Happy Thursday, teachers! It’s time for this year’s Gobble, Gobble Book Giveaway!
To have your name entered to win a book of your choice from The Mailbox (and a surprise from me!), tell us one way you save time during the school day. Be sure to leave your comment on this blog post before midnight, EST, Monday, November 19.
I’m already thankful for your timesaving tips!
Happily,
Diane
PS: I just learned that over at the Upper Grades Exchange, my buddy Todd is also having a giveaway! Why not leave your comment here and then trot on over to “A Turkey-Themed Twofer” for a second helping of giveaway fun! Gobble, gobble!
Congratulations to LaShanda! She’s the winner of our giveaway!
To save time during the school day I grade papers while eating lunch. I know it’s not the best way to relax, but our schedule is packed, and this works best for me.
To save time during the day I try to read while the kids are reading. This way they see me reading silently also, but I’m reading the books for their guided reading groups.
I actively utilize my students! Younger children are so eager and proud to help out. With 5 spare minutes at the end of the day, kids can help to accomplish so much, be it mail distribution, picking up copies from the printer, or organizing our class library. Many hands make a heavy workload feasible. Five minutes a day is quick and simple, yet so effective.
To save time during my day, I have my students check in when they enter the room. They move their name from “I’m at home” to what they are doing for lunch – “I’m buying lunch or I brought my lunch.” With a quick glance, I can see who is absent without taking time out of my day to call roll. I do this while my student helpers are leading our calendar activities (another job I use to do but have relinquished to students to free up more time to take care of handling money, notes, etc.).
To save time during the day I make sure all projects and activities are ready to go the night before so I don’t have to scramble in the morning to put it together.
To save time during the day, I try to have everything I need for the day prepared the night before (e.g. craft supplies sorted into a “package” for each child and books pulled. Like one of the above posters, I also like to have jobs available for kids to help out with during the day when they’ve finished their other tasks. They love to help sort toys, rinse paintbrushes, wipe tables and more.
I save time by never passing out a piece of paper! At the beginning of the school year, I hand my students a color-coded packet. In that packet is every piece of paper they will need for the entire year. It saves me SO MUCH TIME!
I use snack time if I can to clean up or set up for the next day so we are ready. I also use my day “off” to put craft supplies together in ziploc bags if I can then all we have to do is get the glue out or pain and we are good to go. I also use baskets lined up with crafts for the day/week, so even if I am not there they can find what they need and know what to do. I have also color coded my tables to baskets or bins and have what we need for the week for that particular table in the bin of that tables color. helps tremendously!
A timesaver for me is to do organizing in the golden hour before we hit our total class number. I give our kids special helper jobs for example giving me small pieces of tape Carrying supplies or helping staple paper while we share some one on one time.
I do all my prep work before children arrive. That extra time helps me to completely plan a day with no interruptions and I am ready to greet the first student.
I teach preschool 4 year olds so we have nap time. I get alot done in those 2 hrs while the children are napping!
To save time, I prep for the next days activities during the preschoolers “free play” time. I sit at the table and cut hinges out and usually I will have a little crowd seeing what I’m up to.
Learned to say no!
Before lunch time, I clean and set the tables before story time. After we wash hands, say prayer and serve the children their lunch, I set up the cots for the children. Both preparations save a lot of time and allows me to transition the children smoothly and to keep this time of the day consistent for the children as well. I believe this helps them to settle down quickly for nap time and to rest.
I save time by keeping individual folders for each child and having kids put their work in those folders.
I make the students responsible for as much of their own time and activities as possible. This is a matter of teaching routines and procedures, and it makes everything go so much smoother.
To save time during the day, I like to make sure that all the preparations for the day are done before school, and then I use every spare moment to grade papers and do all those zillion other things that need to be done each day. One of the secrets is to write things down as you remember what has to be done.
To save time during the day, I gather all the next day’s materials together the night before. During the day, I enlist my students help cleaning up after crafts and sack/meal times.
To save time during the day I take time afterschool at the end of the month to make copies of any worksheets or quizzes I’ll need for the new month coming up. When organizing for the day it’s quicker to grab from a pile than to go and make copies.
