In a self-paced classroom, each student is given an appropriate level of challenge and grows at a steady pace throughout the school year. Here's how it works.
If you are a 1st-5th grade classroom teacher, grab these 3 highly effective behavior management strategies for elementary students.
15 exit ticket ideas for any subject or grade level!
One of the first things teachers learn in their pre-service teaching classes is the importance of establishing effective classroom routines and procedures for
3-Act Math Tasks are some of the most powerful learning experiences I've used in my middle school classroom. Learn about the research behind these effective teaching practices, and grab some incredible ready-to-go lessons for every grade level, primary to high school! #math #mathteacher #mathclass #3actmath #teaching
If you struggle with classroom management no matter how many different strategies you try, there's a chance you're doing something to get in your own way.
Ask any high school teacher, and they’ll tell you one of the most annoying rituals of the day is students coming up before and during class asking if they can run to the bathroom. Not only is it di…
Get your students focused and on track as soon as class starts with these ideas for middle school classroom routines to begin class.
Classroom management strategies for middle school are not the same as elementary strategies. Learn how to manage a middle school classroom.
Relationship building is key to good teaching. This system will help you quickly get to know students and benefit from those connections all year long.
The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.
Making anchor charts has always been hard work for me. In fact, I never liked making anchor charts for the classroom. I did it because it helps the kids, but I am not a fan of my handwriting, my drawing is even worse, and let's not even talk about the time it takes to make nice looking anchor charts. As teachers, we do not possess much of that thing called, "time." I mean really, I found myself shoving down carrots and ranch dressing (because I want to be healthy) then devouring allll the chocolate (because I really don't care about healthy anymore) while making anchor charts. 30 minutes later, lunch was done, anchor chart almost complete...and oops...I misspelled the title. I mean really? Rip it off the chart paper pad, throw it in the trash, and rush out the door. Unfortunately, I didn't wise up for a long time. 8 years of teaching...and a light bulb goes off. Pre-make the anchor charts. In the comfort of my own home...I make the anchor chart...on the computer. Then print, and glue! Done, done...and done. Now...I still eat all the chocolate, but now I get lunch and I am no longer in the need of anger management courses over misspelled words. I may sound like a crazy person to you...but I know you have been there too. Honesty is the best policy. :) Now, I KNOW I am not the first one that has ever pre-made anchor charts, or printed items off of the computer for an anchor chart. I am in NO way claiming to be the first to do this. But, I have been a TpT seller for a few years now and the idea just popped into my head..."if I make all of my centers, lessons plans, etc...why not anchor charts?" And there you have it. Below are a few of the anchor charts I have made and so far I love them and other teachers are loving them. I waited to do this post until I knew others found a need for these too! And yes! I was not alone! It was confirmed I was not crazy and other teachers, in fact, DO have anger problems when it comes to making hand-made anchor charts. Many people have asked what products are needed to make these. I purchased my chart paper and Astrobrights paper from Amazon. Those two things (well, with scissors and glue) are all you need! Each Anchor Chart also comes with a student journal chart as well! The students can glue these in their journals for an easy reference later! I have also completed my Writing and Grammar Anchor Chart Bundles. And newly added, I have completed Classroom Management Anchor Charts! These are also included in the big bundle...if you have purchased that, just redownload it from the My Purchases tab on TpT. I figured these would be very beneficial to make at the beginning of the year with our students then either hang them up all year as a reminder...or just pull them out to review from time to time. Just depends on the students. :) There are many more but I won't bore you with all of the pictures. I feel like Classroom Management must be explained from the beginning and reinforced often. I know these anchor charts will help keep that process streamlined in your classroom! Making these are fun and easy! Most importantly, it saves time and SANITY. Want these for your classroom? Click Here to grab them in my shop! (affiliate links are provided for your convenience)
Morning Meeting Activities will help students fall in love with school! Help students become life longer learners by implementing morning meeting!
Hey everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and if you’re like me you’re definitely enjoying your time off school. Yes I love and miss the kiddos and have seen some updates about them on FB but I’ve really enjoyed no alarms, comfy clothes, Netflix, organizing my home, and staying up late. The joys ... Read More about Read and Recall Freebie Update!
