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When kids get done with their classwork, they never know what to do with the free time. The teacher can make a jar that says: "Im Done! (Now What?)". The jar is full of tasks like: "Name all of the nouns you know" and "make a list of adjectives describing your favorite food". Every time the student gets done early, they can pick up a piece of paper, see their task, and complete the task at their seat! This way they are being productive and quiet during their free time.

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Love This !!!! Definitely doing this for my classroom! I'm Done! Now What Jar for early finishers

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Love This !!!! Definitely doing this for my classroom! I'm Done! Now What Jar for early finishers by Diane1981 on Indulgy.com

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Remembering to put your name on your paper

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Remembering to put your name on your paper

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Students of all ages always have a hard time remembering to put their names on their papers, especially elementary students. To help your students remember to write their name, place a sign by the turn in bin that says they have to highlight their name before they turn it in. Kids love to highlight, and this make them want to put their name on their papers just so they can highlight it.

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Organizing catch-up work can always be hard for both the student and the teacher. So creating a folder dedicated to catch-up work would be very beneficial for both parties! What you need to do is make a few of these folders- just in case more than one student is absent. Lay this folder on the absent's child's desk, and when you are passing out papers to your students, just slip the paper in the folder. This way, you don't have to set out a time to put all of the papers together! When the student returns, hand them the folder, and ask him/her to complete it by the set due date. The student can return all the work with the folder.

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Rewarding good behavior is crucial in elementary schools, and finding fun ways of rewarding them makes the experience even better. In the picture below, you fill up a container with marbles, and the more that goes in, means the better the reward! When the students act negatively, the teacher can take out marbles. This way, the students can see the benefits of their good behavior.

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Elementary students struggle with Alphabetical order. Finding fun ways to learn and practice skills helps students with tough material. Students can do Popsicle stick ABC order! The teacher writes the vocabulary words on popsicle sticks, and the students have to put the sticks in ABC order!

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Most middle and high school teachers find bellringers to be beneficial, and if they are done correctly, they can be both beneficial and fun! In the link below, teachers can purchase fun, educational bellringer prompts. Students will be able to strengthen their writing and critical thinking skills with these bellringer prompts.

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Bell Ringer Journal for the Entire School Year: 275 Prompts (VOLUME 2) EDITABLE

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Bell ringer journal for the entire school year including 275 journal prompts for middle and high school students. This product provides teachers with an entire school year of journal prompts in an organized and focused way. The journal is organized by month with 25 entries per

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Let's be honest, things can go very wrong when theres a substitute. School work doesn't get done and the students' behavior can get bad. Communication and organization is important when a substitute is coming in! The teacher can create a substitute binder. In the binder, there is a clear schedule of the day and what should be accomplished during the day. There is also a piece of paper with the office staff's contact number just in case something goes wrong. Some of the other pages include: Classroom & Behavior Management, Classroom Procedures, and a Class List. You can purchase all of these editable pages on the link below for a very reasonable price.

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Editable Substitute Binder Forms for your sub binder or sub tub!

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These editable forms for your substitute binder are perfect to have on hand for anytime you need a sub! All of the information your sub will need about your class will be in one place for your sub to refer to. These ink-friendly editable forms are perfect for

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School can be really hard for most students, and sometimes they need some extra encouragement! The teacher can print out a packet called "Weekly Reflections" and he/she can get the students to fill it out at the end of the week. In this packet there are questions like "What challenges did I encounter this week? How did I face them?" and "How was my behavior this week?" They can also set goals for next week! This helps the students see their improvement, and it also helps them feel good about the things they've accomplished.

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Weekly Reflections are a great way for students to take a look back at their week and reflect on what they learned, how they were successful, what challenges they faced, and what goals they would like to set, moving forward. Weekly Reflections allow students to take the wheel and show ownership over their learning. In this post I will mostly be referring to a Weekly Reflection booklet that I created for use in my own upper elementary classroom. You can click HERE to download a free copy. Completing these reflections only takes about 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each week, but the benefits are well worth the time investment. Here are 5 benefits that I have found for having students complete these reflections each week...

