Classroom Management

I had a really great professor at Longwood University (Farmville, VA) that focused on the area of Classroom Management.  He had great anecdotes to accompany each lesson.  I'll never forget the one about the "Claw of Death."  The important lesson was- don't ever leave a student in charge of the class.  I'll let you use your imagination to figure out how the "Claw of Death" came into play there...

My college professor stressed the importance of having a plan in place and documenting everything.  As a result, I have always had a classroom management system in place and my students and their parents have always read and signed a behavior management contract.

Last year, a colleague was telling me about the great success she had with the clip chart system she had in place in her classroom.  I have always used some form of the green, yellow, red "stoplight" system for classroom management.  (I've never tried to go without a management system.)  My colleague told me that she really liked the emphasis on seeking out and rewarding positive behavior, rather than solely looking for negative behavior.  Because of that, she used a 6 color chart system.  Students began in the middle of the chart each day, and could climb up and down depending on student choices throughout the day.

Classroom Management Clip System from previous school year

Since that conversation, I've spoken with other teachers across the state about their classroom management systems.  My sister, a first grade teacher, uses a clip chart system similar to that of my colleague.

I began searching Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers for ready made resources for this year's classroom management system.  I knew I needed to find the following: a chart to use in the classroom, a monthly communication calendar to document student daily behaviors, and a classroom management contract describing the clip chart system and the classroom rules.

This year's clip chart system from Creative Lesson Cafe

First things first, I started looking for a clip chart system.  I found several variations of the clip chart system- some started with purple for outstanding behavior at the top of the spectrum with red for parent contact at the bottom level, like Lesson Plan Diva's behavior chart, while others followed the traditional spectrum from red for outstanding behavior to pink for parent contact, like what I found on TeachersPayTeachers via the Creative Lesson Cafe.  There was also this adorable Rocking Behavior Chart from The Inspired Apple.

Ultimately, I decided to go with the really great printable chart from the Creative Lesson Cafe Teachers Pay Teachers site.  It was a free download at the time- catch it while it's free!  I printed on regular printer paper, cut down each section, laminated, and then taped in the correct order.  (My home laminator is limited to smaller pieces of paper.)

The next piece to search out or create was the monthly communication calendar.  In my searching, I came across this post from Lori at Teaching With Love & Laughter.  She has created monthly clip chart take home calendars for FREE!  For the most part, this is not a huge change from my previous monthly communication calendars.  I love the fact that the behavior chart is listed on each monthly calendar page.  The students get to color in the blank chart at the beginning of each month and the parents get a visual reminder of the behavior system.  This is AWESOME.

Download from TpT

Finally, I needed to create a behavior contract.  This is something I have always had my parents and students read and sign.  I like to begin the school year with clarity.  I believe I've put the finishing touches on my behavior contract.  I have my own Teachers Pay Teachers site, where I've only posted things that are free, because I haven't made anything I would want to pay money for as of yet.  Here's the link to my behavior contract.  It's free and it's a Word Doc.  Page 2 lists our class rules, which I modeled after Sara Cooley's 5 Bee Promises from First Grader at Last.

Here's to a successfully managed class in the 2012-2013 school year!

30 Cents Target Dollar Spot Deals

I suppose Target was trying to make room for new merchandise in the dollar spot.  Whatever... I made out quite well- check out my stash that I purchased, all for 70% off (of a dollar). 

I got some pointers, pom poms, pipe cleaners, happy birthday certificates, letter stickers, cheapo dry erase boards and markers, tin buckets, letter flash cards, animal flash cards, foam blocks, rubber stamps, stamp pads, name plates, labels, chap stick, and MORE!

I already have plans for what I've purchased.  Most of it has been put in the hands of my kids already.  Next week we'll be practicing our "Read/Write Around the Room" workstation and those pointers will be put to good use.  My kiddos already use them around the room for calendar, Reader's Workshop, and at our Word Wall.

