# data[].attributes.body
Desk arrangement
Setting up your students desks can be a challenge for classroom management purposes. I found through student teaching put students in pairs and have them sit in columns. This helped minimize distractions and helped the students stay focused. Below are some useful websites that can help you in designing your own classroom.

Classroom Desk Arrangement

Effective Room Arrangement

Arranging the Classroom

Another Desk Arrangement Idea

By the way, here are some classroom designing tools you can use if you're playing around with furniture arrangement! (You will need classroom measurements.)

Classroom Architect

Lakeshore Classroom Designer

Floor Planner

Create Learning Zones within Your Classroom
"There are many elements to consider as you plan for the next school year. You always review critical pieces like standards, curriculum, instructional activities, and testing, but you also think about the classroom space and how to arrange desks, set up bulletin boards, and organize materials. You can bring these seemingly disconnected components together in a system of seven learning zones. The discovery, news, supplies, community, quiet, teacher, and subject area zones will help you establish routines, save time, and maintain your sanity from the first through the last days of school."

7 Learning Zones Every Classroom Must Have

# data[].attributes.body
Arriving in the Morning
Post the morning routine in a highly-visible area of your classroom so students know what they should be doing (you can also post the morning routine at the entrance of your classroom as a clear reminder to students of what they are expected to do upon entering). Your routine might include things like, enter the classroom quietly, unpack your school bag, hang up your jacket and school bag, sharpen 2 pencils and put them away, check the board for instructions, get started on the morning math problem, etc.

Introducing yourself to students on first day of school
To introduce yourself in a fun and engaging way for your students, I created a Bitstrip that had 10 different slides introducing who you are a person. The students enjoyed the cartoon avatar of me. Then I would have students during the first week of school create their own bitstrips for thier own personal introduction.

Establish routines
Anything you ask your students to do repeatedly should be made into a routine. For example, whenever your students enter your classroom, transition from one activity to the next, or line up for recess, they should do so in the same efficient manner. The reason is that routines save learning time. They also make your life a lot easier. It’s during these repeatable moments when most misbehavior occurs. The idea, then, is to standardize these moments into routines your students can do quickly and independently. How you ask? Read How to Teach Routines to find out.

# data[].attributes.body
A lot of teachers are unaware of the breadth of free resources that exist in their local communities that have the potential to enrich their classrooms. Tapping into these resources is a great way to save both time and money, not to mention it can often be the first step in establishing meaningful community relationships.

Getting school supplies
We know we won't always have the best supplies or appropriate funding we need, but there are other options to get what we need!

Grants! - One of these options is applying for grants. There are a lot of grants for serving a variety of purposes. Here are two links showing some of the type of grants out there:

http://www.teacherscount.org/grants/

http://www.edutopia.org/grants-and-resources

Donors Choose
Another option, that my cooperating teacher used in order to get a new class set of whiteboards, was Donors Choose. Donors Choose is a nonprofit website that helps public school teachers get funding for materials and experiences that will help their students learn. From what I heard at Maple Elementary, a Seattle public school, a majority of these projects get funded.

World Vision's Teacher Resource Center
Teachers serving at schools in low-income neighborhoods are invited to visit World Vision's Teacher Resource Center to sock up on learning tools like binders, pencils, crayons, and glue sticks. Qualifying schools include those where at leas 70% of students qualify for free or reduced-cost school meals. For information about scheduling your visit to the resource center please email USPrograms@WorldVision.org.

Scholastic Warehouse Book Fair
Warehouse book fair sales are great for saving money on brand new books. Below is the link to find a warehouse book fair near you! (Next one is June 12th in Auburn)

Other resources
Seattle Aquarium
Seattle Aquarium not only hosts school groups for field trips, but they also provide free educational materials for educators to use in their classrooms! Materials include animal fact sheets and photo guides, There are also resources on their website for helping teachers plan self-guided field trips to the beach.

Pacific Northwest Ballet
The Pacific Northwest Ballet hosts field trips, teacher workshops, and in-school programs. You must apply and be accepted in order to participate in their in-school programs. PNB also makes available free support materials for dance and movement learning in the classroom, as well as full curriculum integration for partnering teachers.

The Ann P. Wyckoff Teacher Resource Center
The Teacher Resource Center (TRC​​​​) is SAM’s free lending library for educators, located in the Asian Art Museum. The TRC is a robust teaching toolkit and offers over 4,000 resources related to SAM’s global collections. Supporting all three of SAM’s sites, the TRC is a robust teaching toolkit that provides educators with creative ways to promote learning and endless possibilities for integrating art into the classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
Question 1: In your opinion, what’s the most important aspect of setting up your classroom and why?

Question 2: What are you going to do this summer in order to prepare for the upcoming school year? How will this help you?

Click here to respond!

# data[].attributes.body
Charles, C.M. (2008). Building classroom discipline (9th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Gershon, M. (2013). Classroom practice - avoid a sinking feeling with perfect planning. The Times Educational Supplement, (5072), 34. Retrieved from http://login.proxy.seattleu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1491201117?accountid=28598

Horner, R. H., Sugai, G., & Lewis, T. (2015, April 1). Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports - OSEP. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from https://www.pbis.org/research

Williams, Amanda Margaret, "The Use of Morning Meeting to Develop Social and Emotional Skills" (2011). Education Masters. Paper 200.

