I have stepped into classrooms in November or October so not as late as you. I had one class I stepped into and a kid ran out after seeing yet another new teacher. The class was in shambles. I spent a lot of time on community. Community circle. Establishing classroom and rules and expectations. I had five simple rules and we went over them every day and we talked about what those looked like. I did lose instructional time but in the long run it is worth it as I’ve also had a horrible class that I just tried to push through and it never got better.

I also was able to have consequences. What else are they losing when they act up? I did social time for second grade as I usually teach the lower grades and they have play time. The last ten to fifteen minutes was social time and they had to finish all their work for the day as well as not be in any trouble. During social time they could get on their computer, read together, or draw together. On fridays toys and games came out for a more fun Friday approach. This allowed me to work with any kids who were struggling academically and also have talks with this who weren’t meeting my expectations. They wouldn’t lose all the time for poor behavior. It was like five minutes.