teaching tips Archives - Page 6 of 9

5 Awesome Classroom Management Strategies That Really Work

March 12, 2021 teachersbrain education, kindergarten survival, Teacher Problems, Teaching Tips

Going to school is very fun and exciting for the younger elementary students. They are experiencing new things and making new friends every day. It can be thrilling for them. However, it is important to set boundaries so that students know that while it is amazing for them to have new experiences, school is a place to learn. Their main job is to listen and learn, and the teacher’s job is to teach.

The best way to get your classroom running smoothly is by structuring it in a way that students know what is expected of them. To accomplish this, you can start by thinking about how you want your classroom to be run. Look around online or chat with other teachers for inspiration.

Here are some classroom management strategies you can incorporate into your classroom:

Build good relationships with your students

This one is the first and most basic management strategy. You want your students to trust you so that they turn to you when there is a problem. They are also more inclined to follow the rules with a teacher they are comfortable with.

Use a behavior chart for classroom management

This is a clear, visual way for students to understand the behavior that you expect of them. As the year goes on, they will grow to understand it better and strive to do well.

My editable behavior chart makes it easy for you to track your student’s behavior. It also comes with a data-collecting graph to chart data as well as a poster about Big Problems and Little Problems.

Assign classroom jobs

I love assigning jobs to my students. (You can read all about it here.) Giving jobs gives your students a sense of purpose and responsibility in the classroom. It also helps you because it keeps your classroom running smoothly when everyone completes their jobs. Ideas for jobs include line leader, paper passer, book monitor, homework checker, etc.

These editable classroom jobs help make it easy for you! There are 25 pre-made jobs in two different styles to choose from. You can also use the editable PowerPoint to personalize your own job chart! The chalkboard makes it easy to fit into any classroom.

Designate a calm down corner

Younger students are still learning how to regulate their emotions. Sometimes they get a little too worked up or upset about something and just need a place to breathe deeply. Assigning a certain area in your classroom as the “Calm Down Corner” will give your students a designated place to go when they need a few minutes of quiet to calm down.

This calm down corner resource comes with visual cue cards, calm down corner ideas, posters, and printables to collect data, identify triggers and calm down actions.

Offer Praise

One of the best ways to get students to behave is to praise good behavior. Doing this instead of only correcting bad behavior is a way of using positive reinforcement. Students love to hear that they are doing a good job and praising them when they are will give them a strong incentive to continue that behavior.

When your classroom management strategies are working and everything is running smoothly, it is magic! When you and your students have found your groove, you can focus more on fun and learning instead of focusing on rules and bad behavior.

I hope these strategies and resources help you out! If you have a classroom management strategy that you love, I would love to hear about it in the comments!

How To Have Fun With Phonics

March 5, 2021 teachersbrain education, Reading, Teacher's Pay Teachers

Phonics are an important part of early reading instruction, and therefore a big part of kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Making connections between written and spoken letters and sounds is absolutely necessary in learning to read, so phonics lessons are well worth the time! In order to teach young students most effectively, a broad range of activities are needed. Children love variety, and luckily there are plenty of ways to teach phonics!

Learning the relationships between letters and sounds can be- well- a not so interesting topic. In order to keep kids excited and learning, teachers can incorporate fun activities. Phonics lessons can include a broad range of styles, so there are lots of options when choosing the best activities for your class.

Here are some of my favorite activities for teaching phonics.

One of the easiest, yet most effective strategies is to use songs! Jack Hartmann phonics songs are easily available on the web, and your students will love singing along while they are learning.

Another fun activity is frog hop blending. Students can move a toy frog (or a finger) along individual sounds, then blend them together to make a word.

Make and take books are a perfect option to practice phonics skills and word families at home. Students can create the books at school and practice reading the sounds at home. Throughout the year, you may choose to focus on different word families that the kids can read to their parents.

As students become more skilled with phonics, you may want to try word building and sentence building activities. They can use familiar letter sounds to create new words, and eventually create entire sentences.

Looking for a variety of phonics activities for daily use? I have you covered! Check out my Phonics Worksheets for Kindergarten and First Grade.

This bundle includes an entire year’s worth of daily lessons.