We are celebrating our first classroom birthday this week, so the birthday certificates couldn't have come at a better time.  I also got sets of bookmarks and these have already found a home with each of my students in their daily book bag. 

Smellies!

When Target was having their killer deal in the dollar spot, I picked up some of these neat chapsticks.  Tootsie Roll Pops, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Fruit Roll Up.  I am continuing my efforts this year to move towards an incentive program that is low cost, easy, and does not involve food or candy. 

Every once in awhile, some friends need an extra incentive.  These will be wonderful "Magic Smellies!"

Windows + Paint = make the gloomies disappear

Not a great photo, but what I like most about my classroom is the light.  This is definitely not a picture that emulates that... but between the blue walls and the big window, the classroom is bathed in light.  (Now that I think back, I took this picture on a rainy day...) 

In my previous classroom, I had curtains hanging up that my mother made for me.  When I moved into a non-classroom/office type role, I passed on those curtains to my sister, a first grade teacher.  They were Clifford curtains and were super cute. 

As this school year was gearing up, and I found myself back in the classroom, I had to do some back to school shopping.  With all of the great finds that I picked up for the classroom, I was running low on funds.  I have been a long time fan of Sara's Art House and decided to take inspiration from her windows. 

I called in the help of my tall hubby (help was needed b/c I have Tyrannosaurus Rex arms).  I pulled out the paints that I had in my craft stash and a paintbrush, showed Tim some window-painting-inspiration from Sara Mincy's website and put him to work.  They really look better in person.  Everyone has really liked them so far. 


When the custodian came by, I mentioned to him that I would be responsible for cleaning the windows.  He was not at all worried.  When my principal came by, I again mentioned that I would take responsibility for the windows.... and she wasn't worried.  The painted window valance was a hit!

Building a Community

 Our pacing guide has "Good Citizenship" listed for the first month of social studies instruction.  Well, we can only go over our classroom rules so many times.  After I think we've spent enough time on our classroom rules, school expectations, and basic safety stuff, we dive into our study of "community."  Not only is the word "community" foreign to most of my kids, they have varying levels of experience with a school environment.  Throughout the past week, we've been building up our classroom community. We made this "tree" of our classroom learners.

We have had 2 Fridays in our school year so far, and I am proud to report that on both days we concluded our day with our class meeting.  This was a time for us to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly.  We celebrated our successes and made note of how we can make better choices.  We close with our secret handshake. 

My goal for the school year is to promote problem solving skills.  When we've had some bumps in the road (behavior-related), I remind each student that they have two choices.  Then I spell out the two choices.  They have been able to assess and apply decision making skills successfully. WOOHOO!

Daily Math Routine

 I'm trying to strengthen my daily math activities.  I have always had a "healthy" serving of math during our morning calendar time.  We count the days in the month, recite the days of the week, count the days we've been in school (both with a 100s chart and a hundreds, tens, and ones pocket chart), and graphed the daily weather.







This year, I added a daily attendance count.  Currently, we're waiting until our math time after lunch to daily take attendance.  This attendance isn't what is turned into the office- this is really just a head count routine for my class.  We take the stick of unifix cubes and pass the stick of 20 all the way around our circle.  We count as each student takes a cube off.  Then, to double check our math, we count as we rebuild the attendance stick.  We make sure to make note of the students who are missing (none so far- perfect attendance-WOOT WOOT).

I'm considering adding another routine to our math time.  My mother gave me this really big container that used to hold pretzels.  It's huge- really!  To give you an idea of scale, there are about 10 baby food cups stacked together inside of the jar.  I'm going to make a label, slap it on that container and call it our "Counting Jar."  Each day, we can count something different.  I'm seeing this as more than just for counting though- think about how my kiddos can reach deeper into their minds to think about capacity! 

What do I need to use?????

When my students arrive in the morning, I have my calming music going... their morning work is on their table... and they know to look at the chalkboard for directions.  During my second year of teaching, I pulled this random idea out of my magician's hat with the help of some school supplies, magnets, and a hot glue gun.