Welcome to the second part of my classroom management series on dealing with blurters. These kids are just a special kind of friend and they call for a little bit of an intervention. Your typical talking strategies may not quite work on your blurters, so I have compiled a comprehensive list of strategies (some I've used, most I have not) for you to consider as you deal with these special friends. I will be linking to several other teachers posts and TPT stores in this post because these strategies are not my own ideas. The purpose for this series for me was to put all the strategies together in one place to make it easier for teachers to find tools and tricks that they need to help them when they are struggling in a particular area. I read about this strategy last year as I tried to deal with the fact that I had several sweet little friends who struggled with blurting out. All you need is a couple of containers and some beans. At the start of each lesson, I had my helper give each student a bean. If a student blurted out, their bean went back into the community container. All students who still had their bean at the end of the lesson or lecture, put theirs in the reward jar. It was as simple as that! You can pass out beans as little or as often as you like. I let students help me determine what rewards we were working towards. Just remember, the larger the reward container, the longer it will take to get there....This can lose its effect quickly if you don't pass out the beans often or if you make your container too large. I found this out the hard way last year. When blurt beans weren't quite working for one of my little friends, I had to try something a little more drastic. I read about Blurt Cubes on Miss Giraffes post about taming a chatty class. You can read her post HERE. This REALLY seemed to work for my guy for a while. Every time he blurted out, he had to turn one of his letters over. If he still had letters left by the end of the time we had determined, I let him go into my treat box. For him, I felt that it was important that he didn't feel defeated if he lost all of his letters before the day was over so we decided that he got to reset and get a second chance at lunch time if didn't meet the goal. I think this really helped him think and reflect that "Hey, I need to do better this afternoon." I didn't want him to give up on the rest of the day because he had already lost his letters. This worked really well for him for a couple of months. As with everything else, things tend to lose their magic and you have to try something else. I do recommend this strategy for your high flyer blurters. Letting him determine what the reward was each time was also really helpful. He liked picking reward passes like lunch with a friend or having me buy him a snack a lunch. For the Blurt Box or Bucket, students fill out a ticket or paper with their name and date each time they blurt out and interrupt the class. You want to make sure you have clearly defined what all qualifies as blurting out {making noises, talking to a friend while the teacher is talking, shouting out an answer without raising their hand, etc...). This way, your students are well aware of reasons they may receive a ticket for the blurt box. Students will drop their tickets in the blurt box. At the end of the week, tally the tickets and help students make a goal to improve their blurting. You can reward students who didn't blurt out at all. Students who beat their goal each week can earn a certificate or a note home. I would use our data notebooks to help keep track of our weekly blurts because our school is big on Data Notebooks. This would be an easy way to help students keep track of their weekly blurts and it would be great to pull out during parent conferences so that students can show their parents their improvement. Here are a couple ideas for a Blurt Box or a Blurt Bucket. Click on each image for the original post or link to the product. Teacher mail, or T-mail, is a way to help keep your students from constantly blurting out to tell you things that have nothing to do with what you are teaching. You know the kids I'm talkin' about, right? These are special kinds of blurters! With T-mail, students fill out a little piece of paper and put it in your mail box. Instead of blurting, they are able to share with you appropriately and then you can respond to the student at a later time. If you don't have a mailbox, you can use a shoe box or some other container for collecting your T-mail. You can download this freebie from Upper Elementary Adventures by clicking the image below! I have not used Talkin' Tokens, but this strategy is great for all students. Each students gets a few tokens. If you don't have the printable ones pictured below, you can use something like counters. Each time they contribute to the conversation or answer a question they give you a token. If they blurt, they lose a token. This is a great way to help students be conscious of their talking out and remember to raise their hands because they are tangible. You can read more about The Pinspired Teacher's post HERE. I kind of love this idea because it is similar to the Quiet Manager that I mentioned in Part 1 of the series. A student is chosen to be the Blurt Patrol. The best part is you want to choose one of your special blurters for the job! You place the blurt patrol charts on a clipboard. You will want to discuss the voice level chart and the expectations at each level with your class when you introduce it. Before the lesson, set a goal for how many blurts you will make and try to stay under that goal. The blurt patrol then sits where they can see the whole class and the teacher. If the student sees someone blurt out for not raising their hand, having their eye on the speaker, or not having a level 0 voice, the blurt patrol gives them a silent warning by pointing to the part of the chart they need to fix on the back of the clipboard. If that student needs to be reminded again, the blurt patrol puts an x on the chart.The goal is to stay in the green with blurts. You can purchase this for only $1.50 by clicking the image below! I am definitely