3 Simple Classroom Management Tips You Can Try Tomorrow

Are you looking for tips to classroom management tips?  I have 3 simple tips for you that you can implement in your classroom tomorrow.  Read on to find out how to simplify your line ups, move more quietly through the halls and get your class to work as a team.  I am linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know blog hop. Other bloggers and I will be sharing things that you “oughta know” for your classroom.

I don't know about you but some years my first graders return and they seem to have grown up so much over the two weeks. Some years however, I feel like I am back at square 1.  I want to share with you some of my management tricks to help them get back on track.

First off we often struggle at line up time - too many kids, too small an area (although I have a huge area this year, go figure!).  There is always arguing about who lines up where as well.  This year I whipped out my silhouette cutting machine and some vinyl and created girl/boy line up spots.  They work like a dream!  The kids just find a girl or boy circle to stand or, if they have the job of line leader, caboose, or door holders, they go to those special circles.  NO more fighting about spots in the line.  I have heard a lot about Sit Spots and I expect that they would work too. 

We struggle with moving through the hall quietly too.  This year I rarely have to take them to other places in the school but our French teacher takes them to her French room or the gym every day.  She loves this program.

Each time we line up to head into the hall I pick 1 boy and 1 girl popsicle stick and put them in my pocket.  I announce to the line that I have my two “hall stars” and will be watching to see if they are behaving as a Hall star should.   We do a quick review of our “Hall Stars” expectation poster before leaving.  On the way to our destination and back I keep my eye on my “hall stars”.  If they were successful I make a big deal about announcing their names and then write their name on the chart.  If a student wasn’t behaving properly then their name is returned to the “pick me” pocket and nothing more is said.  This really seems to encourage the kids to behave respectfully in the halls.  In my room if you are a Hall Star you get to clip up on our clip chart. 

This is available as a FREEBIE in my TPT store.  You can find it by clicking {HERE}.

My final tip today is all about getting the kids working together for a common reward.  I use Behavior Bingo in my room.  I use a clip chart for individual students but wanted a system to reward the whole class for appropriate behaviour. 

 

 

The month of December is so crazy that this little program takes  a back seat, so I pull it out fresh in January.  We review the ways we can work together to earn BINGO numbers.  The idea is that when the students are all following our classroom rules or expectations the class would earn a bingo number. 

Some ways they earn numbers are making their way to the carpet quickly and quietly, getting started quickly on a task or getting a class compliment, to name a few.  On a good day we may earn 2 or 3 BINGO numbers.  We are now entering Week 3 post holidays and our BINGO board is filling up more slowly than I would like it.  If you would like to give this a try it is available in my TPT store, you can find it {HERE}.

What are your favourite management tips for getting kids back into routine after the holidays.  I would love to hear from you with a comment below.  Now take a moment and hop to another blog to learn about something that you "oughta know"

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