In an effort to reduce the number of times I have to give directions about morning work, I write the directions on the chalkboard.  There are always some kinder-friends that say, "but I can't read." 

This is a great way to show students exactly what materials they need, without talking.  It helps give my classroom a quiet, calm start.

Dry Erase Boards

My kids LOVE writing on dry erase boards.  When I moved into my new classroom, I found 4 dry erase boards... and they were kinda yucky.  I poured over the internet to find a solution to my dilemma.  I knew about using the shower wall stuff that you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot, but I wanted something cheaper... and easier for me to make.  Learning Pavilion had a solution for me!  This post about plastic plates was a life changer.

Next I had to find my own plastic plates.  Luckily I was taking a planned trip to our IKEA store and remembered to keep my eyes out for plates that would do the job.  

And of course, IKEA has everything you could ever dream of needing!  The SOLBRÄND plate was just what I needed. 

 

My kids think it's so cool that they get to write on plates.  

M is for Miniature?

As I mentioned earlier, we've been learning more about the letter "M" this week.  Let me be clear, this is not a "letter of the week."  This is simply an introduction to the letter m.  The goal is to build letter recognition, letter sound knowledge, and begin to apply the letter sound knowledge to decoding.

My daily schedule includes morning work as the students arrive.  Later on in the school year, we will spend this time on word/language study, but at the beginning of the school year, we're focusing on letter recognition and letter sound knowledge.  This will naturally lead to decoding.  But until we're ready for decoding, our morning work is based on activities that we have practiced as a class.  For example, today's activity required cutting and using a glue stick .  We had practiced that as a class, so I felt confident that my students could focus on that activity for morning work.  I really like to have a quiet start to the morning, so I prefer to give my students tasks that I know they will devote their attention to.... like our "M is for macaroni" activity.

This activity started with a trip to Sam's Club to buy a 6 lb bag of elbow macaroni.  I think I got a good deal.... 6 bucks?  Tim had to convince me that a second bag wouldn't be necessary.  Again, I'm not great with spacial-math scenarios.  

Next I created my letter M template- Just used Word and added Text Art.  I printed this on cardstock because I was certain there would be a lot of Elmer's glue use.


In the morning, I put out containers of noodles at each table, along with glue for each student.  Some took the minimalist approach.....

While others layered up the noodles.

When we made our class list of /m/ words, one of my students pulled out "M is for miniature."  I paused for a moment, and repeated what she said.  "Yeah," she said, "you know, miniature, mini, small?"

I Survived!

That's right, I survived the first week of school.  While it's technically not a full first week of school (Labor Day), I did it!  Everyone got home okay every day!  WOOHOO!  (My mom considers that to be a success.)

I had forgotten the craziness of the first day of school.  When I put the last kid on the bus... I was drained.  I had forgotten what it was like to have 20 kids with varying levels of "school" experience.  Some have no experience with the routines like walking in a line, using a classroom bathroom, sitting in a chair, practicing good listening, eating in a cafeteria...  But as the week continued, we learned about our classroom expectations and consequences.  I sent home my monthly behavior calendar on day 1- students colored in an apple to indicate their day.  I started my clothespin management system on Day 2.

We also practiced those routines.  I cannot express the importance of modeling and practicing to perfection the expectations for the classroom/school routines.

I took notes on the advice from KindergartenKindergarten and spent two or three days practicing the cafeteria routines.  First I modeled the expectations (as well as what not to do), then we returned to the classroom and made a chart together of the good and bad choices that can be made in the cafeteria, and then we revisited the cafeteria the following day and reviewed the chart and made that super cute lunchbox.

Each student has a 3 digit long cafeteria number that they must enter to buy lunch.  In the beginning of the school year, we just write these numbers on a popsicle stick and the students hand that to the cashier.  But our end of the year goal is independence, so my kiddos will need to learn how to enter their own number. Hubby is going to make me an outline of the keypad for my students to use.

