Establishing Routines
Posted by Hope Spencer on 17 Aug 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Management, Classroom Routines, Grade 1, Grades 2-3, Intermediate, Kindergarten, Planning and Curriculum, Preschool, The Mailbox
I know it sounds cliché, but I just can’t believe that it’s time to get ready for a new school year already! Preparing the classroom for my students’ arrival was one of my favorite things about teaching. I know that establishing a routine can make all the difference in the classroom, so I’ve scanned the August/September 2009 issues of The Mailbox® magazine to find tips you can incorporate into your planning.
Preschool: I use this simple system to quickly and easily track attendance. For each child, I place a card labeled with his photo and name in a pocket chart. When a child arrives, he moves his card from the chart to a nearby basket. After everyone has arrived for the day, I know at a glance who is present.
Kindergarten: Looking for a way to keep small classroom items at your fingertips? Use plastic cups! Pin plastic cups to bulletin boards and place items such as nametags, calendar pieces, or manipulatives inside. Or adhere a strip of magnetic tape to the back of a cup, attach it to a board, and put dry-erase markers inside.
Grade 1: To keep your class list at your fingertips, type your students’ names using a small point size. Then tape the list to the back of your school identification badge. You can count on it to be a timesaving reference during fire drills and any emergencies!
Grades 2-3: I use a simple rhyme activity to signal transition time. I ask a question, such as “Are you ready, Freddy?” and direct my students to answer with a rhyme, such as “Yes, Eddie.” It’s a quick way to get their attention, and my students like to be involved. To keep students’ interest, I change the names periodically throughout the year.
Intermediate: To keep my hall passes from being lost or germ-infested, I use badges that hang from my students’ necks. I write my name and room number on the back of each badge, laminate it, and punch a hole in the top corners. Then I thread each hole with yarn and tie a knot at the end to create a necklace. These handy badges are sturdier and easier to see than handheld ones.
Here’s to the best year ever!
Hope
Congratulations to Theresa F. from Glendale, Arizona. She is the winner of a copy of the K-1 Organize Now, May, book.
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33 Responses to “Establishing Routines”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
I teach 4 year olds and I love the idea of them helping with attendance taking. I have seen this idea in Mailbox before and have decided to use it this year and see them learn to read their names.
@ Jamie,
I love the velcroed pictures. I planned on using their photos and names for attendance, but I love that they go on their chairs. Then that they will use them for their center choices.
This year I placed a photo of my preschoolers on an attendance board with velcro on the back. the attendance board has their names on it, so I can see easily to take attendance anytime of the day! They remove them from the board when they arrive, and attach them to their chairs. (we have velcro dots on the backs of the chairs, and to designate how many children are allowed at each station) Then during centers time, they use them to choose which station they will occupy. The sand table holds 6 kids comfortably, so if there are no available spaces to hang your picture, you must wait for the stations to switch! Works great teaching the children to take turns and put others first!
I love routine and know that I wouldn’t be nearly as sane without it. However, I’ve been teaching middle school the last six years and this coming school year I’ve been moved to Junior Kindergarten. I can anticipate many things, but developing the routine and classroom expectation is one that I’m a little nervous about. I’ve already got some great ideas from this blog post and love reading Mailbox for others. I would just hate to have an unpleasant classroom for my students because I was inconsistent on setting up the routines. I’ve also been fortunate to have met people along the way that have already shared useful tips… it’s good when others offer what they’ve learned in their experiences.
Thanks to all of you who have shared ideas!
My three and four year olds start doing the attendance from day one. I have their pictures and names separate so they have to find their names. As the year goes on I mix up their names weekly and then document who needs help and who is independent. Our attendance is on a strip of sticky back velcro on the door.
I love those tips! I’m a preschool teacher but I could use any of those ideas — and probably will!
Thanks for sharing!
I have used the hall/bathroom necklace idea for the last few years with my 4th graders. I have used plastic string but students would break it numerous times so this year I will use yarn like the suggestion says! Another good ideas might be name badge clips that they can attach to their shirts.
This is the morning routine I learned from my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching:
Empty backpack.
Always do lunch count.
Sharpen pencil.
Your morning work.
The first letter of each step spells “EASY.” I adapted it to my classroom, but it helped to have an idea of what a morning routine could look like.
This is my second year teaching kindergarten. Last year I felt I was not as organized as I was when I taught 4th grade…but this year I feel a little more on top of things. I have set up an attendance area for the students to use, their name card is on a magnet that can be used for graphing as well as attendance as the year progresses. I will be expecting more from my kinders this year as I have learned they are really capable of more than I expected last year.
I really found many great ideas in my Mailbox issues.
I have have to agree with everyone. Routines are extremely important. In fact, I have noticed that when kids are in school and they get use to a rountine, they also want a routine at home. When I have Parent/Teacher conferences, that is one topic that almost all of my parents talk about. I have mailboxes for my students and give them a Daily Folder. They know that all their papers go into their mailbox so at the end of the day, they take their Daily Folder and put their papers inside to take home. When there are no paper inside their mailbox, they always come to me and ask where they are. They get use to taking their folder home and when they do not have to, it is out of order for them. I’ve also placed a container on each table that has scissors, crayons, pencils so they know where to find extra supplies.
I teach middle school, so there are bells to dismiss at the end of each class period. At the end of the day it’s usually hectic, so I say, “Quiet row gets to go; where it is, I don’t know!” I then just dismiss by rows as they become quiet. It alleviates cramped quarters at the lockers as well. And,on days when someone has a birthday, the celebrity always gets to leave a minute early
With my class of 3 year olds, I always just take attendance on my own and never gave it much thought to let the children help with that task. Usually, during Circle Time, we will have a Good Morning song that introduces the children to one another - but this idea will reinforce that! Thanks!