going to be trying this one out this school year! Another simple idea you do for your blurters is to give them a punch card. This is one of those strategies like the Blurt Cubes that may lose its magic touch after a time. I personally think it is important to let students determine what reward they want or else they won't want to work towards changing their behavior. Every time the students get through a predetermined amount of time without blurting, they earn a punch on their blurt card. You can download these reward punch cards free by clicking the image below. The Pinspired Teacher also includes some Blurt Punch Cards in her Blurt Pack on TPT. You can head to her store by clicking the image below. The Blurt Board is similar to the Chit Chat Chart I described in Part 1. I really like this blurt board below. Student's names would be listed along the side. Then they have several velcro circles next to their names. Each time they blurt, they would remove a circle. Yellow is a warning. The first red circle and after, you would determine how to handle those in your classroom. We aren't allowed to take recess so we enforce silent lunch instead. Losing all 6 would most definitely result in a phone call home if it were me, but certainly you could determine how the chart would work in your class. I would definitely reward students who had all of their circles at the end of the week. I could not find the source for this photo for credit so if you know where this originated, please share. In this one from Angela Watson, students get three pieces of bubble gum on the board a week. Each time they blurt, one piece goes back into the class gum bowl. For every piece they have left at the end of the week, they keep. If they have none, you determine a consequence. I certainly hope you were able to learn some new tips for dealing with those pesky blurters! I would love for you to share your favorite way to handle them in your classroom in the comment section! Don't forget to join me for the next part in the series, Tattling! You can also read last week's post below. Part 1 {Talking} Part 3 {Tattling} Part 4 {Following/Listening to Directions} Part 5 {Transitions} Part 6 {Classroom Organization}
Stop taking away recess and using other punishments to control your students. Find success with 10 powerful classroom management strategies!
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Are you struggling with your classroom management plan? It can take time to find one that works! To help you out, I'm sharing the best plan I ever used.
3-Act Math Tasks are some of the most powerful learning experiences I've used in my middle school classroom. Learn about the research behind these effective teaching practices, and grab some incredible ready-to-go lessons for every grade level, primary to high school! #math #mathteacher #mathclass #3actmath #teaching
Do you hide the truth from difficult students? Do you give them false praise? In the name of encouragement, most teachers do. But if you want lasting improvement in their behavior, then you have to be brutally honest with them. Difficult students don’t benefit ... Read more
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If you’re looking to regain some of your essential time, this is a post for you! Many of the daily systems teachers have setup for themselves and students can quickly turn into time-suc…
I love using games in the classroom and this is one that is easy to prepare, easy to learn and great for making kids think about spelling an...
The educational strategies I use in my classroom are things I continuously reflect on and develop. The classroom management of my middle school classrooms is one of the things I’m most proud of with my teaching. I generally had a happy classroom that was under control and focused on learning, which wasn't always easy considering my classes each consisted of 30+ seventh graders at ALL possible academic levels working out of their seats on science experiments and activities. My biggest pieces of advice for a well-behaved class are to keep your rules and consequences simple, clear, and consistent. My Classroom Rules: I only had three rules in my classroom and they were broad enough to cover just about any out of line behavior. At the beginning of the year we went over these rules thoroughly and acted out examples and nonexamples so there was no room for confusion or purposeful misinterpretation. Find links to get these posters at the end of this blog post. Rule Number One: “Respect yourself, your peers, your teacher, and your surroundings.” This rule is meant to cover all interactions in the classroom. Students who respect themselves value their education and learning time and get their assignments completed to the best of their abilities. Students who respect their peers understand their classmates need a safe learning environment free of distractions and impolite communications. Students who respect their teacher recognize the importance of the education opportunities being presented in class and allow the teacher to facilitate lessons and help all students learn. Students who respect their surroundings acknowledge the resources, furniture, and equipment in class are used by others for the pursuit of education and need to be kept in good condition. Rule Number Two: “Raise your hand silently to speak.” Having strong student participation is important for learning, but entering chaos territory is so easy when middle school students are allowed to interject whenever and for whatever. Students need to know every voice is important; for everyone's thoughts, ideas, and questions to be heard there needs to be an order to the sharing process. Rule Number Three: “Follow all directions quickly the first time they are given.” It sounds basic (and it is) but so much educational time is saved with this rule, especially in a science classroom where there is limited time to complete time-consuming experiments. My Class Consequences: After much trial and error and some great advice from an administrator, I developed a list of consequences that worked perfectly to enforce the rules of my classroom. The key with