Here are just a few of the resources included:

letter identification
letter sounds
building words
word family work
building sentences
writing stories
Sight word lists
ABC letter cards
Word family books
Phonics pocket phones

With one easy download you’ll be ready to tackle these lessons each day with time-tested strategies.

For more reading strategies, check out my post here!

What are your favorite reading activities? Let me know in the comments!

5 Creative Ways To Make Worksheets More Fun

December 26, 2020 teachersbrain Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Worksheets are an essential part of the classroom. There are so many activities and crafts we can do with our students but sometimes there is just no way to get around good old fashioned worksheets. They are the best way for students to get practice and build fluency in whatever you are working on in the classroom. Worksheets are also just the best way to assess where your students stand in with the skills you are working on aside from taking a test.

Unfortunately, they aren’t always the most fun or engaging for the students. Despite any cute or fun designs they might have, they are still a sheet full of work for the student to complete, and that just isn’t the most thrilling thing to do.

I am all about keeping my students engaged in the classroom, and the best way to do that is to make learning fun. Sometimes shaking things up a little can make a big impact on the kids’ willingness to really dive into what we are working on.

make worksheets more fun

With worksheets, it can be beneficial for your students if you think outside the box. Believe it or not, there are ways to get creative with worksheets so that your students actually enjoy it, I promise!

Here are some ways to make worksheets more fun

Have students complete half. Let your students pick what half of the worksheet they want to complete. Letting them make the decision to do only the half that they want to do can take the pressure off to do the whole thing and shake things up just enough to take away the monotony of another worksheet.
Use rainbow writing. Get out fun colored pencils or colorful markers and have them use different colors to complete the work. This will create a fun rainbow effect on the worksheet. It’s like educational artwork!
Make them dry erase. Laminate the worksheets and get out some dry erase markers for the students to use while they complete it. There is just something about using a dry erase marker for kids. They love the feel of markers and their ability to easily erase and start over if they mess up. They will legitimately enjoy the activity, trust me.
Work with partners. Everything’s better when you’re working with a classmate. You can also pair the students up and let them play against each other in a game of “Beat My Partner”. They can race to see who can complete the work first with a little friendly competition.
Have a snowball fight! Have your students complete their work as fast as they can. Once they are done, check their work (to make sure they did their best), and then have some fun. Have everyone ball their paper up and have a “snowball” fight with them. This is guaranteed to be a hit!

make worksheets more fun

Shaking things up in the classroom not only helps the students, it helps you keep things fun and exciting for yourself! Not to mention it will make you one of the most memorable teachers your students will have!

For more ways to make learning fun, check out my tips for using games in the classroom here!

For more learning resources, check out my shop here.

Do you have any ways you like to shake things up in the classroom to have more fun? Let me know in the comments!

make worksheets more fun

School Holiday Door Decorating for Christmas Ideas

December 8, 2020 teachersbrain Classroom Decor, Craft Ideas, Teacher's Pay Teachers, Teaching Tips

Our school asked us to decorate our door every year for the holidays. For teachers, the holidays is not the time to usually ask us to do “extra” projects even if we enjoy the task. It does make the school look festive though. To make it a little fun, the administration usually makes it into a contest so we can win gift cards for holiday shopping. Here are a few holiday door decoration ideas!

Holiday Door and Display Decorations

Christmas Bulletin Board — by The Homeschool Style – Katie Ring

Let it Snow Door Decoration — by Teacher’s Brain – Cindy Martin

Christmas Decoration Bulletin Board — by Allie P’s Practical Preschool

Snoopy Door Decoration — By Tammy Cleghorn “The kids loved that the lights actually lit up!”

Elfie Picture Holiday Door — by Instagram @misschloe91

If you haven’t seen Joey Udovich’s door designs, you are missing out! She has a ton of them for the whole year in her TpT store. Here is an adorable holiday door design to Deck the Halls!

Winter Door Decoration — Don’t Have a Meltdown Keep Your Cool

Bear Cave Winter Door Decoration — by Debora Marines TeachMagically

Simple Door Christmas Decoration — By Lisa Taylor Teaching the Stars

Doing writing with winter toppers is great for window decorations too!

Holiday door decorations can be fun, but what about the windows? These reindeer want ads were my favorite window display activity I did every year for the holidays. Students learned about classified ads and practiced fine motor skills.

Find MORE Door Decorating Ideas HERE