First of all, weekly reflections give students the opportunity to celebrate successes each week, whether big or small. A student may have finally finished a challenging book that they have been working on, or finally mastered their x8 multiplication facts. No matter what it is, it is important that students have the chance to acknowledge their growth and learning, and the different ways they are successful throughout the year. Focusing on a success each week shows students that their hard work and effort is paying off. It also gives students the confidence they need to take on other challenges!

While addressing challenges is not as rewarding for students as celebrating their successes, it is still a very important part of weekly reflections. Students need to be able to identify what is challenging for them, in order to learn and grow. This is the perfect opportunity for students to communicate to themselves, their teachers, and their parents, exactly what they find to be challenging. Once these challenges are acknowledged, all involved can work together to address those challenges, and make a plan to overcome them.

It is so important that students know what behaviors are expected of them at school. However, it is just as important that students are able to evaluate their own behaviors, and how those behaviors impact their learning and the learning of others. In this particular booklet, students rate their classroom behavior and work habits on scale from 1 to 5. When doing this they are able to acknowledge how well they did with each of these behaviors. This is also a great communication piece for parents, giving them a chance to discuss specific behaviors with their children, and to set expectations for the following week.

Once students are able to reflect on their successes, challenges, work habits, and behavior, this leads to the perfect opportunity for them to set short term goals for the next week. They might decide to focus on what was challenging for them that week, or focus on behaviors where they might need some improvement. Students might also choose to focus on something specific for that week, like a test or project that might be due. One of the most important parts of student goal setting, is that they also state how they plan to achieve their goals for the next week.

As a mom and a teacher, I know all too well that students are not always the best about communicating what happened at school each day. I have heard far too many "goods" and "fines" when asking my own kiddos about their school days. Weekly reflections are the perfect way for students to share what they are learning each week. They open up conversations about what's going on in the classroom, and students can then share their successes, challenges, and goals for the following week.

I truly think the most important benefit to weekly reflections are the conversations that students get to have with their parents and teachers. Weekly reflections puts everyone on the same page, and parents and teachers are able to reflect along with their students.

If you are not already using a reflection piece with your students, I urge you to give it a try. Click the pic below to download a Weekly Reflection Booklet to use in your own classroom. I guarantee that you will see these same benefit with your own students!!

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Weekly Reflections are a great way for students to take a look back at their week and reflect on what they learned, how they were successful, what challenges they faced, and what goals they would like to set, moving forward. Weekly Reflections allow students to take the wheel and show ownership over their learning.

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When it comes to "on your own" classwork, most students get confused and need the help of the teacher. This can be hard for the teacher to handle, especially if a large amount of students need her/his help! A teacher named Mrs. Beattie wrote on her blog about a special trick she uses to handle this dilemma. She made a sleeve out of paper, and when the students need her, they put clothes pins with their names on it on the sleeve in chronological order.  This way, she can go to the sleeve, see which student needs help, and go help them. After every student, she will take off the clothes pin and help the next student. This is a great way to help teachers be fair when it comes to helping students.

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I'd like to share an idea I had that has saved me some sanity in the past two years. I've always found it challenging to manage groups of students who want my attention (at the same time!) during the school day. Whether it be for an answer to a question, a conference about some work, or to edit a piece of writing together, I can't be in twenty-five places at once, and having students waiting (doing nothing!) with their hand up has always been frustrating!
So, I was inspired to come up with something different by some of the numbered tickets and such that are on Pinterest. Great ideas, but none that totally worked for me. So, last year, I created this little trick for managing the line-ups of students... and it has been fabulous!!

The students clip their name to the sleeve, and I work my way from top to bottom. As I finish with the top student, they head over to move their clip back to the bottom, and send the next student in line over to me! Easy-peasy! I LOVE IT!!

What strategies do YOU use in your classroom? I love hearing from readers! Leave me a comment below.

Want more great tips like this one to use in your classroom?

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How To Manage Students Who Are Demanding Your Attention

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Are you a middle school or elementary teacher who is frustrated by lines of students wanting your attention? You are going to want to check out this post containing an easy strategy that both you AND your substitute teachers will love!

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If your students get fidgety, or if you can see that your losing their attention you can give them a brain break by pulling a stick out of a bucket.. The bucket has sticks inside that have activities written on them like: " 10 jumping jacks" or "Quick Dance break". These activities will wake up your students and give their brain a quick break.

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Whenever the class gets fidgety and looses their concentration, this could be a fun 5 minute break