consequences is they must be followed in order every single time for every single student. Find links to get these posters at the end of this blog post. Consequence Number One: "Warning." This was in place so I could let students know their behavior was unacceptable in the classroom and needed to be changed. I gave the warning in different ways to communicate with the offending student, depending on what worked the student’s personality. Sometimes I would approach the students discreetly and quietly tell them they had a warning. Other times I would catch the student's eye from across the room and show a number one with my finger. If I had a particularly easygoing class where the students were all comfortable with one another I'd pause in the lesson to tell the student they had a warning. Consequence Number Two: “Complete a Behavior Think Sheet and move seats.” If students continued to disregard the class rules they would get this consequence that served three purposes. First it removed the student from the situation, making it easier to revert to proper behavior. Second, it allowed them to reflect on their behavior and analyze its effect on themselves and others. Third, the BTS provided me with documentation of misbehavior that I could save and keep on file. I realized completing a BTS takes time out of learning, and so did the students. My lessons were fun, engaging, and rigorous; the students did not want to and could not afford to miss part of the lesson by acting out and completing a BTS. In addition, if the misbehavior was allowed to continue it would distract others from learning the content. Occasionally I would have a student test me by not completing the BTS. For those students I gave them a choice: They could complete it in my class and be late to their next class (without a pass), or they could leave it incomplete and move on to the third consequence. The Behavior Think Sheet (with English and Spanish copies included) is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Consequence Number Three: “Parent or guardian contact.” If the first two consequences were not effective, consequence three often curbed the desire to misbehave. Sometimes I would have the student call home with me right after class. Sometimes I would make the contact immediately after school. Rarely, and only after exceptionally poor misbehavior, would the family be contacted during class. Consequence Number Four: “Referral.” I was lucky enough to teach in a school with a fantastic dean of discipline. The fourth consequence involved me contacting the dean about the student’s misbehavior and it would then be handled in a fair manner. In other schools a similar consequence might be used with the principal or other administrator instead. As I said earlier, the consequences should be followed in order every time for every student. There are exceptions to that, and I was always upfront and honest about the exceptions with my students. My students knew that if one student punched another student in class that a simple “warning” would not happen. That just wouldn't make any sense. The steps can be skipped for serious breaches of the classroom rules. The only other reason I would skip a consequence was for repeat offenders. If the same student had the same problem over and over again I met with that student privately to make a plan. Usually that plan involved skipping one or two steps in the list of consequences until the student was able to demonstrate appropriate behavior consistently over time. All of my classes knew skipping steps could occur in such situations, so there was never any backlash of “that’s unfair” if I went out of order. Using These Rules and Consequences in Your Classroom: As I mentioned, I created these rules and consequences for my middle school students. However, they work just as well as part of an upper elementary or early high school classroom management plan. I hope this post provided you with useful information and gave you ideas for rules and consequences in your own classroom. If you like my rules and consequences, save yourself some time by getting my rules and consequences posters from my TpT or Etsy store. The posters come in a variety of styles that are sure to brighten up your classroom while displaying important information that will make your teaching life easier. Find your favorite from the options below! And remember to check out the Behavior Think Sheet! Rules and Consequences Posters: Version 1: This is the original set with solid blocks of color and a structured layout. Version 2: It's a warm and calming set. Black and White: Perfect for printing restrictions—you can print the posters on vibrantly colored paper or grab a set of colored pencils and make them your own. Scales: They're wonderful for mermaid or dragon-themed classrooms. (Get it from Etsy instead.) Floral: My favorite! See these posters in the video below. (Get it from Etsy instead.) Lemons: Something about lemons just draws me in every time. I don't know if it's the happy yellow color or the reminder of delicious foods. (Get it from Etsy instead.)
14 Brilliant Ways to Quiet a Noisy Class! Check out these behavior management strategies for classroom management!
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It can be very overwhelming, especially for my struggling readers, to focus on using multiple reading comprehension strategies with a piece of text. For this reason, I always take time in at least the first
Teachers who struggle with classroom management tend to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They’re burdened with the need to walk, talk, correct, cajole, and remind their students through every this and every that. They’re saddled with having to remain on ... Read more
Applying Nancy Motley's Talk Read Talk Write (TRTW) strategy in the ELL classroom. Differentiating TRTW for Beginning to Bridging ELs.
Today was the day. I was about to utter the dreaded words “peer editing.” As I began class with my eighth graders, I told them we would be editing each ...
Looking for Wordle classroom ideas? Incorporate Wordle into your classroom with this activities, ideas, and templates.
