Jamie Tuttle

My Classroom Management Plan

Introduction
I believe that is important for us as teachers to always have a plan in all aspects of the
classroom, but to know that that plan can change at any minute. With that being said, I have
created the following classroom management plan to follow as I go out into the field and begin
my teaching career. This plan is made for kindergarten through second grade classrooms. I will
go into my student teaching and my first year of teaching with this classroom management plan
in my back pocket, but I know that it will change as I experience new things and encounter
varying groups of students with various different needs.
Philosophical Statement
My classroom will always be a safe and inclusive atmosphere where my students will feel
like a part of a community. I believe that my students needs to learn social skills and
responsibility alongside their content area knowledge. I will strive to mold the entire child as a
whole with the long term goal of creating well-adjusted and successful citizens of the world.
First Day(s)
I see the first days of school beginning as soon as I get my list of students for the year.
First of all, I want to send all of the parents of my students an email or letter prior to the first day
of school in order to greet them, direct them to my classroom website, and personally invite them
to Meet the Teacher Night. I also want to include a special note in each letter or email to my
student in order to welcome them and get them excited for the new school year. In addition to
my welcoming letter, I would want to label each of their desks and cubbies with their names
prior to their arrival on meet the teacher night. It is important to me that each and every student

Jamie Tuttle
immediately feels welcomed and can see that there is already a spot waiting for them in my
classroom.
On the actual first day of school, as well as everyday of school, it is important to me that
I greet each and every student at the door of my classroom with a hug or hand shake. Not only
will this daily greeting make my students feel welcomed, but it will build their social skills in
greeting others. A source from the article that I used in my Literature Review states that social
skills are not innately known, so us teachers must take this responsibility on and teach our
students proper social skills so that they can be successful (Croom & Davis, 2006, p. 110).
As my students come in on the first day I will guide them in finding their labelled cubby
to put their backpacks up and then sit at their labelled desks. Every morning my students will
find a warm-up activity at their desks to do independently. On the first day, they will find a
worksheet that will tell me more about them. Below is an example of a kindergarten level All
About Me worksheet that I could use. When our warm-up time has finished, I will share my
All About Me page to all of the students and then have my students share their pages with
partners.

Picture credit:
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/l
ove-those-kinders-3567127/allabout-me-mini-poster-freebie-aback-to-3216676963

Jamie Tuttle
Throughout the first week of class I will utilize several different ice breaker activities so
that we can all learn more about each other. For example, I would like to use the Name Game on
the first day so that all of my students can learn each others names (OBrien, 2014). We would
sit in a circle and the first person would start by saying their name and an object that starts with
the same letter as their name, like Jaguar Jamie. The next person would have to say the last
persons name and object and add their own. This would continue around the circle and would
be a fun way to learn each others name and build a community in the classroom.
In addition to getting to know each other, I would want to build our classroom rules. If I
was in a kindergarten classroom I would want to have pre-established rules because for many of
them it is their first time in school and they might not have any idea what the rules should be in a
classroom. If I was in a first or second grade classroom, I would like to try to build our
classroom rules together as a class. With that being said, I would still have a list of rules in mind
to guide them towards. It would be important to discuss the meaning and importance of our
classroom rules on the first day of school so that everyone is on the same page.
In addition to our classroom rules, I would want to teach all of my students the different
classroom procedures as well as practice and reinforce them throughout the first days of school.
I will talk more about this later, but an example of this would be informing my students of my
expectations while they are walking in line in the hallways.

Jamie Tuttle
Classroom Environment

Made on Google Drive

Regardless of the grade level, I want my classroom to have multiple communities within
the classroom community. Building a classroom community as well as the individual
communities will reduce conflicts among students as well as conflicts between me and my
students (Manning & Bucher, 2013, p. 258). At each of their communities there will be a bin for
their materials in order to maximize the use of time in my classroom. There will also be a carpet
and easel set up for a whole group area where I can do read-alouds and we can have discussions.
Each student will receive an assigned spot on the carpet. I also have space for
centers/workstations with multiple bins to hold the different activities that they will work at.
While my students are working in the centers/workstations, I will be able to pull them for small
group work at my semi-circle table. In addition to the centers/workstation area there are four

Jamie Tuttle
computers setup to be used for stations as well. And lastly there will be a long cabinet area with
various cubbies under it for kids to keep their backpacks, lunchboxes, and book boxes
throughout the day.
I plan on having a very organized classroom, but I hope to be the type of teacher that
does not freak out when there is a bit of a mess while working in stations or on group activities.
I will have my students help me keep the room nice and tidy, but I will not fret about perfection
in my classroom at all times. It is a place for learning and growing and that means it will be
messy sometimes.
Classroom Policies

Picture credit:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.c
om/Product/Back-to-SchoolClassroom-Rules-Poster-Set802838

Like I said earlier, if I have a kindergarten classroom I will already have pre-determined
classroom rules, but if I had a first or second grade classroom I would like to create the rules
together as a class. Above are the type of rules that I would like to have in my class. They are
positively worded, each one encompasses a wide array of things, and there are only 6 rules in
total. With rules like these it would be imperative to discuss what each rule means and what my
expectations are for these rules. For example, for the rule Be Safe I would explain that I expect

