How do you handle the student who always has a comment during your lessons? What about the student who has to go to the bathroom ten times during testing? Classroom hand signals saved my sanity, no matter what grade level I was teaching. This communication system made...
It’s far too easy to get stuck in a funk mindset where the smallest things can irritate you. By mid-year, I’d start to feel that little nag in the back of my mind that would start focusing on the ridiculous things my students were doing. It made me miserable. Adding...
Individual student recognition is great, but there will always be students who have difficulty earning even a small amount of positive reinforcement. A whole class reward system can be the answer to turning your classroom management around when you need a change. It...
Some years you get an easy class - one that allows you to actually do your job effectively and reminds you of why you went into teaching. Other years, you may have a class that makes you wonder if you'll make it through the whole year without losing your mind. I've...
Classroom schedule signs can easily replace schedule cards that you juggle around each day. Simply create a sign for each different schedule and change them as needed. This works well with upper elementary and middle school classrooms! Schedule signs are also great to...
Older kids like recognition, too! ClassDojo is an easy and fun way to track your students' positive and negative behaviors. You can even invite their parents to view their child's progress. Learn all about how I used ClassDojo in my 4th grade classroom and how it was...
It's been quite a year so far! See what I've been up to while teaching 4th grade this year. Today I'm sharing some pictures from this year. I'm teaching 4th grade again and have 26 students - 20 boys and only 6 girls! Back to School At Back to School Night (in August...
I absolutely love being a loyal customer of businesses and being a part of their perks programs. Usually, this involves some sort of punch card, and after several purchases, you get something free or a discount. I decided to try out this same idea with students, and...