It's so important that you are teaching about variables when you teach the scientific method. This post gives you ideas to help your students get started!
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...
If you have an extra-chatty class, check out this post with tips for how to get your students to stop talking in just one week!
Paragraph writing is a big challenge for many students. This post includes a step-by-step method to help your students write great paragraphs in no time.
There are times throughout the year when it seems like your classes just aren’t going right. You are working hard on your lessons, thinking of engaging applications, and even trying to add ch…
3rd grade teacher Deanna shares how she saves time and works more efficiently.
Teaching students rules and procedures is a skill in itself. You have to learn to teach it and then reinforce them while doing it in an engaging way. In this article, I'll give you some ideas of how to teach your students your classroom routines and expectations in a fun and engaging way.
I talk quite a bit about classroom management on my blog. I have to be honest here. I have tried so many different things. I have tried the clip chart, I have tried check marks, I have tried the “flip the card”. NONE of them work for me. The book Dream Class really changed my thoughts on...
Looking for a way to get students to have fun learning new words AND remember them longer? Try these brain-based vocabulary activities.
When it comes to having great classroom management, one of the most important aspects is CLASSROOM PROCEDURES. Classroom procedures can make your teaching so much…
If you are looking for back to school activities for upper elementary that keep kids engaged and go over important classroom information, then you’re going to
The ultimate list of classroom management strategies, organized into verbal and non-verbal strategies, parent communication tips,rewards and prizes, games, brain breaks, and visual strategies.
I posted about these songs about a year ago on my Instagram feed and so many of you asked if I would be putting these in my TPT shop to sell. At the time, we had only written three, and I just didn't feel like that was enough to make a whole resource with. Since then, I have been working on writing new transition songs that are sung to some of our kids' favorite tunes! Singing CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SONGS AND CHANTS during transitions makes moving from one thing or place to another almost seamless. Songs and chants keep students engaged, focused, and excited to learn, which in turn will save valuable instruction time. It also helps eliminate unwanted behaviors by giving your students the structure, consistency, and support they need. Most of the songs included are parodies of popular songs most kids will know. The words have been changed to help students transition in a positive manner. I printed the songs on cardstock and laminated them. I used a binder ring to attach the set together to hang on my board for easy access. There are also three different color options included. :) Let's go through a little breakdown of when and why we sing each of these songs: The Carpet: We sing this when it's time to transition to the carpet. I start they song, they join in. They have to be on the carpet in their assigned spots by the end of the song. Works like a charm every single time! I even added in some little hand motions that end the song with their hands in their laps. All I Do Is Freeze: We mostly use this when students are working in groups or with a partner. Sometimes, I need them to stop what they are doing, so that I can give them a direction or clear something up. It's a great way to get their attention! Clean Up Chant: This one is pretty self-explanatory. I do not instruct them when it's time to clean up; I just start the chant. You may want to add a timer to it afterwards if you need them cleaned up in a certain amount of time. Let's Line Up: Will kids ever get over Frozen? Probably not. If yours are still obsessed, too, they will love this line up chant. It gets them lined up quickly and without distractions, which saves so much time! Back to My Seat: We sing this when we transition from the carpet to their seats. We usually sing it a couple of times to give them plenty of time to make it to their seats. It's a really quick song! Partner Up: This song probably takes the most practice. Anytime you need students to get with their partner, you can sing this song. It also reminds them what to do when they are with their partner. Learning Math is Awesome: Sing this song to signal that it's time to begin math. I can guarantee it will get stuck in your head afterwards. Sorry. We Can't Stop Reading: This song can be used to kick off your reading block each day. It gets them excited about books and where those stories will take them! Quiet Time: I may or may not have sung this one the most. It works so well! I sing it in a calm, quiet voice, in which students will mirror. It immediately calms the room. Sing it a couple of times if needed! See!: I had to incorporate some Taylor Swift in these songs. We want students to be proud to share their thinking and comfortable talking with a partner. We also want their partners to be respectful and value what they are saying. This song is great to sing before students share with a partner or to close out a lesson by sharing what they learned or took away from the lesson. I just added some NEW songs!!! Like It Was: This is another clean up song. You could sing this one at the end of centers. It's really good about reminding students to put everything back in its place. Good For You: This is a song that you can sing as a class to celebrate someone! Maybe someone had a really great idea or accomplished something amazing, you can sing this to pump them up! We're Amazing: I am all about incorporating mindfulness into our day, so I knew I needed to create a song that encompassed that. This is another one that is going to take some practice to get down, but you can always display it as you sing. Some of the songs might take lots of practice to get down! But don't give up! After you sing it over and over, you will eventually get it. You will sing them to the tune of the chorus from the songs. I have added links to the actual songs in the PDFs. You just click the blue arrow at the bottom of the page. Always check these first NOT in the presence of students. I have gone through them to make sure they are safe, but you never know when things can change. A few of these parodies are straight from my students. I asked them what songs they wanted me to write transition songs for, and these are what we came up with. This group in particular had difficulty this year with transitions because they were all best of friends and LOVED to talk, which in turn got them distracted. I LOVED that about them, but we were losing valuable time trying to get refocused. Once I introduced a song or chant for them to do while transitioning, the difference was crazy! It keeps your learning environment positive, too, which is super important. You can check out the resource by clicking HERE or on any of the images in the post. Let me know how your students do with these songs or if you need another song added! I love your feedback! Happy transitioning!