# data[].attributes.body
PLAN PLAN PLAN!
After looking through advice to first year teachers from many veteran teachers, most suggested that teachers should try to get their hands on the school curriculum as soon as possible. Once you have the opportunity, you should leaf through the curriculum to familiarize yourself with it. Also, use this time to plan out your year! Create a calendar and start lesson planning because having lesson plans in advance allows you to "be more flexible and responsive...because when you have a plan, you don't have to fret about what is coming next or what is still to be done" (Gershon, 2013).

My cooperating teacher spends all summer lesson planning for the next school year. Then throughout the year all he has to do is tweak the lessons that are already planned, instead of planning as you go. This will alleviate some stress for you during the school year so that you can focus your energy on the students instead of lesson planning!

Get to know your students before the year begins!
One way to do this is to talk to other teachers in the building who have had your students before. If you are a 4th grade teacher, talk to all of the 3rd grade teachers in your building. If you teach 8th grade math, find 7th grade math teachers. And remember to bring your class roster and prepare to take notes! You will learn so much about your students from just talking to previous teachers.

If your school offers the service of home visits, it is a great opportunity to establish a genuine connection with your students and their families. Many other long-term benefits are likely to arise such as parents being able to stay in their comfort zone, creating closer partnerships and positive communication, students feeling like there is a network of support for them, teachers gaining a lot of knowledge about her students, and parents being more likely to become involved in their child’s learning. To learn more about the benefits of home visits:

The Positive Effects of Teacher Home Visits

Home Visits: Teacher Reflections about Relationships, Student Behavior, and Achievement (research project)

The Research Case for Home Visiting

Set up systems for homework / late work / absent work

It's the little things that make or break classroom management and routine. Before the year begins, creating a system for all the little things (what a student should do if he or she was absent, how you want students to line up, how you are going to address works with no names, etc.).

Classroom Organization Tips

Here is a resource that Ryan and Teddy got from their internship school:

First Day Teacher Checklist

# data[].attributes.body
Introducing yourself to families
A  teacher introduction letter is often the first point of contact with students' families. It's so important to establish a positive relationship with families as soon as possible, and it's especially important to build a relationship before having to call home with bad news. Here are some tips for writing a teacher introduction letter as well as sample letters.

The First Letter

Sustaining communication with families
A great way to sustain communication with families is to send home a monthly flyer explaining what their child will be learning and any upcoming events the school will be having.

Another great way to communicate with families is by using the online application ClassDojo. This application lets you track whole class and individual student behavior. The teacher is then able to share with information with families directly by having a message system. It also comes with an introduction letter to parents about the application, a back-to-school night presentation, and an introduction video for the students. So, not only is this a good way to communicate with families, it is also a good way to manage classroom behavior. And it's free!

Yet another mobile and web app that can save teacher's time in managing their communications with parents is Bloomz. This is a free service and all communications are private and secure. Teachers can share class updates, photos, due date reminders, and registration deadlines with parents in real-time. One of the unique features of Bloomz is that it allow you to translate content into 80 different languages. This feature is invaluable when trying to establish consistent communication with parents who are not proficient in English or who feel more comfortable expressing themselves in their native language.

What to do at curriculum night / open house

One piece of advice my cooperating teacher gave me about curriculum night was to have a power point ready that you can use for multiple years (assuming your teaching the same grade/class).

I also found a Scholastic article giving teachers tips for a stress free curriculum night. It goes over over the topics of: personally inviting parents, preparing your curriculum information, putting together a visual presentation, preparing your room, helping get parents involved, the big night, and afterwards.

Tips for a Stree-free Curriculum Night

# data[].attributes.body
Class Constitution
To begin your school year off right, it is important to establish classroom rules so students understand the expectations. I found through student teaching that having a classroom meeting and having the students establish the rules with your guidance was a very effect strategy. There should be no more than 5 rules in the constitution. Students understood these rules and made sure to follow them. Attached is a pinterest of 1000+ ways to create your Class constitution.
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/class-constitution/

Morning Meetings
Morning meetings can be a powerful way to build a sense of community and empathy within your classroom. Establish a time in the morning when you can conduct a morning meeting for about 15-30 minutes. Ideally the morning meeting occurs everyday soon after students arrive to school. Morning meetings can:

Set the tone for respectful learning

Establish a climate of trust

Motivate students to feel significant

Create empathy and encourage collaboration

Support social, emotional and academic learning (research project)

Here is a website that offers more information on conductin morning meetings in classrooms:

What is Morning Meeting?

PBIS
PBIS gives schools a great management tool that will help in decreasing bad behavior in the school. My interning school used the PBIS model with only 4  school wide rules, known as PAWS. Here is a link to PBISWorld.com and PBIS Research to help you out.

Build Meaningful Relationships with Your Students
One approach to building meaningful relationships with your students is by using William Glasser's 7 Connecting Habits when interacting with them. These habits consist of:

1. Caring,

2. Listening,

3. Supporting,

4. Contributing,

5. Encouraging,

6. Trusting, and

7. Befriending.

(Charles, 2008, pp. 77).

5-to-1 Ratio
Another approach in building positive student-teacher relationships is to use the 5-to-1 Ratio method. This is an evidence-based method (also recommended by Seattle Public Schools) that focuses on creating a more positive classroom climate, which consequently improves academic engagement and decreases classroom disruptions. The goal of the classroom teacher is to provide 5 positive interactions for every 1 negative interaction for each student.

Examples of positive interactions:

friendly conversation

nonverbal acknowledgement

praise

Examples of negative interactions:

punishment

criticism

Useful classroom management strategies to know

Tips for New Teachers

Classroom Management Tips