First, a *big* congrats to the two winners of my Bloglovin' Giveaway: Andrea K. & Cathy P.! Check your email, ladies, and you get the choice of any two products from my store :) Now, onto something I am sososo excited about! I came across a fantastic idea on Pinterest from Sugar Blossoms and had to share it with you all as soon as I could! Click the image above to be taken to T.J.'s super-cute site Sugar Blossoms T.J. at Sugar Blossoms not only came up with the greatest set of classroom cheers, she also made reminder cards and videos to show each one- yahoo! As soon as I saw these, I immediately thought of using them as alternatives to our class' 10-Finger Woo! You can read all about that HERE, but the short of it is that anytime a student volunteers/shares an answer/does something awesome in my class, I'll say, "Let's give so-and-so a 10-Finger Woo!" and we'll all wave our fingers at that person and give a short "Woo!". It's a lot of fun :) I'm loving these great alternatives to spice it up throughout our school year- I think my initial favorites are the Firework Cheer, Raise the Roof, and Snap & Cheer. I cannot wait to try them out with next year's class! For more in-depth description of each cheer, as well as a video of each, be sure to head to Sugar Blossoms! Do you use similar cheers in your class? What are some of your favorites?

Thousands of teachers have used these tried and true GUARANTEED tups to stop students from blurting out. Chatty Class? YOU NEED TO READ THIS!

So the lesson finished earlier than you expected. And now you have ten minutes to fill. Ten. Minutes. For many teachers, the very thought can make them break out in hives. Because, even when you have a reliable activity you can pull out at ... Read more

3 examples of classroom management strategies to help you regain control of your classroom through effective behavior management.

I have posted about this strategy before, but it was tucked into the middle of some Daily 5 info, and I definitely feel it deserves a spot of its own... especially this time of year! Do you ever find yourself answering questions about directions you gave just a few seconds ago? Do you have students interrupting your conferences with another student to ask you where something is located in the classroom? My solution is to introduce Ask 3 Before Me. I have used this for many years and LOVE it! The basic idea is that if a student is wondering where something gets turned in, where something is in the class, any of those types of questions, and you are in the middle of something important, you can simply say, "Ask 3 Before Me" and hold up three fingers. This means they can ask three students in class their question and if no one knows the answer, they can come back to you. Later on, I only hold up three fingers as a reminder of this policy. Here is a video from Teaching Channel that explains Ask 3 Before Me beautifully: Here are some additional helpful tidbits: We talk a lot about making good choices when it comes to who to ask. If you weren't paying attention to the directions because you were talking to a friend, they probably aren't a good person to ask because you were both not following Rule #1: Listen when your teacher is talking :) I never, ever, ever {cue Taylor Swift song that my girls were singing today} have a student do this if they are unsure of an academic concept or if they are legitimately questioning something. This is simply a reminder for my students to not always rely on me and to not only ask others, but to also try to problem-solve (and listen!) the first time. I loved the correlation to real-life business in the above video! I hang a sign on the side of my desk and near my teaching chair in the meeting area to remind kids of this procedure. This allows me to hold up three fingers and point to the sign if I need to :) There are quite a few SUPER-CUTE signs from Down Under Teacher in her TpT Store!! She has: Western Theme Jungle Theme Pirate Theme Colorful block letters Check them out! I also made one that matches a lot of signage in my room, like my Class Rules and some of my other projects. You can grab it for FREE from Google Docs HERE. Do you use Ask 3 Before Me in your class? How does it go?

Hey y'all! Over the past couple of weeks I've had some questions from teachers about how I use Class Dojo in my classroom and utilizing my...

Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...

Have you ever used Class-Yes to get your class' attention? I LOVE it and it's so much fun to vary its delivery. There are at least a thousand ways to say Class-Yes in your class and a few of them live on this post HERE. Some new ideas I have been trying are shouting out math facts (addition only, for now) and having my kids reply with the answer. For example, doing some doubles one time, or all combinations of ten for another. It typically takes me 2-3 times to have the entire class' attention, and the extra practice never hurts :) One thing I am loving this time of year is adding in some additional words so it's not always "Class" that I am saying out to the group. Since it's Halloween season, my new phrase this week is "Hocus Pocus" and the kids reply "Everybody Focus." Click on the sign above or HERE to pick up this freebie from Google Docs. I hope you can use it as a super-fun way to keep Class-Yes fresh :) Here are some additional ideas, courtesy of Dragonflies in First: Hope you are enjoying your week so far!

Last week we talked about how to be consistent with your classroom management plan. Which is especially important to begin the school year. This alone will go a long way toward creating the learning environment you really want. Once you’ve conquered this challenge, however, ... Read more

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This idea is actually a gem that one of my students thought of years ago! This fun trick will get students as young as Kindergarten to stop chatting! It's one of my favorite classroom management tricks!