It's going to be a great school year!

Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse

All teachers feel the crunch of these tough economic times.  I've tried to limit what items I purchase with my own money.  There are just so many really useful things that can make our lives easier as teachers.  From IKEA, to the famous Target Dollar Spot, to the great penny deals at Office Max and Staples, the small items that teachers purchase can really add up to make expensive bills.

I am making an effort to go green (somewhat) in my classroom.  I want to reduce waste and reuse items.  I began by trying to find items for my classroom by "shopping" in our house and storage.  My classroom had some recess equipment that I knew would need to be contained in some way, shape, or form.  I found this green tub from one of my sister's college days.  I used some leftover vinyl and my mother's Cricut machine to personalize the tub. 

Teachers (especially kindergarten teachers) are hoarders.  Let's just get that out in the open.  There's always something that can be used again or in a different way.  I saved all of the crayon stubs from the last time I taught kindergarten.... three years ago.  My mother and I sorted all of those little itty bitty pieces of crayons into a muffin tin and made some cool, multicolor crayons.  My next attempt with "crayon making" will be to create the crayons in fun candy molds.  

This next picture needs a caption to tell the story.  This brown wrapped package contains 100 brown paper bags. You know, the perfect size for paper bag puppets, mini books, and just perfect for the kindergarten teacher/hoarder.  Any time I wanted bags during my first year of teaching, I would go to the dollar store or WalMart to purchase them.  One of the veteran kindergarten teachers on my team shared her secret with me.... which I shall share with you.  Go to your neighborhood ABC store (if you're in VA) and ask the friendly salesman if they could donate paper bags to your classroom.  It works!  Apparently, if you call the main office, they even have coloring books that they will send you for free.

We are also saving and reusing plastic bags in our classroom.  This plastic bag holder is just right (purchased at IKEA for a small fee) but I have also used an empty tissue box to store plastic bags.  There are always things that need to be sent home in a plastic bag...  I'll let you use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

Go Green in Kindergarten!

Traveling Nachos

Yummmm.... gross.  So, in elementary school, one of our school lunch choices was called "Traveling Nachos."  What it amounted to was ground taco beef scooped into a single serving bag of Doritos.  The food was actually tasty, but when you think about the name and the concept= very gross.

At my old school, the students had one choice.  At my new school there are 5 choices.  Students can have a salad on Wednesdays, yogurt or a peanut butter sandwich any day, or the other prepared options.  I knew that my kindergarten friends would need to make a choice daily, so I began formulating my plan for operation "lunch choice."

I began browsing pinterest and found this lunch choice board from Mrs. Wright.  I liked the concept and I'm all about using magnets and velcro!  I just didn't know how quickly my kindergarten friends would pick up on having a classroom "number."

A really nice first grade teacher at my new school was going through her room and was giving away things she no longer needed.  I was lucky to receive a 30 count set of these little "Chefs."  They came in a 30 count tub.  When I got them, I hadn't finished formulating my lunch choice plan.  I chose to sleep on it and came up with a plan in my dreams!

When I was organizing my room, I found several things that would eventually use to create my lunch choice area.  I found the lunch tray in my room, whipped out my hot glue gun to attach the 5 clear cups, and added velcro to each cup.  When I was organizing the "stuff" in my room, I found the yellow file box of all of the lunch choices, sorted in little folders with velcro already on the back of each card!  I also found the numbered pocket chart.  I pulled out my gold paint pen (every classy teacher needs a little bling in her repertoire) and numbered the back of each Chef.  

When I get my roster, I will be making new labels for the pocket chart.  Each label will include a student's name and a corresponding number.  My little friends will be able to make their lunch choice daily and I will be able to tell which little Chef belongs to which little kindergarten friend.

