One of the ongoing issues at our school is inappropriate student behavior in unstructured settings. In particular, behavioral referrals from the lunchroom have increased in the past few years. The children have been too loud, visit other tables, act rude with their peers, and don't finish their food in the allotted time. There are many children who obviously don't apply their social skills to areas outside the classroom. Some ignore the rules, and others seem to want to comply, but appear to be overwhelmed by the chaotic environment. Staff members have often been reactive, intervening only after an inappropriate behavior has occurred.

Teaching kindergartners self-control
We decided to take action. Our goal consisted of helping kindergartners increase self-control in the lunchroom. We also wanted them to apply school rules beyond the classroom in general, extending them throughout the school.

We targeted kindergartners for two reasons. First, there are four sections of kindergarten in the school, and all the kindergarten teachers have been trained in the Responsive Classroom approach. Second, if the kindergarten students could learn proper lunchroom behavior, we hoped they would carry this behavior to the higher grades.

Our approach included building community among the kindergartners, discussing their hopes for the year, and making rules together so we could create the conditions for a friendly, safe lunchroom. We participated in the kindergarten Morning Meetings to become familiar with the students and support community building in the classroom. Everyone got to know one another in a friendly, fun way.

In the third week of school, we discussed lunchroom rules in all kindergarten Morning Meetings. We talked about what a safe and friendly lunchroom would look, sound, and feel like. Each homeroom created a set of rules. Then two student representatives from each class met together and consolidated the rules into five lunchroom rules for all the kindergarten classes to follow:

1. Keep your body to yourself
2. Eat and finish in time
3. Talk with an inside voice
4. Raise your hand to ask for help
5. Sit down until the teacher calls your classroom teacher's name

Then we invited all the kindergarten students to the lunchroom for a discussion and celebration of the new rules, which were posted on chart paper on the wall. Together we modeled each rule in action. Then we introduced "power eating" to the students. During the last five minutes of their lunchtime, the lights would be turned down, and the children would simply eat their lunch and not talk. After we modeled this for them, the students were given a snack so they would have the opportunity to practice power eating.

During the next few weeks, we encouraged and supported the students in learning and using the lunchroom rules. We reinforced what went well to affirm positive behaviors in the lunchroom. We rehearsed appropriate lunchroom behavior before entering the lunchroom and again whenever student behavior began to slip. When students' self-control needed improvement, we redirected them verbally.

Good results
In September, we tallied the number of times children got out of their seats or used loud voices, and there were many. By November these behaviors had greatly decreased, and our data showed that many were raising their hands when they needed help from one of the lunchroom aides. They no longer left their seats or yelled for help. Talking with an inside voice, raising your hand to ask for help, and sitting down until the teacher calls your classroom teacher's name are the three rules that influenced the improved behavior the most. And by this time, all but one student was eating lunch in the time allotted, largely because of the "eat and finish on time" rule.

We interviewed five students from the three kindergarten classrooms both early in our process, and again in November, about their perceptions of the lunchroom. The students had made a goal for the lunchroom and saw that in just over a month they had made progress toward their goals. They also saw that the lunchroom was a better place for everyone. And we adults saw that when we clearly identify specific problematic behaviors, we could be proactive and successfully turn things around.

Donna Senger is a speech and language pathologist, and Kay A. Olsen is a school psychologist; they both work at Milton East Elementary School in Milton WI.

This article first appeared in Origins: A Newsletter for Elementary Educators, Fall 2010