Why Behavior Feels Worse Right Now ~ Ep. 158

Why Kindergarten Behavior Problems Feel Worse Right Now and What to Do About It

If your class was doing so well and suddenly you’re wondering what happened, you’re probably seeing a very normal shift in kindergarten behavior problems. Early November is when many classrooms hit a behavior slump, and it happens pretty much every year. Students who seemed to have routines down may suddenly need more reminders, have a harder time focusing, or start testing boundaries you thought were already established. There are several reasons this happens, and understanding what’s behind the behavior can help you figure out what your students need from you next.

The important thing to remember is that behavior is communication. Instead of only focusing on stopping a behavior, look at what your students may be communicating through it. Are they testing boundaries, struggling with increased academic expectations, forgetting routines, or simply tired from the demands of the school year? Once you start looking at behavior this way, you can respond by teaching the skills and expectations your students still need.

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The Honeymoon Phase Is Over

At the beginning of the school year, students are learning about you, their classmates, and their new classroom. By November, they’re much more comfortable with you, which is a good thing. However, that comfort also means they’re more likely to start testing boundaries again and figuring out exactly what they can get away with. You’re also beginning to see more of who your students really are, including their strengths and the areas where they need more support.

This shift is developmentally normal, even though it can make your classroom suddenly feel very different. The routines and expectations that seemed solid a few weeks ago might start slipping, or students may begin pushing back against boundaries they previously followed. That doesn’t necessarily mean your classroom management has stopped working. It may simply mean your students need you to reinforce those boundaries again now that the beginning-of-the-year honeymoon phase has passed.

Academic Demands Are Getting Harder

Another reason you may see more kindergarten behavior problems is that academic expectations naturally increase as the year progresses. Students are expected to work for longer periods of time, stay focused longer, become more independent, and handle frustration when something is difficult. Those expectations require skills that not every child has developed yet. When students don’t have the academic or self-regulation skills needed to meet a demand, that struggle can show up as behavior.

A lot of behavior happens when something is either too hard or when a child is bored. As academic demands increase, you’re more likely to see behavior from students who aren’t ready for a particular task, need additional academic support, or have difficulty focusing and working independently. What looks like a classroom management problem might actually be a student communicating, “I don’t know how to do this,” or, “This is too hard for me.” That’s why it’s important to look beyond the behavior itself and think about what was happening immediately before it.

When you notice a behavior happening consistently during academic work, consider the demands you’re putting on that student. Does the child understand the skill? Can they complete the work independently, or are you expecting independence before they’re ready for it? Are they able to focus for the amount of time the activity requires? Looking at those questions can help you determine whether you need to address the behavior directly or provide more support with the task that’s triggering it.

Your Classroom Routines May Have Started to Drift

Think back to the beginning of the school year and how much time you spent explicitly teaching classroom routines. You explained expectations, practiced them, reminded students what to do, and consistently reinforced the behaviors you wanted to see. As the year gets busier and you feel like students should know the routines by now, it’s easy to stop giving those expectations the same amount of attention. That’s when routine drift can start.

Routines naturally weaken when you stop intentionally practicing and reinforcing them. Maybe you let one small thing slide because you’ve already spent so much time teaching that routine, and then another small thing starts slipping too. Students quickly notice what you’re no longer holding them accountable for, and they begin figuring out what else they can get away with. Before long, a routine that worked really well at the beginning of the year can start feeling much more difficult.

It’s also easy to forget about reinforcing what students are doing correctly. At the beginning of the year, you’re constantly noticing and reinforcing the routines you want students to follow. As you get further into the year, your attention may naturally move toward academics and everything else you need to accomplish. When you stop intentionally reinforcing those routines, you may start noticing more kindergarten behavior problems during times of the day that previously ran smoothly.

Sometimes You Just Need to Reteach the Routine

If a classroom routine has started falling apart, don’t be afraid to teach it again. Your students aren’t too far into the school year to practice how morning meeting works, how to transition, or what you expect during independent work. If you find yourself giving the same reminders every single day, that’s a pretty good sign that the routine needs more than another quick reminder. It probably needs to be intentionally retaught and practiced.

Morning meeting is a great example. If you’re constantly saying, “Remember, we’re quiet,” “Sit in the circle,” or “Wait for your turn,” you don’t have to keep repeating those reminders every morning. Instead, stop and tell students that you’ve noticed morning meeting has been starting with a lot of reminders and that it’s time to review the expectations. Ask students to tell you what those expectations are, and then give them an opportunity to practice doing the routine correctly.

Reteaching doesn’t mean starting the entire school year over again. Choose the routines that are causing the most problems and focus your attention there. Your students may simply need the same kind of explicit teaching and reinforcement you gave them at the beginning of the year. Spending a little time reteaching now can make that part of your day much easier moving forward.

Emotional Fatigue Can Show Up as Behavior

There’s another simple reason behavior can feel harder at this point in the year: everyone is tired. Your students have been working hard for months, and so have you. As that emotional fatigue builds, children may have a harder time focusing, managing frustration, solving problems, and regulating their emotions. Sometimes everyone benefits from slowing down a little.

This is a good time to bring back movement breaks, brain breaks, and mindfulness breaks if they’ve disappeared from your schedule. It’s also important to continue focusing on social-emotional learning instead of letting it get pushed aside as academic demands increase. Students still need explicit opportunities to learn how to handle their emotions, solve problems, be kind to others, and regulate themselves. Those aren’t extra skills separate from classroom management because they’re the skills students need to successfully manage classroom expectations.

Look at What the Behavior Is Telling You

When behavior increases, your first question should be why. Is the behavior happening across the whole class, which might suggest that students are testing routines and boundaries again? Is it happening primarily during challenging academic activities, which could point to frustration or missing skills? Or is one student struggling because they don’t yet know how to handle a particular social situation, emotion, or expectation?

Your students are showing you what they still need to learn. That might mean they need a classroom routine retaught, additional academic support, or direct instruction in a social-emotional skill. They may need help recognizing the difference between a small problem and a bigger problem, solving a conflict independently, being kind to others, or handling strong feelings. Observing when and where the behavior happens gives you information you can use to decide what to teach next.

This is also why responding to behavior can’t only be about reacting after something goes wrong. If you recognize that students are missing a particular skill, you can teach it proactively before the next problem happens. The goal is to give students the skills they need so they can respond differently when they’re frustrated, tired, or faced with a problem. When you teach those skills before they’re needed, you’re helping prevent some behaviors from happening altogether.

Choose One Routine to Reteach This Week

You don’t need to fix every kindergarten behavior problem in your classroom at the same time. Instead, choose one routine that has started to drift and intentionally reteach it this week. Think about the part of your day when you find yourself repeating the most reminders, because that’s probably a good place to start. Tell students what you’ve noticed, ask them to explain the expectations, and then give them a chance to practice the routine correctly.

If you’re noticing that your students need more than a routine reminder, focus on the social-emotional skill underneath the behavior. Use the social-emotional learning resources mentioned in this episode to explicitly teach skills like problem-solving, kindness, recognizing the size of a problem, and managing feelings and emotions. The more proactively you teach the skills your students need, the better prepared they’ll be to use those skills when a difficult moment happens.

Most importantly, don’t assume that an increase in behavior means everything you worked on at the beginning of the year has disappeared. Your students are more comfortable, academic demands are increasing, routines may need reinforcement, and everyone is getting tired. Pay attention to what the behavior is communicating, then respond by teaching what your students still need to learn. Sometimes one intentionally retaught routine is exactly where you need to start.

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