An Apple A Day: Classroom Management

It's time for another "An Apple A Day" Linky with Leigh over at The Applicious Teacher!

 

 This week's theme is Classroom Management!

I have several different ways that I manage my class to share with you that are not necessarily about managing behaviors.. but other things because to me, classroom management isn't just about behavior!

Let me start by saying that I assign numbers to students at the beginning of the year according to their last name alphabetically. I use this number for all sorts of things throughout the year. I even write the numbers on the tiles with a sharpie so they know WHERE to stand when they line up and there is never any arguing because we line up in NUMBER order everytime! :)

Ok, let's dig in to.... Classroom Jobs!

This is not the first time I have put my job chart in a blog post but I thought it was appropriate to bring it up once again.

This has honestly been the best decision I made in regards to classroom jobs! I used to have a HUGE display that was placed all along my cabinet doors for display and I used dry erase markers to write names and it was just a HUGE mess!

Sooo, in order to SAVE ROOM and MANAGE things EASIER, I changed to this method. All I did was cut and laminate the job pieces and numbers, then cut them out. I then laid out a super long piece of zebra ribbon and hot glued the job pieces all the way down. Once the glue dried, I used thumb tacks to secure it to the wall at the top and bottom. I then hot glued the number pieces to clothespins. From there, you just place one clothespin on each job, in number order, all the way down. Now all I have to do to switch jobs, is rotate the clothespin down one and move the bottom one to the top! It's soooo easy and not time consuming at all! Love it! :)

Next up, center rotations:

I'm not going to go into an in-depth post about my center time just yet, but I do want to share how my kiddos know it's time to rotate independently.

The timer pictured above is made by Kagan. I use a lot of Kagan Cooperative Learning structures in my classroom and I was blessed enough to receive this timer when I attended a 2-day Kagan workshop!
It's totally awesome for randomly selecting students, groups, etc. but my main reason for using it is the timer feature. I can easily and quickly set the timer for 15:00 minutes {or any other time increment} and the students get started. The timer automatically gives what I call a "warning beep" a little bit before time is up. This "warning beep" serves as their clean up beep.. that way, when the final beep goes off, they are ready to switch and get started at the next center! :)
Click the picture above to check out the timer if you think it would work well for you! :)
{Please note, I am not being paid to advertise this product... I really do USE it and LOVE it!}

Now we are on to how I manage POSTIVE behavior in my classroom:

Click the pic to check this out at Really Good Stuff!

I bought this classroom reward bingo game over the summer last year and implemented it this year. The kiddos LOVED it! I would use it for all sorts of positive reinforcement - first 3 kiddos to be quiet, first 2 kiddos to clean their desk off first, first kiddo to follow directions, for any random act of kindness, working hard, and the list goes on and on! The kids never knew when I would tell someone to "put their number on the Bingo board" so they were always waiting for it and trying to be the one who made it on there! I had students write their class number on the poster because it was much faster and I also thumb tacked a dry erase marker on a string right next to it for easy access. Every two weeks I would draw a few winners and give them a prize!

How do I manage my groups/tasks?

At the same training where I received the MegaTimer above, I also received this awesome class set of 10 TeamMats also made by Kagan. On one side of the mat, it is split into fourths and labeled with the numbers 1-4. It also shows the students which is their face partner and which is their shoulder partner. I use the numbers on this mat for partner discussions but also other things. For example, I might say that person 1 is responsible for picking up materials and putting them away that day. Person 2 might be team captain for the day. Person 3 might be in charge of getting handwriting paper for their group one day. You get the idea. It's just super handy and super quick to manage all kinds of transitions and tasks!
The other side of the mat is for a specific Kagan structure. Click the pic above to check them out in all their detailed glory.

 Well, I have discussed several aspects of how I manage different things in my room but I DO have some more helpful management tips!
I have put together a pack that includes 3 different classroom management techniques.
This pack will discuss using:
An A+ Behavior Bag {to promote teamwork and correct expectations}
Stop Light Pocket Chart System {includes a reproducible for student tracking and parent communication}
AND
Classroom Library Organization {an in-depth look at how I set up my classroom library and how the kiddos can use the system to be independent and keep that library neat!}

Click the pic to check this out on TpT!

You can also enter to WIN my Classroom Management pack below!

There's 2 ways to win! To enter on my blog, just leave a comment on this post! I will use a random number generator to choose one comment to win! :)

For another chance to enter (along with two other packs from Leigh @ The Applicious Teacher and Tamara @ Mrs. Russell's Room)... head over to Leigh's blog and enter the rafflecopter!

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post! Hope it was helpful! :) Be sure and link up below to share your tips also!