A Teacher's Bag of Tricks

So, I have an embarrassing story I have to share.

It was the fall my first year teaching. Football season, so only a month or two into the school year. I was tailgating in Auburn with my besties' family and our friends. Between beverages I was chatting with a girl who had been teaching for three years.

I was venting about the many problems I had already encountered as a new teacher. She mentioned I needed to create my bag of tricks. Bag of tricks? Maybe it was the beverages, because I thought she meant literal bag of things. I eagerly asked her what she kept in her bag and where she kept it for easy access. Needless to say she quickly realized my interpretation and why I needed help.

I spent much of the summer before my first year planning for how I would decorate my classroom. Bright colors, flowers, and a reading garden. What I should have spent my time doing was building my "bag of tricks". My procedures and routines.

Don't make this mistake. Don't be the naive girl who thinks a teacher's bag of tricks is a tote bag you walk around pulling magic out of. Even if you have been teaching for years, it's never too late to improve your classroom management. So, I have brainstormed a list of questions to help you build that brag of tricks or rethink somethings you are already doing.

How will students line up?

How will you get students' attention?

How will you dismiss them from whole group?

How will they know to rotate centers or switch small groups?

Will you have classroom jobs? What will they be? Will you assign them or will students pick them?

How will you manage your class library? How many books can students "check out"?

What is your bathroom procedure?

What is your pencil procedure?

Where are extra supplies? How do students get these?

What is your morning routine? Dismissal?

What are your hallway expectation? Lunch room? Specials?

How will students know recess is over? Where do they line up?

How will you communicate with parents?

How will you ensure students are aware of their progress?

What are your expectations for group work?

What are your consequences for breaking a rule? What if they break two?

What positive reinforcement will you use?

How will students pick partners?

Feeling overwhelmed? I am sorry! Yes, it is A LOT to think about. I have your back.

Jessica from Notes from the Portable and I created an ebook to help you think through these questions and provide you with multiple solutions. I wish I had this when I first started... but now I get to share my bag of tricks with you.

Check it out!

Jessica also created a very handy classroom management planner to help you stay organized! You'll love the management journal and editable planner to keep track of student behavior and parent communication.

You'll want to see this one too!

Want more? Read Jessica's Ultimate Guide for Back to School! She has 29 tips you need to read before going back.

Also, check out my post Starting the Year Off Strong to get you thinking about routines and procedures.

Teachers that Give: A Simple Tip to Winter Success

' Tis the season to be thankful, to share, and to give! And that is exactly what I plan to do all holiday season long. I am linking up with two of my friends, Megan of Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris and Jessica of Notes from the Portable for Teachers That Give!

How do I survive the holiday season with a class full?

of excited children? Simple. I don’t have a fancy trick, and you have probably heard of or used this trick before yourself. But, it is one that I always use, and it keeps the crazies a little less… crazy.

An estimation jar! Yup, simple. It works for every grade! You can use an estimation jar in many ways. You can put a daily surprise inside or a weekly surprise. Either way, the closest estimation wins the contents of the jar. I like to do a daily estimation jar. It reinforces positive behaviors and gives that reminder each day that today could be your day.

I put the jar on my table or nearby. The estimation slips and a container sit next to it. I start strong, giving out estimation slips constantly for positive behavior. Kids learn to quickly make their estimation, fold it, put it in the container, and go back to work so they can earn another.  The closer we get to winter break and the more excited they get it get harder to earn a slip, or sometimes easier depending on your class.

                       

Make it work for you….

*Give a range (between 100-200, or less that 350)

*Pick behaviors you want to promote that will earn an estimation slip

*Have the winner set it up for the next day/week

*Start with smaller amounts until they grasp estimating

To make life easy, you can get the estimation slips (color and black & white) I use for free. Click the picture below.

I am thankful for all of you that clicked, google, or however you discovered this post! So, to show my thanks I am giving away a $25 gift card to Amazon! Who doesn’t love Amazon? Enter below, good luck my friends.

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Starting the Year Off Strong!

That first day of school can be nerve wrecking whether you are a veteran teacher with years of experience or a first-year teacher straight out of college.

You want the first day to be perfect. You want to have fun, but also set the tone for the year. You need to establish your schedule, expectations, routines, and procedures so the rest of the year will be flawless (ha! we wish).

I am taking some of my free time (between binging on Netflix) to reflect on some of these things. A new school year brings a chance to start new procedures or revamp old ones. I wanted to share some of the things on my mind with you.

Classroom Policies

*Supplies: Table supplies have always been a weakness for me. I use table caddies and they start off strong, but they always end up messy by the third week. This year I am going to follow through with maintaining organization of table supplies. I plan to implement a new class job that will monitor their table throughout the week. How do you want your students to get their supplies when needed? What if Johnny lost his scissors? What if table 4 is out of glue sticks… again? 

