Behaviour Management Teaching Resources
Bring your behaviour management to the next level with printables and digital teaching resources created by teachers for teachers like you!
This collection of teacher-created resources is designed to support primary teachers as they implement their behaviour management strategies with printable reward charts, motivational posters and more!
Looking for tips and ideas to make your behaviour management more successful? Take a peek at some strategies from our teacher team!
What Is Behaviour Management?
Behaviour management is a proactive strategy for teachers to handle behaviour in the classroom. By setting up solid student organisation strategies, creating clear rules and expectations and providing consistent feedback, teachers set students up for success.
A good behaviour management strategy will give students:
- Specific expectations
- Positive reinforcement when expectations are met
- Fair and consistent consequences when expectations are not met
For example, of the most popular behaviour management strategies these days is CHAMPS, which stands for Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement and Participation. The goal is to provide students with an instructional structure that promotes responsibility and motivates students.
Why Is Behaviour Management Important?
Strongly backed by research, behaviour management strategies like CHAMPS have been shown to:
- Provide students with a sense of connection to school and their peers
- Promote a productive learning environment
- Minimise classroom disruptions
Behaviour Management Strategies
Before we dig in too deeply, it's worth stressing that the goal of the strategies you're about to read is to accentuate the positive, that is, to keep control of the behaviour in your classroom in a positive way.
We've also included a mix of strategies that will help you prevent negative behaviour as well as some simple things you can do to curb unwanted behaviour in the classroom.
Redirect
This technique is simple, yet effective. When you notice a child is off-task, simply move their attention from one thing to another. For example, if one student is distracting another student, you may direct their attention to the work at hand by saying you'll be over in a few minutes or simply asking that student what they are up to.
Ignore Secondary Behaviour
When a child is being warned about inappropriate behaviour, you may notice a secondary behaviour, such as an eye roll or a delayed response to a question. This behaviour is often to avoid humiliation in front of peers.
If the initial poor behaviour has stopped, ignoring the secondary behaviour — as long as no one is in danger and it hasn't caused additional classroom disruption — can prevent the situation from escalating. If you feel you need to, you may opt to talk to that student one on one after the lesson to reflect on the situation (without the audience of the other students).
Plan Your Transitions
A transition in a classroom is when a student moves from one activity to another. It can be a significant change such as transitioning from a PE lesson back into the classroom or a more minor change such as transitioning from time on the carpet back to their seats.
For little brains, transitions can be tricky as they need to go from an active state to a focused state ready for learning, and this is where inappropriate behaviour may start to fester.
Planning for how you and your students should transition can help avoid this situation from escalating. A simple transition for the example of going from PE back to class, for example, could be to use a fun movement such as walking like a ballet dancer back to class.
Make sure to explicitly teach students what they should be doing during transitions, so they know the sort of behaviour you expect!
Offer Choices
Providing a student choice is extremely powerful! It makes them feel like they are in the power seat, when in fact, you've planned it out beautifully! When you notice inappropriate behaviour, instead of issuing a demand, offer a student a choice of two options. The first choice would be the route you'd like them to take. The second is the consequence of not taking the first option.
For example, 'Zane, would you like to remove yourself from the distracting spot you're sitting in, and complete your work? Or, would you like to stay with me at lunchtime to complete the work then?'
You'll find that most of the time, the student will take the better option in this scenario.
Attention Grabbing
This is similar to the 'redirect' option, but this is a strategy to use if a number of students are starting to get off task. Use some fun attention-grabbing techniques like call and response ( you can download our Attention Grabbing Phrase Cards and use those!).
You can then redirect the group's attention back to the work by providing some more information that may support them in finishing off the task.
Use Positive Non-Verbal Reminders
You don't always have to use your voice for your behaviour management to work. Non-verbal reminders can be equally powerful and limit the disruption to the class. Simple non-verbals like stopping what you're saying and smiling at the student who may be off task is sometimes all that is needed for some students. This lets them know you know they're off-task in a gentle way.
Another non-verbal reminder is to simply lower your body down to the level of the child while you continue with the teaching, or, a simple tap on their desk as you walk past.
Set Up a Calm Corner
Little children experience BIG emotions, and often when they are trying to deal with these big emotions, they struggle with self-regulation.
Another behaviour management strategy that will work for some children is just some time away from the hustle and bustle of the classroom. If you have the space, set up a corner of the classroom for students to 'chill out.' You can fill the space with fidget toys, weighted blankets, wobble cushions, a tub of sensory toys and similar objects, plus some mindful colouring-in sheets!
