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Classroom management

The classroom management is the way the caregiver/teacher is organizing the childrens’ movements and activities. It shows how children are taken care of, how they are stimulated to develop and what the teacher intends the children to learn. Strategies used are setting clear rules, routines and positive disciplining. 

A learning corner is a physical area (a space in the classroom or outside) designed to provide an appropriate play space, including playful learning materials, to stimulate learning and development in specific learning and developmental areas. 

Element of classroom arrangement  Purpose 
Display of children’s work  Creates an attractive environment and benefit children’s self-esteem (I made something beautiful!) 
‘Talking walls’  Encourages children’s self-discovery, independent learning 
Material arrangement 

 

 Children can pick materials by themselves and learn where and how to place them back 
Space for physical activities/creating a circle 

 

 Encourages play, physical activities and ‘circle conversations/dialogues’. 
 

Tables/ corners for children to work and play in groups 

 Stimulates groupwork/play, social-interaction and learning from each other 
 

Space 

 Ensure there is enough space for the teacher to walk around to guide the children 
  • Children learn best when they are involved in hands-on activities and play. 
  • Learning corners provide opportunities for children to choose, play, experiment and explore materials. 
  • Learning corners promote socialization in learning. 
  • Learning corners provide an environment that conveys a joy of learning. 

Working in learning corners encourages active and participatory learning, allowing children to discover the world around them through play, interaction and exploration.  

In a playful way all developmental domains are promoted, as children explore and experiment at their own pace. Learning corners allow children to use up excess energy and take risk without fear of failure. In addition, learning corners relate to the individual needs and interests of each child, which facilitates more meaningful and enjoyable learning. Furthermore, learning corners allow children to develop social skills, such as teamwork and communication, while encouraging autonomous decision-making.  

Each learning corner should be designed to encourage a specific type of activity or play. Four basic learning corners are:  

  • Roleplay corner 
  • Arts and creativity corner 
  • Numeracy corner 
  • Literacy corner 

This corner provides a space for children to act out role-play. Their play is stimulated by the provision of various materials. The materials and set-up of this corner can be linked to a theme. You can use materials found at home, so the children can act out as if they are living at home, using (pretend) food, utensils, puppets and dress up materials (clothes, fabric, hats, shoes etc.). Or the children can act as if they go to the market or shop, then you can provide empty tins and paper-money and arrange the materials in such a way that it looks like a shop. 

Art helps children to express themselves, to regulate and to develop creativity. It is a good way for children to develop fine motor skills and improve their hand-eye coordination. Working with materials teaches them about colors, shapes and textures. 

The teacher/caregiver can guide the children’s activities by providing a selection of materials each time and inspiring them to develop art works related to the theme.  

Examples are modeling with clay, making something out of empty tins, drawing pictures, decorating art works. 

In the numeracy corner children learn to understand beginning math concepts and develop foundational math skills beyond just counting, such as pattern recognition, measurement, spatial awareness, and problem-solving. In this corner children can play games with dices and number cards. The children can also play with blocks of different sizes and shapes, so they can make their own constructions using measurement and balancing. 

This corner is meant to promote pre-reading skills. Although children in ECE are not able to read letters, the book corner can help them to get familiar with books, to look, interpret and talk about the story together. They develop vocabulary and communication skills.  

Besides, children can orient themselves on differences between shapes while playing games like memory or domino game. They can also make lettershapes from different materials like bottle tops or seeds. 

Young children need to be guided to follow the behavioural rules of the society. They need to learn that their actions can have positive and negative consequences. This doesn’t need to be in form of punishment, but children may learn that actions have natural consequences. For example; ‘If you intentionally hurt someone with a toy, the other child may not like to play with you anymore.’ Or ‘if you make a mess, you need to clean it up’.  

It can be challenging to find a good way to discipline when children are not listening or disturbing the class. Below you find some tips to discipline in a positive way: 

  • Distinguish between behavior and the child. This is an important point that you can teach to the children: it is a child’s behavior that is bad; it is not the child, the person who is bad. Reinforce this by using words, which focus on the behaviour and not the person. For example, Shouting at others is not helpful. 
  • Don’t become angry but explain the rules and consequences of the action. 
  • Invest in the relationship with the children. If children notice you care and develop trust in you they are more likely to participate in a positive way. 
  • Giving clear instructions/directions: tell the child ‘what to do’. Instructions on ‘what to do’ can be given using pictures. See examples of pictures showing rules (on left) and expected movements when paying attention (on right) from the website; www.prekinders.com 
  • Give clear boundaries in form of instructions (avoid ‘not’). 
  • Give children a few options to choose from within your set boundaries 
  • Praise positive behavior. We all like to be praised. If you respond more on negative behavior than on the positive behavior children will learn that they get attention for the negative things. If you respond on the positive behavior more, children will grow in self-esteem and feel more encouraged to continue with their positive behavior. 
  • Distract creatively. When you distract the child towards something else – by changing the topic, introducing a game, asking him/her to help you, you can successfully divert their energy towards positive behavior. To distract it is important to observe the group well and to spot when things are about to go wrong. 
  • Redirecting misbehavior by focusing on the expected behavior. 

  • Songs can also be used to create a positive atmosphere while guiding the children on what to do: ‘put your hands now on your head, stand still on your place, show to me your pretty face, put your hands now on your head, on your head.’ 
  • Always ensure the child is physically and emotionally safe! 

Routines help children feel secure. When children know what to expect, they can focus more energy on learning and exploring. Routines also help strengthening brain connections by reinforcing memory and understanding.  

Examples of routines are; 

  • Greet the child at the door when coming in the class 
  • Give the child an activity to do when coming in the class (e.g. reading a picture book, drawing a picture) 
  • Use a song to start the day 
  • Sing a song to alert the children that its time for cleaning up  
  • Show pictures of the rules on daily basis 
  • Show pictures of the activities and rhythm of the day 

To create a safe and supportive environment children also need boundaries. Ground rules can help to manage the class well. It is best if you can create them with the children together and/or introduce them in a playful way. Express rules that focus on the positive behaviour, for example: ‘We are kind to each other’; and not ‘We don’t beat each other’! If there are too many rules children will find it hard to remember them, therefore try to formulate the most important rules in a positive way.  

Make the rules visual by for example writing them on a big piece of paper with nice illustrations to show the rules as well.