A simple way to teach your students classroom procedures and expectations at the beginning of the school year
Hey Friends! It's Theresa, from True Life I'm a Teacher! I wanted to share how I use (and have used for several years) a token economy in my classroom. I've taught at PBIS/PBS schools for 7 years, and a token economy is the perfect addition to what your school is already doing! I've used this system in 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades, and absolutely LOVE it! Even better? My students love it, and that's really what matters. While I don't use a clip chart, I have in the past, and a classroom economy can be used in conjunction with a clip chart. Why Use a Token Economy? Reinforces positive behavior Targets specific behavior Targets behavior change Students work for delayed reinforcement Students receive immediate and delayed reinforcement Promotes fair exchanges, addition, subtraction, counting money, and economics There are LOTS of different ways a token or classroom economy can work in your classroom. The best part is that it doesn't have to cost ANY money! I choose to spend a small amount of money on candy and gum, but not much. Assign Values to Tasks Pay Day Monday - I pay my students on Mondays just for showing up. We talk a lot about how coming to school and learning the job of my students. So I pay them! Homework - I am NOT assigning homework this year, however, in the past I've paid my students for turning in their homework. Reading Log - I am also NOT assigning a reading log this year, but I also paid my students for completing their reading log each night. Take Home Folder - I pay my students daily for remembering to turn in their Take Home Folder each day. Pay as You Go Hand out your classroom money as you catch students doing things they should. This is especially beneficial at the beginning of the year when you're trying to reinforce procedures, routines, and expectations. This can be continued throughout the year, or you can switch to the assigned values method once students know and regularly demonstrate classroom and school expectations. Combination You can also use a combination of both methods. It really comes down to your students, their needs, and your preference. How Much Do I Pay? Pay Day - $10 every Monday Homework - $5 every Friday Reading Log - $1/daily Take Home Folder - $1/daily Positive Behavior - $1 as needed Deductions / "Fines" Depending on the age of your students, and your preferences, you may want to consider "fining" your students. However, in my experience, a classroom/token economy works much more effectively, if students are not penalized for misbehavior, BUT it also depends on each individual student. Some students respond well to understanding that there are penalties associated with certain behaviors. For example, students who are "blurters" may respond well to being fined $1 for each time they blurt. This is an intervention you can set up with individual students, or the whole class, if needed. Penalties aren't typically necessary because regardless of the method you choose, if a student isn't doing what they need to be doing (homework, expectations, etc...) they just wouldn't get the token for that task. For example, if a student doesn't turn in homework, they simply don't get paid for their homework...I do not also require them to "pay" me and amount. So what do students DO with their money? Fun Friday Every Friday is Fun Friday! It's the last 10-20 minutes of the day, and it's free time. Blocks, Legos, coloring, computers, board games, puzzles, pretty much whatever. That's the beauty of it. Before students can purchase ANYTHING from the class store, they must pay for Fun Friday. It's not optional. I charge $5 for Fun Friday. Although, you could make it whatever you want depending on your class. You should charge a fair amount though. You WANT most or ALL of your students to be able to participate. Students who cannot afford Fun Friday, complete a reflection sheet, and have one-on-one conferences with me to talk about why they were unable to participate, and to set a goal for the following week! Class Store: I open the class store every Friday during morning work. I call students back to my table a few a time. Students must purchase Fun Friday first, and may then purchase anything they'd like in the class store, that they have the money for. Does it take time? YES! However, the payoff is HUGE! The real life skills my students learn far outweigh the amount of time this takes each week. Students may also choose to save their money, to purchase a more expensive option from the class store. Some students spend every penny they have, others spend a little and save a little, others purchase only Fun Friday and save the remainder. These are the items I have available for "purchase" in my classroom. But the list is pretty endless. It just depends on what is allowed at your school, and what you want in your classroom. You can grab these "coupons" HERE. Shoes off in the classroom Computer time Choose the brain break Sit by a friend Fun Friday Choose a stuffed animal to have for the day New pencil (pencils with designs and mechanical pencils) Write with a pen for the day (student favorite) Chew gum Piece of candy Lunch bunch Treasure Box The ONLY things I spend money on are candy and gum! Everything else is just what I already have in the classroom, and are things that I'm willing to manage. I use a small sheet like the one below for documentation. I use a check mark to show that they paid for Fun Friday, and then jot a quick note about what they purchased. On the back, I write down who has paid for Lunch Bunch, as I only have Lunch Bunch once per month. The yellow tickets, are what my school uses in common areas, as well as at specials. These have a value of $5 in my classroom, and can be used just like our classroom cash.