The green and red choice board is a universal support available for all students to support their social-emotional behavior.

Love podcasts? Check out this post in the form of a podcast episode on The Classroom Commute Podcast !

 View from front door Computer Station Guided reading table...this is also where I have my mailboxes for kids and guided reading s...

Tips for getting students' attention and quieting a chatty class. Behavior management

classroom management, classroom control

Here’s a few classroom procedures that have worked well for me – and a couple awesome ideas I’ve run across since I’ve stepped out of the classroom...

Are you looking for a fun, hands-on way to encourage your students to consistently make good choices? rn

Hi everyone! It's Kim again from Elementary Antics and I am so excited to share about The Blurt Box! A couple of years ago I had a pretty tough class. I had some amazing kiddos, but a few of them just loved to talk, push each other's buttons and were extremely impulsive. I tried proximity control to help these students' behaviors- they sat next to my desk or table when working independently, in the very front row at the carpet, etc. I tried partnering them with another student that modeled good behaviors, partnering them with a student that they could "help", praising good behavior, sticker charts- I basically felt like I tried everything I knew. At that point I wasn't a new teacher and I had always had excellent classroom management, but I felt like I was failing. I was constantly having to stop during lessons to redirect someone's attention, remind someone to stop talking or stop calling out despite going over the expectations beforehand each time. It was driving me nuts and I felt badly for the kids who were always paying attention and following the rules. After some reflection, I determined that the main behavior that I needed to target was the blurting or calling out in class and during whole group lessons. I had a handful of kiddos that were doing this consistently and it was disruptive. So, I turned to Google and started searching for an idea that might help me since everything I had tried before just wasn't cutting it. That's when I found The Blurt Box, well it wasn't called The Blurt Box per se, but that's what we called it in my classroom. The idea was basically this: Use nonverbal signals to stop the blurting- red paper squares. The first thing I did was call my kiddos to our carpet (class meeting area) and explained to them again exactly what blurting was and why we were not doing it. I made a sign on a 8x11 piece of paper that said "NO BLURTING" and taped it to my easel and onto my whiteboard. I told them that anytime someone blurted out when it was inappropriate to do so I would not be reminding them of our rules again. I would simply point to the sign and hand them a red square. That's it. At the end of the lesson, or when it was appropriate, they would write their name and date on the square and put it in the "Blurt Box". At the end of the first day, I dumped out all of the red squares and tallied up the squares for each student. The students with red squares had them stapled to a behavior sheet which was sent home and signed by a parent. This was just to show the parent that their student needed to start showing a little bit more self control and reign in the impulsive behaviors. Any students that did not receive any red squares that day got a green square. And any student that had a green square that day got a special treat (I was implementing this around Halloween so my treats consisted of little erasers {Target Dollar Deals section}, cool googily eyed stickers, pencils, etc.) and a behavior sheet with their green square stapled to it to be signed by a parent and returned. Every time a green square behavior sheet was turned it it was put in a special basket and I would draw a couple of names throughout the day to get a special something as extra incentive- usually a small candy like Starburst or Smarties. I did this every day for one week. I know it sounds like a lot of work- and it was. I had to plan to leave an extra 10 minutes at the end of my day every day that week to tally the squares and hand out behavior sheets and treats. But, IT WAS WORTH IT! The first day we had over 60 red squares and by the end of the week we had 10! Even my paraprofessional who would come in about an hour a day was commenting on how amazing the students were doing- especially my couple who were the extreme cases. Most students went from a red day to a green day by the end of the week. And those who didn't made huge improvements in the amount of times they were calling out and I made sure to celebrate those accomplishments with them and make sure their parent knew about them too. I obviously could not keep up the daily tallying forever, so after the first week I still gave out red square each time someone blurted or called out at an inappropriate time, but I only gave out a green square if they had no red squares after 2 days, then 4 days, then each week. After a few weeks, I just would point to my sign and that was it. This method was a huge success for me and I hope it can help you the year you find yourself with a class full of blurters! Follow my Classroom Management board on Pinterest for more great ideas!