If you are noticing a student that isn't responding to the smaller behaviour management strategies, 5 minutes in the chill-out corner/area may help this student.
Another idea — Sending a student to another teacher with a 'note' that says something simple such as 'John needed some space.' This gets the student out and about, and gives them some purpose by having the very important job of delivering the note to the other teacher.
Utilise Movement
We know a student's attention span is short, and yet we expect them to sit and listen and use their brains for long periods of time ... often longer than their age allows. Ensuring you have had a lot of movement integrated into your day is a great way to limit the number of behaviour situations you may encounter in a day.
It could be as simple as a 'stop work and stretch at your desks' type situation, but you may be surprised by how planning these movement breaks into your day can improve behaviour in the classroom.
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Remember to Write Your Name Poster (Lower Primary)
Make nameless student work a thing of the past with this poster reminding students to write their name on their work.
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Good Listener Posters
Use this poster to teach your students how to be good listeners.
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Social Story Cards and Templates
Create individualised social stories for students in your classroom with this versatile set of social story cards and templates.
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Weekly Progress Report Template
Use a printable weekly progress report template to keep parents up-to-date on their student's behaviour and work habits.
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Hand Signals For Classroom Management
Strengthen classroom management and reduce classroom interruptions with miniature hand signal posters and bookmarks.
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Behaviour Learning Ladder - Vertical Chart
A vertical tracking chart for students behaviour in the classroom.
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Caught Being Good! Class Reward System
Reward and track positive classroom behaviour with a printable 'Caught Being Good' ticket system.
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Positive Self-Talk Brag Bracelets
Encourage a positive mindset with a fun set of printable positive self-talk bracelets.
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Back to School Problem Solving Task Cards
Use this set of 20 task cards when teaching behaviour expectations during your back-to-school lessons.
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Happy Note Home
Communicate positive messages to parents and guardians with a Happy Note Home letter template.
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Class Behaviour Tracker - Ice Cream Template
Track and reward positive classroom behavior with a fun ice-cream themed behaviour tracker chart.
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My Cooperation Sticker Chart
Promote and reward cooperative behaviour with a pack of printable cooperation sticker charts.
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We Can Cooperate Mini Book
Read to learn about cooperative behaviour with a printable one-page foldable mini book.
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Sticker Chart - Boho Theme
Reward positive behaviour in style with this boho themed sticker chart.
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Sticker Chart – Rainbow Theme
Encourage positive behaviour and track progress with this rainbow-themed sticker chart.
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Social Stories - Personal Space
Learn about the importance of leaving personal space when interacting with others with this personal space social story.
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Cooperation Word Search
Review vocabulary and boost your students’ cooperative interaction skills with a word search worksheet.
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Making Mistakes – Sorting Activity
Help your students recognise different types of mistakes and discuss ways to learn from them with this SEL activity.
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Being a Good Listener Mini-Book
Develop and reinforce appropriate listening skills with this printable social skills mini-book.
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Just Be... Classroom Behaviour Expectation Posters
Set clear classroom expectations and provide daily behaviour reminders to your students with a set of colourful 'Be-haviour' posters.
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PRIDE Classroom Rules Poster Set
Display these classroom rules posters to encourage your students to take PRIDE in good behaviour.
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I Put My Hand Up to Speak Poster
A set of posters to scaffold appropriate behaviour for the students when speaking in class.
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Plain Sky Blue - Award Certificate
A plain sky blue-themed award to provide positive feedback and encouragement to your students.
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Race to Uluru – Class Behaviour Management Game
A whole class game played between the teacher and students to encourage good class behaviour.
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Classroom Manners Poster
We always use our manners by saying…
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Desk Reward Chart - Monsters
A set of monster themed desk charts to reward and motivate students in the classroom.
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I Can't Always Win Mini-Book
Teach your students to cope when they are not the winner with this social story mini-book.
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Social Stories - Getting Ready for School
A social story to develop strategies and skills for getting ready for school.
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Social Stories - Activity Cards
Help your students build social skills and practise concepts learned within our social stories with a set of printable task cards.
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Race Around The World - Class Behaviour Management System
A whole class game played between the teacher and students to encourage good class behaviour.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Classroom Hand Sign Posters
A set of posters with common student requests to display in the classroom.