Bulletin Boards: the nemesis of every teacher

When I was a student, I loved bulletin boards!  When my second grade teacher let us help put them up, we were so lucky!  As a student teacher, I was eager to offer to put up bulletin boards for my cooperating teacher.  As a first year teacher, I happily put up my first classroom bulletin boards.  Now in my sixth year... bulletin boards are on the bottom of my "fun" list.  Why this change of heart?  Well, it all goes back to my lack of spacial awareness.  You have to be certain to get enough bulletin board paper to cover the entire board twice.  After trotting back and forth from the workroom where bulletin board paper is kept, you begin to lose a little bit of your soul.  How many times does it take before you rip off the perfect amount of paper?

Okay, back to positive thinking.  In order to make my bulletin boards stay up all year, I don't put up thematic boards.  Each of my boards has a purpose and my kindergarten friends will use the boards daily.  While arranging the furniture, I began putting up notes on each bulletin board.  I wanted my Word Wall to be on a long bulletin board that was visible to all students.  I needed a spot for our Classroom Behavior stuff and a LOT of space for morning meeting/ calendar time.

This bulletin board is located next to the coatracks directly beside the classroom door.  I like to keep my bus information near the door in a very obvious spot.  My mother always told me that during the first week of school if every child got on the right bus, you had a successful day.  So, if I'm ever not in the room at dismissal time, I want my substitute to easily be able to find bus information.  We haven't gotten our rosters yet, so when I get transportation information, that will be posted.

You'll notice my classroom management system is sharing the bulletin board space with transportation information.  I found the 5 bee promises while perusing pinterest.  Sarah Cooley of First Grader At Last is to receive the credit for this great manage system!  I am so excited about moving to a management system that doesn't require me to scrounge up treats for my treats box.  Let's reward positive and appropriate behavior with fun and free incentives!

My calendar area takes up 2 bulletin boards.  Located to the left of my calendar is an overhead sheet with the 100s chart, a hundreds, tens, and ones pocket chart, and a copy of the September poem from Maurice Sendak's Chicken Noodle Soup with Rice.  Why are these things included with my calendar?  Counting up to day 100 is a big deal in Kindergarten and we will color in a square for each day of school on our hundreds chart.  We will put a stick in the ones pocket for each day of school (and eventually move them to the tens and hundreds pocket).  I like to use the Chicken Noodle Soup with Rice monthly poems because it gives the students a daily opportunity to see the "ch" blend in action.  

This is part deux of my calendar/morning meeting area.  It includes a spot for the days of the week where we talk about yesterday, today, and tomorrow, a daily attendance area, and a weather spot. The daily attendance is a relatively new part of my calendar.  Each morning, each student will get a unifix cube.  As we begin our morning at the carpet in a circle, we will count together as we connect each unifix cube.  We will save the cubes for the students who are not present and make sure that they are represented and we will compare our final rod of unifix cubes with the rod with our total number of students.  The weather section will include making observations and graphing those daily observations.  I'm thinking about including daily temperature- what do you think?

In the background of this shot, you can see my Word Wall.  I found this great wrapping paper for a $1 in the Target Dollar Spot.  One of my friends (Gale) had turned me on to finding wrapping paper as an bulletin board paper.  It has changed my life!  Cheaper than fabric and offers more to the eye than the plain old paper. This roll of wrapping paper has a pattern using blue and white lines and is a great subtle background.  The black letters (made on my mother's Cricut machine with the Plantin Schoolhouse cartridge) contrast nicely with the paper.  

With Organization Comes Clarity

I'm not sure about you, but when I walked into each of my classrooms (I've had 3 in 6 years), I've been overwhelmed.  Just like any good reality organization show, I follow the practice of making piles.  There's always a "keep" pile, a "donate" pile, and a "toss" pile (aka trashcan).  But before I begin organizing the stuff, I like to develop a sense of order by arranging the furniture.