What in the world is a dodecahedron? I have to admit, these twelve-sided shapes have become one of the highlights of my curriculum! A dodecahedron is a twelve-sided, 3-D shape that displays all of the the learning we have done with our huge research project in third grade: Colorado Animals. We have done all sorts of other things in the past (see a few ideas HERE), but this has become the project that continues to make such a huge impact year after year. Not only does this display a wide variety of learning, the assembly and construction are so much fun! I have had siblings of former students so excited to make them since they have seen their older brother's or sister's hanging in their room for years. Filling Out A Dodecahedron The idea is simple, but does require some planning and a lot of cardstock! You will need twelve different pages to make your final project. We use my Animal Research Dodecahedron (found on TpT HERE), and I make a mix of lined and blank pages, along with a title page, an About the Author page, and some graphic organizers. We are pretty explicit as we go through each page. I will pass them out one at a time as we go through our research. The lined pages are reserved for nonfiction paragraphs that students write from their bullet pointed notes gathered from research. The blank pages are filled with illustrations to highlight key information or additional information not found in the paragraphs. We always begin with the title page and About the Author since those don't require much research and can ease the students into the concept of these pages. Every dodecahedron side has tabs that will need to be colored to really make the project pop. At the end, these tabs will be folded outward, glued and stapled, to create the 3-D shape for display. As the students create these pages, they cut out the circles and keep all twelve in their folders until it's time to assemble. Assembling The Dodecahedron Assembly Day is always so much fun! I have students make two piles of six pages each. They will be making "flower" shapes with these pages, so they will need to fold all of the tabs towards them before they start. They will decide on a "center" page and glue the rest of the five pages to each of the center's tabs. They will then go back and staple each tab together. The extra reinforcement will pay off, trust me! With the other stack of six circles, they will repeat the same process so that they have two "flowers" ready to go. Once they have these flowers, they can typically see how the dodecahedrons will come together. We next make "hats" or "bowls"-- up to you-- by gluing the nearby tabs together, making a half sphere with each flower. After gluing and stapling these sides, you will attach the spheres together and voila! Hole punch a tab and tie some string to it so you can hang these in your classroom. They always get rave reviews from other students, teachers, and parents! . . . I currently have several Dodecahedron Research Projects, including Animal Research, U.S. Presidents, and 50 States, in my TpT Store. I am working on adding more throughout the next few weeks, so be sure to follow my store for the latest updates. Happy researching!

Behavior calendars aren't the helpful classroom management tool that you might think. Check out this post to see what you should use instead!

Got a talkative class? Check out these 5 ways to quiet the chatter!

There is a common misconception that you must have a big presence to be an effective leader. You must psych yourself up, throw your shoulders back, and move boldly among your students. Your voice must boom. Your walk must swagger. Your eyes must squint ... Read more

Have you ever had a class with so many difficult, disruptive students that you felt that you could barely even teach? What can you do to get past it? In this post, I am going to address this problem with my best advice, and some advice from others as well.

It's hard to talk to students without making it a lecture. Empower students while you teach them about respect using hands on activities

Classroom noise levels can make or break a great lesson! I've got three reasons you're struggling to get your class to be quiet, and how you can fix them!

Music Classroom Management Tool We have all seen the “NOISE” post on Pinterest (when the students are making noise – they lose a letter). I’ve taken that and combined …

I had the opportunity to visit another school yesterday to be a part of their site review team. It was an incredible experience and something I wish teachers had the opportunity to do more. Seeing wonderful teachers in action is the BEST professional development, in my opinion! One thing that I noticed in classrooms was a focus on Learning Targets. These were written on the front board and teachers & students referred to them throughout the day. One teacher had a great gesture to go along with these targets: At the end of the lesson, she had each student aim an imaginary bow at the target and if they felt they had "hit the target" they would release their imaginary arrows toward the board- loved it! Here's my Learning Targets board: It has had a ton of revising this year, but I am really enjoying this new look. I picked up these magnets from Learning Resources and love them! The top poster I made and you can pick it up for free below. I use the "I can" language to make it easier for the kids to understand. I definitely need to try to incorporate the bow & arrow movements :) Click HERE to download this sign for free! Do you all post your Learning Targets for each day or week or month? How does your board look? I started a new Pinterest Board on Learning Targets and Objectives-I would love to add your photo to the board- leave your link in the comments below! **UPDATE** Ryan is so excited we are talking about this!! ;) Source: google.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

