Procedure Cards for Independent and Group Work

As teachers and parents we know children are most successful when they have clear expectations.  It builds student confidence when the definitions of a quality final product, as well as the expected steps toward completing an activity, are well defined.  In an effort to help build self efficacy, I created a set of procedure cards to guide my students during independent and group work.   

The cards include visual and written prompts as reminders of the instructions given, such as: 

Use Your Book,

Write on Paper

Think About It

Focus on Key Ideas,

Quiet as a Mouse,

One Foot Voices 

Use Crayon

Marker is Okay

Take Your Time,

As Fast As You Can

After giving verbal directions for the task at hand, the procedure cards corresponding to the activity are placed on the white board (attached by magnet strips).  A quick glance at the board will remind the visual learners that "no crayons this time," since the verbal instruction probably went in one ear and out the other. ;)

What prompts might you add to this list?  Do you use a similar management system in your classroom for independent work time?  How does your system work for your students?

If you would like to give these procedure cards a try in your classroom, they are available HERE as FREE photo file downloads.  Print them in whatever size you might like using the drop down menu on the Action tab. 

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Classroom Management Strategies

During the summer months it is typical for teachers to re-evaluate their classroom set up, curriculum, and even management strategies. I am always looking for tried and try suggestions from other professionals to make the classroom run more smoothly!  Here are a few ideas from fellow readers, parents, and teachers.

Teacher Blog Spot has put together a thought provoking list of 33 classroom procedures to consider before the school year begins.

Caroline from Learning Parade offers a free download for a document she uses to manage noise levels within the classroom.  It is a traffic light system, sometimes known as a "chatter tracker."

Learning Parade also shares Good Listening Mini Posters. They are a fantastic visual aid to display, reminding children what good listening looks like.

Tammy at Makin Magick has several posts about setting up, and teaching students, the rules and procedures her classroom.  You will want to scroll down and check out all of her clever suggestions.

Nurturing the Tender Years has created some effective character development lessons for her children.

First Grade A La Carte gives us her lesson in Classroom Management 101.

First Grade School Box suggests a unique way of getting student attention.  What do you think?

First Grader At Last has designed a catalog of Best BeeHaviors.

While you are thinking about setting up your classroom for a new year, you may be interested in searching out some online teacher discounts to help you.

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Classroom Organization

Welcome to Management Monday! New to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

Thanks to Starr for submitting her articles on Organizing a Learning Environment.
She shares the top ten tips from organized moms about creating an environment that promotes learning. Her link contains a slide show of excellent example photos.
Here is a sample from the Top 10 list:

1. Use clear containers. Clear containers allow both kids and adults to see what materials are inside without tearing everything out of the drawers and cabinets. To facilitate cleanup, label each drawer. If your child is too young to read, put a picture of the item on the front of the drawer. The favorite product of the organized parents that I talked to were plastic drawer units like this one.


2. Put posters and visual aids at kid eye level. It does not matter what kind of great visuals you have if the kids can't get close and look at them.

3. Display books with the covers facing out. This creates interest and invites reading much more than seeing just the book spines. For a cheap way to display books using recycled cardboard containers, look here.

4. Use TV trays. TV trays can be pulled out to display a science experiment or art project and then be easily tucked away when not in use.

Want to see how others organize their learning spaces?  Scroll through this post to see examples of using space to the fullest from many parents/teachers who made it happen!
 

In the past ABC&123 hosted a link party for organization suggestions.  The Wonder Years chimed in and shared a wealth of suggestions, one of which was to use pencil storage pockets to sort classroom manipulatives and games.

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Management Monday: Classroom Tools

Welcome! New to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

For today's Management Monday, we're highlighting teaching tools or strategies that some of our readers use to help their learning activities be a success. If you have one please submit it so we can feature it in a future post.


Denise at Explorations shares her song charts, these are a wonderful teaching tool to work on pre-reading skills. Many teachers use song charts in circle time and have a new one weekly. You can talk about print directionality, high light key writing concepts such as begin a sentence with capital letters, and give each child their own poem for a poem book. You child will eventually have several poems and songs he or she can read on his or her own.


Classroom transitions can be tricky. Second Story Window shares 2 favorite transition techniques: poetry and brain teasers.

They also have a fun idea for cleaning up the classroom called "Secret Scrap!"


Jenni at Our Nifty Notebook, saves her empty peanut butter jars and uses them to organize her daughter's collections. They are the perfect size to hold counting manipulatives.

Thanks to Annette at the Whipples for letting us know about this fun resource: Homeschool Freebie of the Day. Everyday for just one day a new freebie is available. Sign up for their newsletter and find out each week what will be available.

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Management Monday

Welcome! Are you new to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

Welcome to our first Management Monday post!

In this series we will spotlight ways to manage the many little details that accompany teaching in a classroom or at home.

Today we'd love for you to cooperate by adding your suggestions in the comment section.

How do you:
~organize your supplies and student materials
~maintain control of your students so you can get through a lesson
~lesson plan for your day (How much time do you allow per subject area?)
~keep track of & evaluate what you've taught
~manage planning, keeping up your home life, and continuing professional development
~keep records
~organize student work
~decide which student samples to save & how to store them

Are there any other techniques you have implemented for managing activities for optimal success?

Please send us your ideas. We will look forward to reading them and posting them on future Management Mondays!

Jill at Controlling My Chaos has a great tutorial on how to make a homework center, great for keeping distractions to a minimum while concentrating on important school work.

She also shared a simple and easy way for kids to personalize their backpack, so it won't get mixed up with all the other bags on the playground.This chore chart can be saved on your computer to help you track weekly assignments. There is also a more "manly" version available for your little man.For controlling the papers and artwork your children want to keep, Jill suggests a magnetic board system.

Peter Walsh from Clean Sweep shares a technique for organizing school work on momready. Manage school projects so they don't become more clutter.

Teacher Trick:
Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot suggests Popsicle Stick Turn Taking

Students are enthusiastic about participating! To keep turn taking fair, write each student's name on a popsicle stick and store them in a mug. Whenever student participation is required, pull a stick and allow that student to answer the question, be the special helper, or "pass" without giving a reason. Once the student has had a turn, put the stick back in the mug with the name side up instead of down. (If the student decides to pass, put their stick back down to give him or her another opportunity). The system allows every student an opportunity to participate some how during each day. Once the class is familiar with this method, the number of "shout out" answers will decrease and if a student does shout out an answer their stick can be turned around. They've then "missed" their next turn; most students don't want that to happen!

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