My first day in my classroom was spent shuffling furniture from one spot to the next.  My spacial awareness is somewhat... lacking.  Knowing that, I brought a yard stick and a tape measure and I borrowed some "moving men" from the teacher next door.  The "moving men" are made out of felt and are discs that can be placed under each corner of heavy furniture.  My new kindergarten teammates kept offering to help me move furniture, but I really had no idea where each piece of furniture would eventually end up.

Here is the view from my classroom door.  My student tables are front and center, in a kind of windmill arrangement.  Behind the student tables are 2 bookshelves that used to be connected to each other.  The bookshelf  facing the student tables will hold math manipulatives and the bookshelf to the left (hard to see in this photo) will hold materials for small group literacy centers (stamps, word games, leap frog, leveled readers, and more).  These bookshelves act as a barrier in front of my small group table.  I've never put up a divider like this in the room.  I usually like full disclosure- a nice, open classroom where I can see what everyone is doing at every minute of every day.  I've tested it out and from my spot at the small group table, I can see the entire classroom.  

Here is the view from the teacher desk.  You can see my small group table.  The bookshelf to the left of the dolly is where all of my small group literacy items will be stored.  In the top left of this photo, you can see the five drawer storage cabinet.  This will be a great spot to hide those posters and all of the various types of paper.

This is the view from the morning meeting/calendar time area of the room.  Not much to say here...

Earlier I mentioned that my first step is arranging the furniture.  As you can see in my photos, the second step is pulling out everything that's hiding in drawers, cabinets, and closets and sorting.  This is when those three piles (keep, donate, toss) come in handy.  I went through all of the manipulatives, reading materials, art materials, and miscellaneous items that were in the classroom and sorted.  All of my reading items went on the small group table, all of the math items went on a student table, etc.  

When thinking about organization, it helps to see everything you have... and boy am I blessed with a lot of stuff!  Just by looking at the piles, you might think that this was a blog about a hoarder.    Don't worry.  Like I always tell my husband, it always looks worse before it gets better.

New School Year, New Classroom, New Friends

My family has recently relocated.  There, I said it.  It's a lot easier to say that to actually do it.  If I was making an anchor chart of things you have to do when you move, I'd need a whole pack of chart paper.  Let's see... find a job, find somewhere to live (but you might want to do this AFTER you find a job), find new doctors, find childcare for Sydney Boo... this doesn't even touch the whole "packing and moving" aspect of relocating.

Teachers have a built in time in the calendar year for such a transition= Summer Vacation.  I couldn't imagine relocating without 3 months of downtime (which isn't much like downtime when you're relocating).  Okay, let's focus on the positive things... I am so thankful for summer vacation.  It really made relocating much easier.

Things have settled down and we are taking care of each of those items on our "Relocating" anchor chart.  I have been moving into my new kindergarten classroom and new school district during the past week.  Two days were spent at a new teacher institute.  I can say that this time was actually very helpful, even though I've been teaching for 5 years.  This school district gave training on the curriculum currently in place in their county.

The rest of the week gave me time to work in my classroom.  When I walked in, I found a very clean classroom.  This hasn't always been my experience, so I came prepared with cleaning supplies.  I still had some sprucing up to do, but the custodial staff had really done a nice job in my room this summer.  Here are my before shots:

  This view is from the classroom door.  Check out the super sweet blue walls!  I LOVE them!  (The tables in this photo are not the tables I ended up keeping.)  Notice the plethora of furniture!

Here's the the view from the back corner of the room.  The little door on the left leads to our private bathroom (holla!) with the sink being located just outside of the door.  I have two coatracks, 4 bulletin boards, 1 kidney table, 1 teacher desk, 4 student tables and some bonus furniture!  

I'd also like to say "thank you" to the room's previous occupants for leaving the number line and 2 alphabet strips posted.  Those are probably my least favorite thing to put up, so I'm grateful that I don't have to this year!

So this is the classroom, a very cool blue, with lots of great furniture.  Stay tuned as I explore the contents of the classroom, start to get organized, and make it a learner's delight.