For Management Monday today I thought I'd share about the behavior management system I used in my classroom for the past 3 years. I wanted to create something that was effective at helping students manage their own behavior and was also something that my students could understand and relate to. The soccer theme is a way to make it more fun for your students. Since soccer is a sport that a lot of your students will be familiar with, they will understand the meaning of a yellow card or a red card. If your students aren't familiar with the rules of soccer, you can easily explain it in a way that makes sense to your students. Here's how it works: This behavior plan follows a 3 step plan: verbal warning, yellow card, and red card. It also includes MVP awards to be handed out to students in your class who have outstanding behavior. Step 1 - Students who are not following the policies and procedures in your class will first get a polite verbal warning. (I usually go up to the student privately and privately whisper that I need them to remember the classroom the rules and politely ask them to fix their behavior.) Step 2 - If after a verbal warning, students are still struggling to follow classroom rules and procedures, they will get a yellow card. The student will need to fill out the card and answer questions about how they can fix their behavior. They then sign the card as a promise that they will fix their behavior. Step 3 - If after a verbal warning and a yellow card, your student is still not following directions, you can give them a red card. The card is the exact same as the one before, but is printed on red paper. I usually have the student go to another teacher's classroom or a quiet spot in the room where the student can reflect on their behavior before returning to class. Red cards can be sent home to parents or used to issue consequences in your classroom (I like to have them write an apology letter or sometimes I have them miss a few minutes of recess so I can explain why their behavior wasn't appropriate for class). MVP Cards - My students loved having the chance to earn MVP cards! I explained that MVP stands for Most Valuable Player and that they can earn MVP cards for their good behavior in class. I would look for different reasons to pass out MVP cards to my students. Sometimes it was for going out of their way to be kind, sometimes it was for setting a good example for the rest of the class, and sometimes it was for going above and beyond on an assignment. My students loved being able to go home and show their parents that they were the Most Valuable Player in class! I have found a lot of success with using this behavior management system in my class! I think it helps teach students to be more accountable of their own behavior and will help eliminate problems in your class. Most of my students would fix their behavior after the verbal warning and would never even get to the point where they get a yellow or red card. I have these printables available in my TeachersPayTeachers store. For the next two days (until Wed at midnight) I will offer this as a FLASH FREEBIE! You can go to my store and download this resource for FREE! After that, it will return to the regular price of $2.50. I hope this will help your students learn manage their own behavior and will eliminate some of the behavior problems you are having in your classroom! If you use this, I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments! SaveSave

I was nervous the day I walked into a high school to be a substitute for the very first time. I subbed for a health class which was a relief but I genuinely worried about the students harassing me. I arrived about 30 minutes early, acclimated myself to the classroom and began to pray. Lord, please help me to manage these students with poise and grace without losing my cool and screaming, Amen! Do you ever pray honestly in everyday words? I DO! The holy strategy I received and wrote on the board is : Yep! Simple as that, God told me to write "I am not a sub!" on the board. I thought "Is this really the #1 Best Class Management Ever for a Substitute Teacher?" I was amazed at the mesmerized looks on those kids faces when they walked into the room and read it. I immediately had their attention and their imaginations kept them occupied for a while. Some of them asked questions right off the bat, some of them made funny faces when they read it and some of them didn't even look my way. When everyone was seated I gave my introduction. I explained that today I am simply Tammy Stafford. Please don't think of me as a substitute teacher. I suggested I was there to help them. We are equals today and on the same level. I don't know anything about this health lesson but I'm here to learn. I proved my commitment by reading the lesson and answering the questions that was their assignment for the day. I also made a deal that if they respected me and I them, we would review all the answers before the class dismissed. They seemed to like this plan. My first experience as a sub for high school was a great success! Some students told me that was a clever trick to keep everyone quiet. They say a trick. I say the Trinity! I thanked God as I left the school that afternoon. He is so clever! Do you pray when you sub or teach? Do you have any proven ways to manage a classroom for a sub? Leave me a comment. I'm anxious to get a few new tricks up my sleeve! Subbing successfully sometimes, Tammy The Happy Handicap Needing teacher or substitute supplies? Looking for a deal at Oriental Trading? Visit their coupon page for the latest in sales.

Yesterday's Newsletter is Today's Classroom Podcast Ever thought about producing a classroom podcast? When I was a kid we had a class newsletter and it was so much fun to write and put it

