Let's chat about how I get my room up and running! There are quite a few little pieces that all have to come together to run an effective classroom. :)
The Rules:
I use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom. (well, parts of it, but I want to add more!) So, we go over our 5 rules every single day. Complete with hand motions! At this point in the year, my calendar person is the one who actually leads the class, and it's SUPER cute! I'll have to record it one morning.
In the beginning of the year we talk about what all the rules mean and why we follow them, and then later in the year I can just say, "Rule 2" and they know EXACTLY what I mean! I have quite a few little guys who love to blurt out, so I love having an easy way to remind them that makes them stop for a second and think about what they're doing.
Schedule:
I am counting my schedule because we go over it Every.Single.Day. They know what each card is, and what we are doing during that time, and they are aware of any changes in our schedule as soon as they walk in and see it. It actually gets to the point where they're practically dependent on it, and if I forget to change something, they totally freak out and call me on it! But I'm glad they know where to look to see what's happening.
Active Listening:
This one is HUGE. Our entire campus made an Active Listening anchor chart as part of our first 20 days of school. They all have the same components to them, and every child knows what it meant by active listening. We build the chart together and go over every single piece. It is referred to all year, and all you have to do after a few weeks is say, "I need Active Listening." or, "I need 100%." and they will all immediately straighten up. It has also helped our reading and math specialists, and our specials teachers because they know that all the kids know this.
Partner Talk:
I follow Whole Brain Teaching for this one too! We all built the same anchor in first grade, but each teacher has made it fit her room. So, for the "wait until teacher tells you what and when to share" I use the "Teach/Okay" from WBT. I also assign partners using WBT, so, at the beginning, they are apples and trees, and right now they are stingrays and jellyfish, and then next month they'll be a new thing! Each month they get a new partner and a new thing to be. We also worked a TON on being able to share what your partner said to you instead of just what you said to your partner. :)
Volume Meter:
We did not do this last year, and I have seen it alllll over Pinterest and always wanted to try it, so when one of the teachers on our team just went ahead and did it, we all jumped right on board! It's pretty self-explanatory and it seriously works wonders. I even have kids saying things like, "we're on yellow right now, announcements are on."
Engagement:
This piece was also new this year, but it was really helpful to teach it! My kiddos are excellent at the WHAT and the WAY, but we seriously struggle with the WHEN. So, it's our class goal to get better at that part. I am often reminding them of Rule #1: Follow directions quickly! We did one piece of this each day and gave examples of what it would be like if we didn't do it. So, for the what, we played Simon Says, for the Way we did a guided drawing and stopped partway through as if we were done, and talked about how if we don't finish it the right way we'll never know what it is. And for then when we got them all hyped about doing something fun, and then stalled until we "didn't have time" and talked about how that felt, and then did the fun thing. Super duper effective! And my kiddos are finally getting better about that last part!
Phew! That was a long one! Thanks for sticking with it! It it SO true what they say about doing it right the first time. Spending tons of time on rules and procedures with really focused lessons in the beginning of the year, saves so much frustration later on!
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