Sweet Sounds - Quality Kodaly Resources for Elementary Music Educators
This so actually do creative and cute✨🥰🎥Credit : mrs mcgrady_1stgrade 🍎✏️ Like our page Be Happy Teachers for more teaching ideas and methods. A team of teachers sharing the highs, lows and honest...
I love using interactive lapbooks in the classroom. They are fun to create, engaging and can be used throughout the year to review skills taught. I finally completely my Lapbook Bundle and I am happy to share the lapbooks included with you. Whether you think your learners will enjoy creating all of the lapbooks, if you
Substitutes, I don’t have to tell you that you have a unique and challenging job, especially when it comes to classroom management.I reader recently emailed with a great question: “How do I get students to realize they need to follow instructions even though I am ‘just a sub’?”Great question. One th
Is it that time when your students suddenly forget the classroom expectations? Well, then it's time to try V.I.P student!
Good morning! :) One of the most important things to me is how you arrange your classroom. I always think about a few things when considering how to arrange my classroom... -Can my students all see the SMARTboard from their desks without having to turn around? -Can my students access all of our classroom materials without having to move something? -Can my students scoot out their chair without bumping into a desk or another chair? -Can I move around the classroom with ease? (Without having to squeeze through desks?) -Can I see ALL of my students from my desk? -Can I see ALL of my students from the meeting table? Sometimes I have to arrange the room, and then tweak it a little to make sure all of the above questions are answered YES. I've had my desks arranged in many different ways during the years. However, my favorite arrangement was when I had tables. I would take tables any day over desks! Tables facilitate cooperative group work and give the students so much more work space. However, tables are not always available to you. So, in that case, I would arrange my desks like tables. When I taught specials classes and had mostly small groups of kids at one time (between 6-10 kids most of the day), I had my classroom set up with my meeting table in the middle. I liked it being in the center of the class. It was more like the central meeting place instead of stuck in a corner. This is what my room looked like: If you want to see some examples of my classroom seating arrangement, you can see one of my previous posts about how to set up your classroom. Here is a screenshot from a PDF file I found about classroom seating arrangements from Effective Room Arrangement by Carolyn Evertson, Ph.D. & Inge Poole, Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/case_studies/ICS-001.pdf I love several of these arrangements... especially the one in the middle on the right. Except I would probably face my student's desks towards the SMARTboard and not my desk. I don't teach from my desk, therefore I wouldn't want their desks to be pointing toward mine :). Check out the link to the PDF above for lots of great information (and bigger pictures). I also found this awesome site: Classroom Desk Arrangement. You can choose your class size, then it has several different arrangements you can choose from. It looks pretty cool... here is a screen shot of the welcome page: This Pinterest Board has a lot of great classroom ideas! :) http://pinterest.com/luv2teach/classroom-layout-and-design/. Scholastic also has a pretty cool Classroom Set-Up tool. It allows you to create your classroom layout and has all of the shapes already made. You just "draw" it on the screen... pretty cool! The only thing I don't like is that you can't turn any of the desks at an angle. I kind of do my own version of this each year by drawing my classroom on a Microsoft Word document. This way I can save it, re-arrange it and re-use it all year long. The last website I will tell you about is Classroom Architect. It is a pretty neat website. It lets you choose your room's dimensions, and then lets you drop and drag all of the furniture into the classroom. It is pretty easy to use and looks nice when finished. Here is a screenshot of what it looks like: Below is a link to a basic classroom seating chart that I created on PowerPoint. If you don't have PowerPoint but have a Google Account and access to Google Docs, you should be able to manipulate it there as well. Save the file, then re-arrange the desks and furniture by just clicking and dragging! :) Grab the green dot at the top of each item. This will allow you to rotate the item you've chosen. Delete items not needed and save your new template! :) UPDATE: 9/13/17 I've created more versions of the seating chart below that are still fully editable, and have put them on my Teachers Pay Teachers Site. Please click the link below for the FREE download! Link: FREE Seating Chart Well, I hope that these websites and information has helped give you some ideas on how to arrange your classroom! Be inspired & have a wonderful day! :) That's all she wrote, ------------------------------------- P.S. Did you know that I started my own company, Camp Partridge? ⛺️ Camp Partridge offers online camps for children and teens ages 10-16 who want to be digital creators and authors! ⛺️ Camp Partridge offers online courses for parents struggling with remote learning. ⛺️ Camp Partridge offers resources for your classroom! I would be honored if you would share Camp Partridge with people you know who need or would enjoy our camps and courses! 🧡