It's so exciting to hear that so many of you are going to be trying Whole Brain Teaching this year! I know I am not alone in saying this, but when you do, you will love it and want to try more and more from this great program :) If you want to read all of my posts about it, you can by clicking HERE. Having received a lot of questions about how to start using WBT in your classroom, I want to share with you the top four principles of WBT, also known as the "Core 4". The Core 4 The Core 4 are, simply put, the four main things you can incorporate into your class to implement Whole Brain Teaching quickly, effectively, and with immediate results each and every day. They are: Class-Yes The Scoreboard Mirror Teach-Okay They are meant to: Bring the class together (Class-Yes) Keep them motivated (Scoreboard) Get them active (Mirror) Build community and be accountable for their learning (Teach-Okay) Class-Yes This is a wonderful call & response management technique that I am sure you have used in the past using different words, but with the same premise. As the teacher, I say, "Class?" and my students stop what they are doing, fold their hands and look at me, giving me their undivided attention, but not before replying, "Yes!". They key is they say "Yes!" in the exact same voice/style that I said "Class?". This can include, but is not limited to: whisper robot singing voice "Classity Class- Yessity Yes" "Classadoodle Doo- Yesadoodle Doo" "Ohhh Class? Ohh Yes!" and TONS more! I have posted more about this HERE, so head over for some additional ideas as well as a helpful video! The Scoreboard [source] While Class-Yes is a quick and fantastic way to get the class together, there needs to be some motivation to ensure that this is done super quick and you aren't having to call out Class-Yes more than two to three times to get their attention. This is where the Scoreboard comes in VERY HANDY! The setup is simple- a T-chart with a smiley on one side and a frown on the other. As you use Class-Yes, you reward kids with a smiley or a frown for how well they came back together. The celebrations or moans are quick in response to the point on either side of the chart. The key to keep up motivation is to keep the tallies within three points! This will ensure that kids are still trying to get the goodie at the end of the day (which is a fun Brain Break, a free minute of music playing, packing up one minute early, one extra minute of recess.... you get the idea!) I have posted more about the Scoreboard HERE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disclaimer: The third and fourth part of the Core 4 are meant for use during your teaching. Don't feel the need to do all of these on the very first day! As with everything, do what you are comfortable doing. It took me a while to use Mirror and Teach-Okay. I used Class-Yes and the Scoreboard for weeks before I felt confident enough to introduce them!!! Mirror Now that I am more confident with Whole Brain Teaching, I am LOVING the Mirror!! I admit, when I first started, I was not doing so well because it was hard for me to think of gestures to teach concepts. BUT, that changed when I started getting into the flow of WBT and there were times I even had the kids help! Mirror allows the kids to repeat your gestures as if they are your mirror as you teach a new concept. You teach a little with gestures, they gesture along with you. One thing to remember- mirrors don't talk!- so the focus is on your motor & visual cortexes and linking movement to their learning. If you do want your kids to repeat words and gestures, you would say "Mirror Words" and this time, kids would repeat what you said and your movements. This engages their motor and visual cortex as well as their Broca's and Wernicke's Areas. The gesture for mirror is holding up both hands, palms facing out and saying "Mirror". The kids repeat only using their hands, palms out. If you are using Mirror Words, you say "Mirror Words" and have one hand up and the other hand start at your mouth and them go to the regular Mirror position. Teach-Okay! How many of you have used Turn & Talk? This is similar, but instead of always using open-ended prompts, students are repeating the gestures and the teaching points to their partners. One will speak first while they both use gestures, then two will talk while they both use gestures, and this will continue until you call them back with Class-Yes. As the lesson continues, there will be times they will need to explain their thinking with examples use the word "because", but it's important that both students are taking turns talking and always gesturing during this time. The gestures for starting Teach-Ok is clapping and saying "Teach" while the students clap and reply "Okay". Just as you did with Class-Yes, mix it up to keep it fresh & fun!! Putting It All Together Remember this WONDERFUL video? It's what got me hooked on WBT :) Watch it again for the Core 4 (Class-Yes, Scoreboard, Mirror & Teach-Okay) and think about how you would incorporate them into your class this year. Don't you just LOVE WBT in action? And, I totally would LOVE to have this teacher, she's amazing!! As I stated above, it took me WEEKS to feel confident enough to incorporate all of these steps into my classroom, so don't feel you have to do even the Core 4 from the very beginning. I started with Class-Yes and the Scoreboard and went from there. The best part is that the kids are engaged, you are all having fun, and as a teacher, you are in Teacher Heaven :) If you are interested in my WBT Signs, you can find them in my TpT Store for free! They also match a set of WBT Classroom Rules. Let me know if you have any questions! As always, remember to check out the Whole Brain Teaching website for TONS of free information: http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/ I look forward to reading about your experiences with Whole Brain Teaching :)

A behavior notebook is a whole-class management technique for recording classroom misbehavior that integrates student reflection & ownership. It can quickly be implemented with any existing rules and discipline plan, and is used as an alternative to other methods such as a clip chart, card system, or writing names on the board. Each student …

