Helping Students Transition Back from Winter Break

You haven't had school in over 2 weeks so you've probably enjoyed binge watching tv, staying in your pajamas all day, and eating whatever/whenever you want (please tell me that's not just me). Getting back in the swing of school is going to be hard for you and your students, but here are a few tips to help make that transition a bit easier. 

1. Review the Rules/Expectations

Just like the 1st day of school, going over the rules after break is essential! Now is a good time to review all of the classroom rules and decide if you need any more in place. One year, I let my class come up with the rules. I know you probably think that's crazy! Well, check out this huge list they came up with. I even had to cut them off! By allowing them to create the rules, they take ownership of them. However you do your rules (student led, classroom, school wide, etc), make sure to go over them and make sure students remember the consequences of breaking the rules. 

 I personally think #10 is the BEST!!

 2. Review Procedures
Along the lines of reviewing the rules, discussing the classroom procedures is also vital. Discussing arrival/dismissal procedures, classroom jobs, bathroom/drink privileges, lunch procedures, fire/tornado drills, center time, etc. are all important things to go over. We can't assume that students will remember EVERYTHING from before break. All the hot chocolate and candy canes fog up their head for a bit. :)

3. Give Students a Break
You know how exhausted you are the first week after a break and you just can't wait for lunch, recess, and your prep so you can just sit and catch your breath, well your students are like that too. So ease them back into the long daily routine. Throw in some brain breaks like these quick cards you can put on a ring for quick access.

These Fluency & Fitness Slideshows are fun because they review skills and get in movement. 

4. Take Time to Review Old Skills

We cannot expect our students to just get back in the swing of things and start learning a new topic. Your first week back is a great time to do a quick review on the main skills you've taught already this school year. Students are going to need time to practice the skills and strategies they haven't used for the past few weeks. Winter break isn't as bad as when students come back from Summer vacation, but a refresher course is a good way to transition back into the first week. It will also save some of your sanity of planning over break, because you can just pull out old lessons and activities for this review week. 

5. Let Students Share About Their Break

Students have so much they want to share about with you and their friends when they get back to school. It's been about 2 weeks without their friends, so you know they're going to want to talk. When they arrive in the morning you can use these FREE Winter writing prompts to have students write about their break. Then you can gather around in a circle and let each student have a few minutes to share about their break. 

Hopefully your first week back after break will go smooth. It's always fun to see your students again, but don't be surprised if you get this look a few times. :)

5 Time-Saving Tips for Teachers

Happy Wednesday! I'm Krista from The Knitted Apple and I'm excited to be back with another blog post on Who's Who!

There is a major change that happens at this time of the year.  The switch from the carefree summer schedule (where I’m not even sure of the day) to the minute-by-minute scheduling that is part of teaching.   Our shiny new teacher calendars and planners are opened for the first time and quickly filled with to-do lists, reminders, and meetings.

It’s always a jolt to return to a such a rigid schedule, and there is never enough time to get everything done.  I manage to squeak out just a little more time in the day by using time-saving strategies. Here are the top five time-savers that I use every day.

1. Use a timer.
I consider a timer to be a time-saver because it helps me use time effectively.  I use a timer regularly during math, reading, and writing workshop.  Before I used a timer my mini lessons would run long and I would lose time needed for meeting with small groups.  I would then have to make up that time the next day, sometimes putting me behind for the rest of the week.  Now  I use a small digital timer to limit my mini lesson time.  When the timer goes off  I wrap up my thoughts and move into working with small groups or individual students.

2. Simplify your conference records.
When conferring with students during writing or reading workshop,  I try to spend more time listening and less time writing.  When I first started conferring with students I took meticulous notes as individual students read aloud or shared writing pieces with me.  Unfortunately I wasn’t the best at giving feedback because I was too busy recording data.  Now I give students my full attention, which results in a more productive conference.  As soon as they get up to leave, I quickly jot down the highlights of the session.  I find that I'm able to meet with more students during the time given and have more useful information which I can use to plan the next conference.

3. Organize your everyday items. 
This is the one I struggle with the most, especially at home.  I am constantly looking for my sunglasses, phone, keys, etc.  At school I am a bit more disciplined.  Near my desk I have wall hooks for those items I need every day, like my classroom keys, badge, and recess whistle.  The few times I have forgotten to place these items in their "home" have resulted in frustration and wasted time.