If there is one I have learned in my years of working with paraprofessionals, it is that paras are teachers too. My paraprofessional is my right hand and my left hand. She is the glue that keeps us together. I realize that sometimes it is our first instinct to give them passive work because their
Hi friends!! I’m super excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday. I haven’t done one in a long time!! But I’m not feeling too well […]
Freebie Vault Login How do I login??? Keep Reading! Welcome to the freebie vault, Teacher Friend. As a thank you for being an email list subscriber and supporter of my business, I love to create and add monthly freebies for YOU to enjoy! It is absolutely free to join this community and to continue to […]
Dismissal time can be one of the most challenging times of the day for many teachers, whether they are experienced, new, or somewhere in be...
One of the most time-consuming things teachers deal with is student absences! I no longer worry about this because my students completely take care of it!
10 fun and easy hallway songs to prepare students to go into the hall quietly!
Calling a student out in front of their peers can be unavoidable at times. But this can be tricky when you're dealing with middle and high school students.
Here are 12 glue sponges tutorials with photos and step by step instructions so you'll know exactly how to make glue sponges.
FREE Call Backs and attention getters for the kindergarten classroom! Great classroom management tool!
Have you thought about having a class pet, but don’t want to add one more thing to take care of in your classroom? Well, I have the perfect solution---a take-home stuffed animal! Kids love it and there is no cage or tank to clean out! Having a traveling class pet was by far the most popular class pet I ever had. Kids couldn’t wait for their week to take home the pet and have it be part of their life for a few days. Of course, I had to include a journal for the kids to write in through the week. Tips for having a take-home class pet. 1. Choosing a stuffed animal is the easy part because kids love them all. But, keep the size of the pet in mind. Too large and it's difficult to transport home and then back to school. Too small and it feels too much like a toy instead of a real pet. 2. Pick a traveling bag for your pet. I like clear plastic bags so everyone can see the adorable pet inside. Make sure it's large enough to hold the pet and the journal. I found this bag on Amazon for under $10. (Search "clear plastic tote" for lots of choices.) 3. Decide on the requirements for the journal. The requirements should be based on the writing level of your students. Kindies can have a drawing journal where they draw a picture or two that shows what they did with the pet. Firsties can write a few sentences along with illustrations. For older students, they can write paragraphs and add illustrations. Make sure all requirements and suggestions are included in the journal, so kids know exactly what is expected. 4. What will you use as a journal? I like using a composition book. It's sturdy and will last the whole year. You can glue on a cover and then glue all instructions and suggestions to the inside cover. Click here to download this freebie from my TpT store. (Click on this image.) 5. Make sure you share the journal on the day it's returned and before it goes home with a new student. 6. A letter home at the beginning of the year, explaining the Take-Home pet is a good idea. That way, parents know what to expect. I also let parents know the take-home schedule a few weeks in advance. That way, the schedule can be adjusted if a family needs to reschedule the pet's visit to their home. Above all, have fun. Just like a live pet, the stuffed animal pet is a great way to teach responsibility.
Update your Social Studies classroom decor cheaply and easily with fun and useful decor. Make your classroom fun and inviting for students.
Here’s a list of alternative jobs for teachers you’d shine at with those incredible soft skills you’ve been building up for years. The best part? Most of these are jobs you can transition into within 0 - 12 months.
If you work with children, I can promise you that you will come across at least one student that has these difficult behaviors. Not only are they really stressful for the teacher but they impact the student’s life in many ways. Behaviors like disrespect and defiance can make classroom's chaotic.
How to rock your student teaching with tips from a recent graduate. 10 tips for a great student teaching experience. Tips for student teachers.
Mock trials offer a differentiated and experiential learning experience. Explore the steps of a mock trial and various mock trial roles.
How to facilitate successful Socratic Seminars in the secondary ELA