How do you call on students in your classroom? I think our natural default as teachers is to call on the student with his/her hand up. It's quick, easy, and keeps the lesson going. What it eliminates, though, are the students who may need the lesson the most. Among others, they could be the students who are still working through their understanding, the ones who may be checking out since they know others will handle the answers, and those who may need a bit more wait time before they are able to answer. When we limit the responses to just the same few voices, it also brings down the energy and engagement in the room. When students know they will be randomly called on, they will need to be ready to answer at any time. As a teacher, this increases my own energy, too. Hearing from new voices with different views cultivates some amazing classroom discussions we would have otherwise missed out on! I am compiling my top five resources for randomly calling on students. If you have a favorite I missed, please leave it in the comments! Star Sticks These Star Sticks are the most popular in our classroom. At the beginning of the year, I pass out one star stick to each student with their name on the stick. They decorate their star with colored pencil any way they would like and we add it to our class jar. I use colored pencils because marker can sometimes smear or come off on hands. I also prefer the stars to the boy/girl cutouts since it makes it more uniform across the class. If I want to ensure I don't call on that student again, I will either put the stick aside, or put it back into the jar upside-down. That way I can make sure I get through the whole class before the rotation begins again. Pick up a set of 25 of these Star Sticks on Amazon HERE. Numbered Popsicle Sticks I love using student numbers in the classroom. Read more about this system HERE. The nice part about using student numbers in any of your classroom decor and routines is that you can reuse those materials year after year. I love these multicolored jumbo popsicle sticks and using metallic Sharpie paint pen to number them. After I call on a student, I can put their stick back in number-side down so I won't call on them again. I can also use these for all sorts of additional classroom organization needs, like calling up students one at a time for conferring. If they need a conference, they can place their numbered stick on my table and I can see who is ready and in what order. Tiny Decisions App The Tiny Decisions app is a great tool that is on my phone and preloaded with all of my students' names. I can hit the middle button and the wheel spins and lands on a random student's name. You can load several lists for different groups of students and there is an option to allow for repeats or not. The interface is so clear and colorful, you could display this on a projector if you'd like. There are so many different apps like this, some for free and some paid. I like this since it is free, although that does mean ads. I have an iPhone, so I am not sure if this exact app is available for Android, but it should be easy finding something comparable. Flippity.net Flippity is a web-based program that will turn your Google Sheets into anything you can imagine! Their Random Name Generator is fantastic. Not only can you randomly choose one student, you can make random groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5. You can also make teams, a seating chart, or a lineup! Their template comes with very specific instructions, so you will want to follow them to the letter and also bookmark the site for quick access. While you're there, take a peek at some of their other features. It's a very fun site to explore! Playing Cards We all have decks of playing cards that are missing some, so this is a great way to find a new use for that stack! Write a student's name on each card, then shuffle the deck and draw. You can also include the Jokers for "bonus points" to the next person drawn, or another fun incentive like that. This is a great system since a deck of cards is so easy to transport around the classroom or school. Some Additional Considerations An important thing to remember about randomly calling on your students is that it all comes down to the community you have established and knowing the individuals in your class. If students know they will be supported, if they have been exposed to the Growth Mindset, and if you have worked to create an encouraging classroom environment, randomly calling on any of them during a lesson will increase engagement and promote classwide discussions and inquiry. You can easily combine the ideas above to mix it up and keep it fresh. Having at least one that is easy to use and accessible will help substitutes or any guest teachers that want to use the system. No matter how supportive your classroom is, you may have some students who feel increased anxiety with this process. There are several strategies you may want to use with them, such as: Increased wait time Letting them pass, then be responsible for answering the next question Not being as "random" with these students-- you can let them know before a lesson that you will be calling on them so they can be ready Non-verbal cues, such as a hand signal or walking closer when you are getting ready to call on them Previewing some of the questions beforehand and allowing them prep time, or choosing the one they would like to answer You can work together to create a strategy that works best. Ensuring that these more reluctant students have buy-in to this process will help your whole class enjoy this time so much more. . . . Do you have any additional suggestions for randomly calling on students in your classroom? Happy teaching,

Are any of these ineffective teaching methods still part of your practice? Time to reconsider.

