first quarter, Related Arts teachers need to explicitly teach how to use each material, assign and teach carpet and seating expectations in their classroom, and implement attention grabbers. For additional ways to teach routines and expectations for your room, see the Routines & Procedures Guide for Early Childhood Classrooms Links to an external site..

WHOLE GROUP OPPORTUNITIES

• Plan team-wide attention grabbers Links to an external site., symbols used for bathroom and water, and behavior management techniques.
• Ensure all paras are aware of all strategies listed above in order to be prepared to model classroom routines and procedures in Related Arts classrooms to support consistency in multiple locations (PK4).
• Encourage Related Arts teachers to plan for a group that the para can supervise and run so that they can truly be utilized to support student access and engagement (PK4).

Resources

  Attention Grabbers Links to an external site.