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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Visual First-Then Schedule for the Classroom
Communicate a sequence of events with this visual first-then board and set of 48 picture cards.
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Desk Pet Habitat Templates
Encourage positive behaviour with printable Desk Pet Habitats for your students to spend their Desk Pet Dollars on!
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THINK Strategy - Think Before You Speak Poster
Promote positive communication using the THINK strategy and our printable Think Before You Speak Poster.
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Growth Mindset Colouring Pages
Inspire creativity and encourage your students to think positively with a set of growth mindset colouring pages.
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Classroom Catastrophe Scale – Display
Help your students gauge the severity of everyday challenges with this wall display.
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Big Problem or Little Problem? – Sorting Activity
Use our Big Problem vs. Little Problem activity cards and worksheets to help your students learn to manage peer relationships in the classroom.
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Personal Goal Reward Charts
Reward positive behaviour for individual students with editable and printable behaviour reward charts.
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I'm Done! Early Finishers Choice Board Display
Build a useful ‘I’m Done, Now What?’ classroom display with a printable early finisher choice board display.
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Virtual Classroom Management - Interactive Reward Charts
Track and reward extraordinary class behaviour with a set of fun digital reward tracking slides.
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Behaviour Expectations Visual Cue Posters
Set clear behaviour expectations with these visual cue posters for the classroom.
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Superheroes - Desk Reward Chart
Motivate and reward students in the classroom with a set of superhero themed desk charts.
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Behaviour Sticker Charts
Reward positive behaviour for struggling students with editable reward charts.
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Good Choice or Bad Choice? Worksheet
Help your students differentiate between good and bad behaviour choices with a cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Social Skills Lessons - Cooperation Worksheets
Teach social skills lessons on cooperation with a set of printable SEL worksheets.
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Behaviour Reflection Sheet (Lower Primary)
Get your young students to reflect on their behaviours with this reflection worksheet.
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Coping With Change - Social Story Mini Book
A social story to develop coping skills for when there is a change in the routine.
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Editable End-of-Year Certificate Templates
Reward students with End-of-Year merit awards specifically tailored to their special strengths and abilities with customisable certificate templates.
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A Walk in My Shoes – Empathy Task Cards
Use these empathy scenario cards with your students when teaching them about social awareness.
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Classroom Jobs Display
Keep track of classroom responsibilities with a Classroom Jobs Display!
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Behaviour Reward Charts - Stars
Reward positive behaviour in style with a printable behaviour sticker chart.
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Being a Good Friend – Mini-Book
A social story to develop social skills for being a good friend.
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Tattling vs Telling Poster
Teach your students the difference between ‘tattling’ and ‘telling’ with this classroom display poster.
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Goal Setting Thermometer Template
Set and track individual and whole-class goals with a printable goal-setting thermometer template.
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Classroom Procedures Checklist
Determine and track which classroom procedures and routines you will teach at the beginning of the school year with a classroom procedures checklist and tracking sheet.
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Cooperation Puzzles - Teamwork Activity
Explore the benefits of cooperation with a tangram-style team-building activity.
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Lining Up Mini-Book
Teach your students the proper way to line up with this printable mini-book.
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Teacher Waiting Room - Clip System
Calm classroom chaos when students need one-on-one help from the teacher with a printable Teacher Waiting List Clip System!
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Keeping My Hands and Feet to Myself Mini-Book
Teach your students about the importance of keeping their hands and feet to themselves with this printable mini-book.
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Making Good Choices Mini-Book
Help your students develop strategies for making good choices with this printable social story mini-book.
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Classroom Routines for Independent Work Checklist
Give your students a checklist to remind them of classroom routines to follow when working independently.
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Digital Reward Chart – Marble Jar
Celebrate classroom successes with a fully digital marble jar classroom reward chart.
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Kindness Words - Word Wall
Print a set of kindness word cards to use during your social-emotional learning lessons.