Moving About

*Bathroom: I have a good system in place for students needing to use the restroom, but it could be a bit better. Occasionally I forget when someone is out of the room, I have to quickly glance around and see if anyone is missing before I allow a student to go. Those few seconds are instructional time I do not like to waste. To solve this problem I am going to use hand sanitizer bottles like passes. Students will know not to signal for the bathroom if the bottle isn’t in it’s ‘home’. You can get my hand sanitizer labels for free HERE. Will your students ask or signal to go to the bathroom? Will they use a pass or sign out?

*Pack Up / Dismissal: Ugh! The most chaotic part of my day is pack-up and dismissal. I start out with a firm routine and then a crazy-hectic day comes in and throws us off. It is hard to recover. This year we have specials at the end of the day and will need to pack-up before. I am hoping this will help prevent the chaos. Will you call tables to pack-up? Do you need to sign agendas? When a student is done packing up, where will they sit? What will they do until they are called for dismissal?

Organization

*Homework: I have a designated spot in my room to turn in homework. When I check homework there are always papers with no name on it. It drives me CRAZY! I don’t have this problem with classwork, because students highlight their name before turning it in. Next year I will enforce highlighting your name on your homework too. Where do students turn in their homework? Will you check it or a student? When will it get checked? What if they didn’t put their name on it?

Lesson Procedures

*Early Finishers: Inevitably, no matter how well I thought out a lesson and included enrichment, Johnny is always done early. His work is correct, there is no sending him back to “check” it. A few years ago I invented the Brownie Points box for early finishers. Last year I had a different procedure in place. What will Johnny do when he is done? Will you have a system in place or will they read quietly?

*Answering Questions: I never considered this procedure a trouble spot, until I visited Ron Clark Academy. Wow! Every teacher MUST go, that school is inspirational. One of my biggest take-aways was how the kids answered questions and responded to each other. They don’t raise their hands, they just pop-up and speak. I started this towards the end of last school year, and plan to implement it from day one next year. Will you have your students raise their hand? What if they have a question while you are working with a small group?

You can sit and ponder these things in between Netflix shows or at the pool, but my friend Jessica over at Notes from the Portable and I did all the thinking for you. We answered these questions plus many, many more in our Teaching Tips and Time Savers ebook. Whether you are a super-organized teacher or a little more relaxed we have multiple strategies, tools, and forms for you. We also provided editable classroom forms to make your life easier.  

Jessica also has 29 Things You Need to Know Before the First Day of School! Hop on over and check out her list… she has FREEBIES! J

Back2School Link Up: Procedures & Policies

What procedures and policies do you teach at the beginning of the year? I am excited to read about what you all do as I link up with Notes from the Portable for another week of our Back 2 School Link Up!

 

The first procedure I have to share is one that makes my skin crawl. Yes, the dreaded pencil sharpener!  I HATE it, absolutely HATE the sound of the pencil sharpener! My students are not allowed to use it during the day.

How do I enforce this? By always having sharpened pencils ready! I bought these cups last summer and use two for pencils… one for SHARP and one for DULL.

So, when your pencil is dull you exchange it for a sharp one. This procedure takes A LOT of practice. Many kids want to just put the dull one in their desk and get a new pencil. Well, that causes a problem. At the end of the day, when my trustworthy students go to sharpen the pencils, there won’t be many in the dull cup. There is no trick to perfecting this procedure, just lots of practice and reminders.

 

The next procedure I start teaching early on the first day of school. Lining up is a very important procedure. I am not talking about lining up in a certain order, I am talking about lining up in a proper line.

I refuse to be that teacher who can’t control her line. I want my students to be able to walk nicely down the hallway without me and especially when I am absent.

We start by lining up in the classroom and reviewing expectation for a line. I like a 4S line. Straight, Still, Silent, and Smiling!

 

 

I hang this cute poster by our door. I say “Show me a 4S line” and the students hold up 4 fingers. As I say each S, if they are doing that thing then they put their finger down.  You can get this cute poster HERE in our Teaching Tips: Everything You Need for Back to School Pack.

When we are ready to venture into the hallway the 4S line should continue. I teach my students the first week where to stop in the hallway, that way they are never too far from me. Practice makes better, so we practice our 4S line a lot the first week by touring the school.

Another procedure I am pretty strict with is our bathroom sign out.

Let me start by saying that my students can use the bathroom whenever they want unless I am teaching or they are in a small group with me. I teach them to hold up a 1 with their finger to signal they need to use the restroom. No interruptions, which is especially important when I have a small group with me.

 Our school has a policy that students must sign out before going to the bathroom, but this is something I have always done.

Why? Because I can quickly check to see where a child is in case of a fire drill or emergency. But won’t you remember you gave them permission? No! I’ll give them permission and go back to who I was working with.  I print this simple sign out sheet and stick in on a clipboard.  This sign out sheet is also available I our Teaching Tips: Everything You Need for Back to School Pack.

 

 

Want to know more about the procedures and policies Notes from the Portable and I teach at the beginning of the year? Check out our Teaching Tips: Everything You Need for Back to School pack in m TPT store {HERE}.

 

Now, for some real fun! This week you have a chance to win a $25 Target eGift Card! Enter below!

Giveaway will close Monday evening.

 

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