A Few Beginning of the Year Pointers

Next week is the second week of school.

I must admit I forgot how exhausting the first week of school is. 

I planned lots of activities but managed to get to a very few of them.  

That is fine, typical of the first week of kindergarten!
I focused a lot on procedures and rules.

Here are a few pointers for classroom organization and classroom management.

Tip #1

When I first started teaching kindergarten I had classroom jobs.  Lots of classroom jobs.
If it needed to be done it became a classroom job!
Well...that was a mess!?!?!?!?
I had so many other things to do I couldn't keep up!
Classroom jobs became a job in itself!  HAHA!

My answer...
 I still have classroom jobs but only 2.
1 boy and 1 girl.
Whatever is needed to be done they get to do it.
They are line leaders, they get to lead the calendar songs, they get to collect stations cards,
they get to help me with anything I need.

I change the names every day at calendar time.  I just flip the card and viola!

Tip #2

Calling on students.  

I remember my first year teaching my principal observed my class and 

asked how I decided who to call on.  At the time I had not really thought about it.

I called on the students who were raising their hands.
I tried to call on a girl and then a boy to make sure I was keeping that even.  

Since then I have a new plan.  

I use popsicle sticks.  

I write each students name on a popsicle stick and put the sticks in the "pick me" bucket.

During calendar time I pull out a stick and have that student do the task at hand.  

That way every child gets a chance.  

I put the stick in the "done" bucket until everyone has a chance and then I start over.  

Another great way to pick your students is with this great app.

Stick Pick

This is like a virtual popsicle stick "picker"!

But it does SO much more:

Differentiated Instruction

Track Formative Assessment Data

Support Common Core Standards

Actively use Blooms Taxonomy in your classroom

(Great for those Teacher Evaluations)

Check out this app here!

  

Tip #3

Mystery Students are great for Classroom Management. 

I use mystery students throughout the day.
During whole class teaching, calendar, lunch, and when we have special visitors.

I write each students name on a popsicle stick.
I draw out one popsicle stick before whatever activity we are doing.
I don't tell the students who the mystery student is.  Depending on the activity I wait until the activity is completed.  For instance, during calendar time I will pick a mystery student before we start.
Once calendar time is over I reveal the mystery student.
If that particular student made good choices then I will let the class know who it was.
That student will receive a gold star (school wide incentive) or possibly a behavior buck.
If the mystery student was not making good choices I don't tell the class who it was and let them know that they will have a chance when everyone's stick has been drawn.

As I draw a mystery student I put the stick in the done bucket even if the student didn't make good choices.  Once all the names are in the done bucket I start over.

Tip #4

Popcorn words (sight words)

I can't say I came up with this because I didn't.

 I had an AMAZING student teacher who used this little song when introducing popcorn words.  

I am not sure where it cam from so if you created this song please let me know.

I took the song and typed it out and we do this for every popcorn word.  

We sing and clap, tap (knees), clap, tap, clap , tap...

The kiddos LOVE it!

At the beginning of the next week we take the previous words and hang them on the word wall.  

We look at the first letter and hang it where it should go. 

Tip #5

My Bravo Board
This is a group incentive that focuses on positive behavior.
I have four student tables yellow, green, blue, and red.

As the tables work to gather as a group they earn bravo points.
(Work quietly, work as a team, line up quietly, work hard, etc..)

Once they reach 10 tallies they earn a behavior buck and then we start over.

Tip #6

Lunch Choices

At our school we have lots of lunch options.  

For kindergarteners, that can make choosing lunch a challenge.

They can choose from a sandwich, salad, yogurt entree, hot lunch, PBJ, or they can bring their lunch. 

I am a very visual person so I made these little lunch card buckets.  

The kiddos pick what they want for lunch and put their card in the corresponding bucket.  

                              

                                                  

Tip #7

Terrific Work

In my classroom I have a terrific work board.  I put student work on this board throughout the week.

At the end of the week the students gets their name called and gets a special sticker.

This is great for encouraging students to do their best. 

The level of terrific work is different for each student.  It is their personal best.

What is terrific for one student may not be considered terrific for another.  

I always tell my students, "It doesn't have to be perfect...you just have to do your best!"

I hope you can use some of these pointers in you classroom.