Just a quick note about a wonderful session at a conference I attended today called "Activities to Undo Math Misconceptions". It was based on a book by Honi J. Bamberger and addressed the math concepts of money, time, counting, fractions, place value, and equality in K-3. The best idea I saw all day was a way to help kids understand coin values! You can use unifix cubes and a hundreds board to really drive home the understanding that different coins have different values. What a great idea! I can't wait to try this next year! Here is a link for more info: Click Here ~Nikki
Middle School Rewards Are you searching for a way to motivate your middle school students? Found a way to track positive behavior but not sure what to do now? Treasure box? No, that's too elementary. Prizes? No, that's too expensive. Reward coupons are the way to go! Your students will love the opportunity to be rewarded with things that matter to them. Plus, these no-cost options will cut down on the amount of money you need to spend on your classroom! Or, really, just allow you to spend it on other things because let's be real, you'll probably need more pencils or tissues soon! Check out the reward coupon options I provide my students: 1. Choose your seat for the day This is one of the most sought-after rewards in classrooms with seating charts. If you do not use seating charts, you can still use this reward; simply let students choose the type of seat they sit on. If you are REALLY flexible, you could even let your seat (at your desk or anywhere else in the room) be a choice. 2. Free assignment pass My students LOVE this reward. It becomes especially popular close to the end of the grading period. Weird, right?! #procrastinatorsunite 3. Assignment extension This one can be really helpful for student-athletes. In my 7th grade classes, it's often their first time trying to balance practice, games, AND school work. I'm thankful that my school supports students' interests but still holds them accountable. 4. Extra credit points I find it funny that the students who like extra credit the most, are usually the ones who don't need it! Don't tell anybody, but I was that kid! 🙋 5. Drop the lowest grade Some teachers use this practice routinely, but if you don't this can be a great reward. You may want/need to add some qualifying information to this reward; like it must be a daily grade, not a test or project grade. Please make sure you abide by your district/building policies regarding grades. 6. Work in the hallway This is a reward because of the freedom. Middle school students love to feel free, like they have control, and that you are not watching their every-single-move! 7. Listen to music while working This reward is easy if you are in a district/building with 1-1 devices or if you are a little more lenient with your cell phone policy. I do include a couple of qualifying statements with this reward - It can ONLY be used during independent work time and the student MUST have headphones. Image by Karolina Grabowska 8. Work with a friend Who doesn't like to work with their friends?! The social aspect of middle school life is central. Sure, this probably shouldn't be redeemed on test day, but on daily work, why not? Clipart from Pigknit 9. Bring a snack to class I have a snack DRAWER in my desk, so I am definitely not opposed to snacks in the classroom. I know some people worry about mess, if you are one of those people...add some guidelines to this reward. 10. Bring a drink to class I would recommend that you tell your students that their drinks should have a screw-top lid. Less chance of spillage. Image by Kaleb Tapp 11. Chew gum in class Gum is precious commodity. I don't know about your school, but at my school, if you are the kid with gum, you are the most popular! 12. Eat lunch in the classroom This is something that often happens at the elementary level, but sometimes we forget that older students want to build those connections with adults too. 13. Wear a hat in class At the middle school level, you may not have the authority to say that a student can wear a hat all day long, but the hat reward can be redeemed when that student is in your classroom. 14. Take off your shoes in class I know some people find this gross but think about how you get comfy. I don't know about you, but one of the first things I do when I get home is slip off my shoes! Image by Jacob Owens 15. Free time A free time reward can come in many formats to fit your classroom environment. Some free time rewards I have used include time to read a personal book, draw, play on technology, play board games, do puzzles, and just time to chat with friends (as long as it doesn't interrupt the rest of the classroom. You can purchase a set of ready-made reward cards from my Teachers Pay Teachers store - Here
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...
Attention seeking students can use up all of your energy, but when you provide them with the right kind of attention they can blossom into engaged students.
There exists a strategy that, if taught on the first day of school, can have a profound effect on the rest of the year. It takes little if any preparation time. It’s simple in its directness and also fun and participatory. But it will ... Read more
Tour my Orton-Gillingham based classroom and small group reading area. Sneak peek into my small group lessons and classroom organization.
Ask any group of teachers if their goal is to simply have students regurgitate facts, and every one of them will say no. Despite that, it keeps happening.
K takes i and e, C takes the other 3! Printable phonics poster with visuals. Great poster for early phonics instruction. For more great phonics visuals, click on the links below: To, Two, Too Poster Consonant + le Poster
15 exit ticket ideas for any subject or grade level!
The Unfair Game is a totally unfair twist on Jeopardy that your students will LOVE to hate! Learn how to play and find sample game boards in this post.