How do you call on students in your classroom? I think our natural default as teachers is to call on the student with his/her hand up. It's quick, easy, and keeps the lesson going. What it eliminates, though, are the students who may need the lesson the most. Among others, they could be the students who are still working through their understanding, the ones who may be checking out since they know others will handle the answers, and those who may need a bit more wait time before they are able to answer. When we limit the responses to just the same few voices, it also brings down the energy and engagement in the room. When students know they will be randomly called on, they will need to be ready to answer at any time. As a teacher, this increases my own energy, too. Hearing from new voices with different views cultivates some amazing classroom discussions we would have otherwise missed out on! I am compiling my top five resources for randomly calling on students. If you have a favorite I missed, please leave it in the comments! Star Sticks These Star Sticks are the most popular in our classroom. At the beginning of the year, I pass out one star stick to each student with their name on the stick. They decorate their star with colored pencil any way they would like and we add it to our class jar. I use colored pencils because marker can sometimes smear or come off on hands. I also prefer the stars to the boy/girl cutouts since it makes it more uniform across the class. If I want to ensure I don't call on that student again, I will either put the stick aside, or put it back into the jar upside-down. That way I can make sure I get through the whole class before the rotation begins again. Pick up a set of 25 of these Star Sticks on Amazon HERE. Numbered Popsicle Sticks I love using student numbers in the classroom. Read more about this system HERE. The nice part about using student numbers in any of your classroom decor and routines is that you can reuse those materials year after year. I love these multicolored jumbo popsicle sticks and using metallic Sharpie paint pen to number them. After I call on a student, I can put their stick back in number-side down so I won't call on them again. I can also use these for all sorts of additional classroom organization needs, like calling up students one at a time for conferring. If they need a conference, they can place their numbered stick on my table and I can see who is ready and in what order. Tiny Decisions App The Tiny Decisions app is a great tool that is on my phone and preloaded with all of my students' names. I can hit the middle button and the wheel spins and lands on a random student's name. You can load several lists for different groups of students and there is an option to allow for repeats or not. The interface is so clear and colorful, you could display this on a projector if you'd like. There are so many different apps like this, some for free and some paid. I like this since it is free, although that does mean ads. I have an iPhone, so I am not sure if this exact app is available for Android, but it should be easy finding something comparable. Flippity.net Flippity is a web-based program that will turn your Google Sheets into anything you can imagine! Their Random Name Generator is fantastic. Not only can you randomly choose one student, you can make random groups of 2, 3, 4, or 5. You can also make teams, a seating chart, or a lineup! Their template comes with very specific instructions, so you will want to follow them to the letter and also bookmark the site for quick access. While you're there, take a peek at some of their other features. It's a very fun site to explore! Playing Cards We all have decks of playing cards that are missing some, so this is a great way to find a new use for that stack! Write a student's name on each card, then shuffle the deck and draw. You can also include the Jokers for "bonus points" to the next person drawn, or another fun incentive like that. This is a great system since a deck of cards is so easy to transport around the classroom or school. Some Additional Considerations An important thing to remember about randomly calling on your students is that it all comes down to the community you have established and knowing the individuals in your class. If students know they will be supported, if they have been exposed to the Growth Mindset, and if you have worked to create an encouraging classroom environment, randomly calling on any of them during a lesson will increase engagement and promote classwide discussions and inquiry. You can easily combine the ideas above to mix it up and keep it fresh. Having at least one that is easy to use and accessible will help substitutes or any guest teachers that want to use the system. No matter how supportive your classroom is, you may have some students who feel increased anxiety with this process. There are several strategies you may want to use with them, such as: Increased wait time Letting them pass, then be responsible for answering the next question Not being as "random" with these students-- you can let them know before a lesson that you will be calling on them so they can be ready Non-verbal cues, such as a hand signal or walking closer when you are getting ready to call on them Previewing some of the questions beforehand and allowing them prep time, or choosing the one they would like to answer You can work together to create a strategy that works best. Ensuring that these more reluctant students have buy-in to this process will help your whole class enjoy this time so much more. . . . Do you have any additional suggestions for randomly calling on students in your classroom? Happy teaching,

The procedures are taught, the students know your expectations, but you still find yourself repeating directions over and over again. Use Mystery Students!

It's that time of year! Back to school time (even though I know some of my bloggy friends have been back for a couple of weeks now.) While you may be in a district that wants you to hit the academics hard core from the first day of school and cut out "fluff", there's nothing fluffy about a cohesive classroom. And you can forget good things happening academically when nobody can get along. Do you hear me administrators? I think it's a wise idea to spend some time helping your students learn to live together in a room that gives everybody about one square foot of personal space. So here's a little collection of some fabuloso ideas I found through the wonderful world of blogging. Here are some great ideas to get your new friends talking to each other, working together, and thinking about what a successful classroom looks like. 1. Talk about how to treat each other. Tales from a Tidy Teacher shares a lesson using Finding the Green Stone by Alice Walker. She gives each student a shiny green "stone". They plan how they will keep their stones shiny all year. I think this would be a great anchor lesson to refer to all year long. Here's a post from Mrs. Robinson's Classroom Blog. She has a different question each day to get kids thinking about their role in the classroom. Your actions are who you are. When things were getting cranky in my classroom last year, we worked on this activity. We planned out the words that we would want our principal to use when describing us. Then we planned out the actions that would get us there. 2. Talk about words and what they can do (for good and evil). I love love love this poster. It is from Sweet Blessings who also happens to be the genius behind Technology Rocks. Seriously. I had it printed as an 11x17 on glossy card stock ($1.50 at Office Max). I referred to it all year long the last couple of years. By the second month of school, all I had to do was say, "THINK before you speak" and they knew exactly what had gone wrong. Yes, Mrs. O Knows will convince you that toothpaste and toothpicks will teach kids everything they need to know about words. I tried so hard to find the original source for this one. Please leave a comment if you know where it came from. Cause it's awesome. 3. Have kids work together in a fun way. Who wouldn't want to save Fred? This is a great team work lesson from Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies. This one's from Science Gal. Now tell me that doesn't look fun? And because the best way to learn that the world does not revolve around you, have your kids perform RACKS. Random Acts of Classroom Kindness. Here's an idea from 3rd Grade Thoughts. There are tons more great ideas out there on this, too. Have kids work in teams to plan out some RACKS for each the classroom, other students, and staff, too. And now for a little giggle: Hope you have a great school year!