Jamie Tuttle
only walking in the hallways and in the classroom. I may also explain the importance of never
leaving the school campus by themselves. Not only do we need to discuss each classroom rule,
but it is imperative that I enforce these rules in the classroom and provide appropriate
consequences when they are broken, which I will discuss this more later in this paper.
After our classroom rules have been established and discussed with my students, I will
pass these rules onto my students parents and our administration. I would either email or
personally discuss my classroom policies with the appropriate administrative personnel. Our
classroom rules would also be on display in my classroom for my students to see and in order to
inform any administrators, volunteers, or substitute teachers in our classroom of the rules and
expectations. Our classroom rules will also be emailed to and/or sent home to parents in order to
make them aware of the expectations. I would also take it a step further and post them on my
classroom website so that they are easy to access for all of my students parents.
Classroom Procedures
In addition to our classroom rules, there will be various classroom procedures to follow
in order to manage my classroom. First of all, every morning my students will be expected to
greet me at the door to our classroom, put their belongings in their labelled cubby, and get started
on their morning warm-up activity that they will find at their desks. I will end the day by closing
the last lesson of the day in a timely manner and then gather my students at the carpet. I will call
on different students to tell me what they learned today, something kind they did for someone or
someone did for them, and if they have anything fun they are doing after school. We will then
end our meeting by having each student turn to someone next to them and say something nice
and goodbye. We will then gather our backpacks and go to the appropriate dismissal areas in an
organized and timely manner.

Jamie Tuttle
When we are transitioning between different parts of the day I will make sure that I bring
each lesson to a close so that my students are not left confused about what is happening. Each
lesson will also be started with a certain cue or song in order to alert my students to the change in
subject. If I need to get my students attention for a transition or to alert them about something I
will sing Classity Class! and hey will respond with Yessity Yes! (Attention, Please!,
2012).
Another procedure that we would follow in my classroom would be using different sign
language signs to indicate a need to get up. There will be a sign for needing to go to the
restroom, getting a drink of water, and needing a tissue. I will utilize these hand signals in order
to minimize interruptions in my instruction. If I see a kid holding up the sign for the restroom I
can give them a simple nod for them to go. In addition to these symbols, I will have hall passes
that my students will need to take with them when leaving the room so that they will not be
questioned in the hallway. This pass system will also help me keep track of how many kids are
leaving the room at a time. There will be multiple hall passes and each will be numbered so that
I know how many kids are out of the class at a time.

Picture credit: Me

Jamie Tuttle
In order to distribute materials, like papers for activities, I will give enough papers for
each community to a certain person in the community. Each time I will choose a different
person in the community in order to work on their social skills. As you can see there are various
procedures in our classroom, but each of them have their purpose in the management of the
classroom.
Steps to Address Misbehavior
Any minor misbehaviors that are not disrupting my instruction or other students in my
classroom I will ignore to a certain point. When misbehaviors develop into interuptions in the
classroom I will try to use nonverbal cues, such as eye contact and proximity, to deter the
misbehavior of the student. If the student does not change their behavior then they will be given
a warning in a quiet and private manner. Each student will receive two private and quiet
warnings before I ask them to move their clip on the below behavior chart.

Picture Credit:
http://mrstsfirstgradeclassjill.blogspot.com/search/label/Back
%20to%20School

Jamie Tuttle
In regards to the behavior chart, each student will have a clip with their first name on it to
indicate which color level they are at. Every day I will start my students out at the green level,
which is labelled as ready to learn. After a student gets two private warnings they will be
asked to move their clip to the yellow level. When they move to the yellow level I will quickly
talk to them about why they think they had to move their clip and discuss what they can do to
change their behavior. If the students misbehavior continues, they will be asked to move their
clip to orange. On this picture it says loss of recess, but I do not agree with this message.
Instead the child will be sent to the cool down corner where they will fill out a worksheet that
will communicate to me how they are feeling and what they plan to do to fix it. When they feel
they have cooled down and have completed the worksheet they will come to me to discuss their
decision. Unfortunately if this misbehavior continues they will be instructed move their clip to
the red level. Reaching this level means that I will have to contact their parent.
As you can see there are also two levels above green that students can move their clips to.
These levels are used to reward the students for exceeding expectations. Each day my students
will be expected to fill in their days color on a calendar in their daily folder. This will notify
their parents of their behavior for the day. If any of my students had to move their clip, I will
leave a small note attached to their calendar in their daily folder so that their parents are aware of
the situation.
Student Motivation
In addition to the extrinsic motivation my students will be feeling from the behavior
chart, I will also build intrinsic motivation through our conversations when they move their clips.
I will concentrate on discussing their choices, why they made those choices, why they want to

Jamie Tuttle
change those choices (other than the motivation of a clip change), and what they will do to
change their behavior.
In addition to the use of the behavior chart, I will also have a ticket system in place to
reward my students for their good behavior. When my students make a good choice, like
following the procedures in the hallway or helping a friend in need, I will give them a Tuttle
Buck. Every Friday my students will be able to cash in their Tuttle Bucks in order to retrieve
a treat from the Treasure Chest. I will set and change the required number of bucks needed to
get a treat depending on the time of year and my expectations for my students.
Conclusion
In summary I am very confident in the classroom management plan that I have created. I
believe that by creating this plan I am already ahead of the game and will be that much more
successful as a student teacher and first year teacher. The most important thing for me is to
understand that although you have created a plan, it is ok if you have to alter your plan. I look
forward to trying aspects of my classroom management plan in my student teaching.

Jamie Tuttle
References
Attention, Please! (2012, July 27). Retrieved November 25, 2015, from
http://wbtinfirst.blogspot.com/2012/07/attention-please.html
Croom, L., & Davis, B. H. (2006). Its Not Polite to Interrupt, and Other Rules of Classroom
Etiquette. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 42(3), 109-113.
Manning, M., & Bucher, K. (2013). Classroom Management: Models, Applications, and Cases
(Third ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
O'Brien, N. (2014, July 10). 5 Fun Ice Breaker Activities for the First Day of School. Retrieved
November 25, 2015, from http://readlikearockstar.blogspot.com/2014/07/5-fun-icebreaker-activities-for-first.html