Spring is here–and my house is a mess. For some reason, opening up the windows and allowing that fresh spring breeze into the house highlights the clutter, dust, and cat hair. (See the photo above for one of my hair producers.) So it’s time to clean! You might be feeling this way about your classroom as well. Here are a couple of cleanup tips that add an element of challenge to a classroom chore!
Who Has It?
Before students clean up, survey the room. Then write on a sticky note the name of one item that needs to be picked up and thrown away. Have little ones pick up items and place them at their seats. Then reveal the item and see who picked it up. Add a cute sticker to the note and give it to the child to take home. Then walk the trash can around so students can throw away their items.
Quick Cleanup
Before clean-up time, let one student roll a die and announce the number rolled. Then direct each student to put away, pick up, or throw away that number of items. The classroom will look spiffy before you know it.
I usually put on the the Barney clean up song or another clean up song and play it a couple times until the classroom is cleaned
For a change you could try Laurie Berkner’s “Clean it Up” song.