Real talk: classroom management has always been my biggest struggle as a teacher. I think that this is true for a lot of teachers. It’s one thing to read about classroom management strategies in a college classroom, but it’s a whole other ballgame when you’re standing in front of a roomful of middle schoolers and you are somehow expected to keep them all in line! I’ve had a few tough groups over my first few years, and I needed something to up my classroom management game. The classroom management strategy I’m going to share with you today has been a total game-changer for me, and I hope it can help you, too! This strategy is called Behavior Bingo. To implement it, you will need a 10×10 chart numbered from 1-100. I used to draw mine out on big chart paper, but I’ve since created this handy printable board so that I don’t have to draw it out each time! You will also need 100 popsicle sticks each labeled with a number from 1-100. I keep these in one of those metal pails from Target, and you will also need another pail for the sticks to go in once you have pulled them. You will need a board and set of numbers for each class you are using this with – I have used it with up to 4 classes at once! I marked each class’s set of sticks with a different color and then discarded them all into the same tub. If you don’t want to buy or have to label all the popsicle sticks, I have also seen teachers use small slips of paper numbered 1-100, or even just a random number generator online! Here are the rules that I use: The object of the game is to get 10 numbers in a row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) and get a bingo. At the start of each class, I write the numbers 1 2 3 on the front whiteboard. During class, I erase a number any time the students are not meeting my expectations, starting with 3, then 2, then 1. At the end of class, however many numbers are left on the board is how many popsicle sticks they get to pull that day. For example, if only the 3 was erased, then they get to pull 2 popsicle sticks. They can earn up to 3 numbers each day. The students pull out the correct number of sticks for that day. I let them take turns. I hold the jar up above their heads so they can’t peek inside. Then I color in the numbers that were pulled on the bingo board. You can certainly adjust these rules to meet your needs. For instance, you could use a smaller or bigger bingo board, depending on how quickly you want them to earn their reward. With the 10×10 board, it usually takes 1-2 months to earn the reward. You could also adjust how many numbers they can earn each day. Another thing you could do is tie the numbers to specific goals. For instance, my students know that at the beginning of class they need to be in their seats with homework out and working on their warmup. If this doesn’t happen, they know I will erase a number. As for the reward, we choose this as a class before beginning the game. I have the students brainstorm ideas (I tell them that they need to be something either relatively inexpensive or free and can only take up about 20-30 minutes of class time) and list them all on the board. Then I have the students vote for their top two choices. Some ideas we have come up with in the past include an ice cream party (I bring the ice cream, they bring the toppings), root beer float party, time outside, free time, board games, donut party, dodgeball, or popcorn and a short movie. I write their choice at the bottom of the bingo board as a reminder of what we are working toward. And that’s it! It’s very easy to keep it running, and it has been very motivating to my students, especially when they are down to only one number left for the day. You can find the printable board that I use in my Teachers Pay Teachers store if you’re interested! Do you have any awesome classroom management strategies? I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Have you used the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy before? I love the HUGE lists of verbs associated with each level of thinking and it helps me when writing my plans, learning targets, and activities in my class. I made these posters a while back and was struggling this year with finding a place to put them. Then, I remembered my handy-dandy PDF print tutorial about shrinking posters (find more info HERE- for this size, I chose the 2x2 and Landscape options) and voila, usable posters for easy reference: I am loving these little guys- they are 1/4 the size and perfect for kids and teachers alike! We are really starting to dig deeper in our reading groups during the Teacher Time part of Daily 5 and these have come in very handy. I have added them to my bin of Teacher Time Tools and will often have the kids flip to a certain color (the levels are in the colors of the rainbow- red, orange, yellow, green, blue & purple) and generate questions and discussions for our small group based on the verbs listed. These were so much fun as we made our way through our book, Judy Moody! We created our own "Me Collages" when we finished reading (Creating), practiced writing summaries along the way (Understanding), and compared the character of Judy Moody at the beginning of the book with the end of the book (Analyzing). So easy to keep organized and purposeful with these! This packet includes each skill (Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, and Creating) on a poster. Under the skill is a question to help give you and your students a big-picture idea of that level, then you can go further with the bullet list of verbs. Cute clip art from Scrappin' Doodles helps make it catchy for your kiddos :) I hope you can use them in your class! They are available in my TpT Store now! Do you and your students use Bloom's? I'd love to hear how- leave me a comment below!