With the beginning of the school year right around the corner, I wanted to share some classroom management ideas that I use with my students. These simple ideas really do help maintain order and set expectations for the kids (aka everyone is less stressed and can enjoy learning!)
The first idea is having classroom rules posted up for the students to see and review.
At the beginning of the year it is SO important to explicitly teach the classroom rules and how you expect them to behave. This is done through modeling, practice, repetition, praising them, and more PRACTICE! These posters are great visuals to display in the room to teach the rules, remind the rules, and to improve behavior. :)
Print the rectangle OR circles, whichever you want!
I also want to make a little decodable over the first week of school, review the classroom rules, so I included that in the pack as well! The students illustrate a picture for each classroom rule!
Transitioning the students from the carpet to a beautiful line at the door is sometimes a struggle. I created a simple and engaging way to create a structured
Line Up Buddies...
Do you ever want to rip your hair out dismissing your kids to line up?
This product is to help you dismiss your kids to line up in a calm and organized manner. After teaching Kindergarten for several years, I learned classroom management tricks through trial and error. I could that it was challenging telling 30 (or more) five year olds to line up at the door without running, pushing, and sprinting to get there first. Then I discovered if I dismissed them in small groups, the while process went a lot smoother.
Here is where Line Up Buddies come in: Pick a stick and fill in the blank with different answers. The students get to line up if what you say applies to them.
Examples:
One stick says: If your favorite color is __________.
You will then say different colors and the students get to line up when you say their favorite color. Once there are about 4 students left sitting, I just dismiss the rest of them to line up.
There are 24 different buddies for you to print out. I just hot glued them onto popsicle sticks, but you could leave off the sticks, and just keep them in a little basket near you. You could also use these to help transition the students from their desks to the carpet, or various parts of the room!
The next idea is helpful when calling on students to participate or give answers in class! This by far, has been the best method of pulling sticks for volunteers in the classroom. In order to ensure that everyone is participating and that I am not calling on the same children over and over, I use these sticks to make sure that everyone gets an equal turn. Here is how it works:
Each child has a popsicle stick with their name on it. The ends of the popsicle sticks are painted red on one side and blue on the other.
To start out, all of the sticks are pointed up with the blue end showing.
Blue means that those students have not had a turn yet. I pull out one of the blue sticks and read then name. Then I flip it over to the red side when I put it back in the container.
It is easy to spot the blue sticks that have not had a turn yet. Once all of the sticks are read, then I flip them over to the blue side.
I explain to them that once I flip them all over to blue, then anyone's name could get pulled again! It works like a charm. ;)