My assistant and I have things down to a science. She helps the children wash their hands for snack and while she is doing that I am getting coats out for outdoor time after snack. We each have different jobs and we manage our time so that we can get twice the work done. It takes communication and a set routine and works great.
I make all the copies I need for the next week on the Friday before.
Because I teach different age groups on different times and days I plan my lessons so that I can save time. All 3 classes have the same color and shape of the month at the same time. We use the same color of paints so we can get things out just once. Its the little things that save you time.
To save time during the day, I pack my folders as soon as the students are done with their independent work.
I have a Helping Hands board in my classroom. I have 15 jobs and 20 students. The 5 students who are not assigned jobs are substitutes. They fill in when students with assigned jobs are absent.
Having the students do certain jobs is a great time saver. They take the attendance sheet to the office, they push in chairs, they collect center name cards, they turn in the lunch count, etc. It saves me time, but it also teaches them to be responsible. I have been using the Helping Hands board for years, and it’s been extremely successful.
To save time during the school day in the area of classroom management, I use ClassDojo as a motivator for my students to stay on task and to use their time wisely. They love it and beg for me to start it up right when I walk into the classroom each morning!
We have team planning on Wednesday and during specials on Thursday I get all of the copies made for the next week. On Friday during specials I clean like a mad woman and have all of my centers ready to go for the next week. I also have the kids help with putting up the chairs, getting paper off the floor and cleaning their tables and chairs.
To save time each day, I have a Sterlite file cabinet that I keep by my desk. On Friday, I put in the materials that I will need for each day before I leave for the weekend. All I need to do each day, is go to the labeled draw for the day and all of my materials are organized and ready to go.
To save time, I have all the materials for a lesson set out ready to go. I preload any websites or computer files.
I save time by getting my materials ready for the next week before I leave for the weekend. I keep a bin on my desk for my materials (Mon. – Fri.). I also have a bin for my TE so they are easy to grab and teach from.
I copy all the weeks work on Friday and sort them into a wire rack filer by day. In the AM, I pull the necessary materials out from the day it is stored in.
Keep Baby Wipes Handy
Baby Wipes are a real time saver in the classroom. Use baby wipes to clean white boards, remove ink from transparencies, wipe down desks, clean dirty hands, etc.
While my asstiant or myelf is doing group time the other is putting down the cots. This saves us time because when we come back from outside time we serve lunch. Then its time for their nap.
To save time during the day I make sure to take one plan period to make my copies for the next week. I then put them in a specific slot so that I can just grab the materials I need for that day and everything is there and ready to go.
I save time by making copies and setting up lessons at the beginning of each week.
I have my 4 and 5 year olds do most of the stuff themselves from getting ready to go outside, serving themselves at meals, to putting their own cots away (they do them as teams). Of course, I supervise, but it does save time and eliminates some transition issues. It encourages cooperation, random acts of kindness, independence… I love when the parents discover that their child can zip their own coat when they have been doing it in the classroom for a month or so, but have let their parents keep doing it for them.
I am a preschool teacher and I get my work done doing nap time also after my students get on the bus I have an hour for planning for the next day. I also that my work home with me.
To save time in the day(and week) I share prep work with the 2 other Pre-k teachers in our quad…I do precutting and examples for my students while watching tv. … I have centers set before I leave…
My greatest time saver is take15-20 minutes before the class enters and mentally go through the day of activities and look for pitfalls or difficulties my students will encounter. It is absolutely essential that I do that because I have 2 half-day classes that are a blend of both preK 4 year olds and preK 4year old with disabilities. The makeup of the two classes are totally different so their challenges are too!
Since Diane posted this blog I have been thinking of ways that I save time through the day.
As teachers we all come in early. Some years ago I realized the phone is always ringing early and disrupting my prep time. I now do not answer the phone the first 15 minutes I am there. I let the calls go to voice mail and listen to them after I use my first 15 minutes to set up my circle stuff. I have found that a huge time saver. As much as I love my Parents I have found that most of the calls are just reporting absences and the ones who require a return call I just return after I am set up. So much more relaxing of a start to the day.
I give each child a number in the beginning of the school year. These are usually alphabetical. Then when papers are turned in put them in number order and can see in an instant who is missing the work. It doesn’t take the students long to know their numbers and it is automatic to put name and number on paper.
Love all of these time-saving tips…Keep them coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!