4. Create a PowerPoint slide for morning work or directions.
One time-saver I am consistent with is the use of single slides for morning work and directions.   I use PowerPoint to create a single slide like the one shown below and display it on the large projector screen. I make it engaging for students by using a school or seasonal theme.  Students are trained from the beginning of the year to check the screen as they enter the classroom.  Mornings are now more focused as students complete their tasks independently.   I am free to greet students, check homework, and submit attendance.  I save this slide on my computer desktop and use it every day, changing the information as needed.

5.  Use newsletter templates.  I mentioned in tip #4 that I create a single PowerPoint slide for morning work and quickly change it every day as needed.  I also use templates for weekly newsletters, which communicate curriculum and other important news to parents.  Once the template is created I can quickly change the information each week.  The newsletter shown below is part of my Superhero Newsletter Templates.  

Hopefully these time-savers will be useful to you.  I’d love to hear your time-saving tips.  Please post your tips in the comments! 

If you are interested in viewing the Superhero PowerPoint and Newsletter Templates as shown in the pictures, just click the images above.  I also have many free newsletter templates for you to try! Click here to check out the free newsletter templates in my TpT store. 

Happy Time-Saving! 

Routines and Procedures Tips

I know it is only July and I don't start teaching until after the Labor Day weekend but already my mind is going over how can I improve the way my class will run in the upcoming school year.  After teaching almost 20 years, I am always changing and looking for new ways to improve how my classroom is managed.  One of the first books I bought on classroom management was "The First Days of School" by Harry Wong.  What stuck with me after reading that book was the importance of having routines and procedures for everything that happens in my classroom.  I developed my routines right away but in the first few years I really didn't spend enough time practising those routines. Now I know better.  I will spend the first few weeks teaching and practising the routines and procedures to my students and worry about getting the curriculum covered later.  I will share some of the tips I have learned about introducing routines and procedures and would love to hear about what has worked for you.

1. Visuals, Visuals, Visuals!

One thing I have learned is that it is not good enough to just have the words on your charts but visuals can help students understand what is being asked of them in an easier way.  I also have a visual schedule and I find students hardly ever ask me the question, "What do we have to do next?".

Morning Routine

  This was my Morning Routine chart from this past year.  Students would enter the class and follow the pictures.
Number 1  - Put your bookbag and lunchbag in your locker.
Number 2.  Bring in your agenda and homework and put it on your desk and if you are ordering recess or lunch put your order in the blue cafeteria bag.
 Number 3.  Start bellwork or morning work.
Number 4.  When finished your bellwork sit on your sit-spot at the front of the class and read until your teacher is ready to start (my class has a Hollywood theme so I have the girls sit on popcorn clip art and the boys on movie clappers clip art which I have taped to the floor.
Number 5.  Calendar time at the SMARTboard.

End of Day Routine

This was my End of the Day Routine.  See if you can figure out the steps to how we go home at the end of the day in my classroom.   You can make your own morning and end of day routine anchor charts by using this product.

Another set of visuals that I have posted in my class are our  class rules.   In the first few weeks we review these daily.  I often get my student of the day to read them to the class each morning during our morning meeting.  After our Christmas and Easter break I will review them again for about a week after the holiday.  It is amazing to me how much they can forget in one week away from school!

Class Rules Visual Reminders

2.   Model, Model, Model!

When I am introducing any new routine in my class I always explain to students the rationale behind the routine or procedure.  I then model to the students how the procedure looks.  For example:  when teaching the students how to line up I always get a few students to line up for the class.  One behind the other, hands to their sides, quiet voices, etc.  Next, I will always get a few students to come up and line up and they will show the other students what you shouldn't be doing such as standing side by side, swinging their arms and shouting.  My students love being the ones picked to show how not to behave!

3.  Be Consistent!

If there is one thing that I have learned about teaching routines and procedures is to be consistent.  Some days I feel like they are never going to figure out the routines but if you spend the time during those first few weeks going over and over what you expect, I promise you it will lead to a well-managed classroom.  My Morning and End of Day Routine charts were taken down at Christmas time because we were decorating the class and I forgot to put them back up right away and my students followed the routines for the rest of the year no problem because we had consistently reviewed that chart on a daily basis in the first term.

4.  Engage, Engage, Engage!  

Try to look for ways to make learning routines and procedures interesting for students.  When I taught grade 5, I would always pass out a booklet outlining the class routines and procedures on the first day of school.  I would tell the students that it would be their only homework for the first two weeks was to read over their booklet.  Each day we would discuss a procedure in the booklet and model it.  I also told students that at the end of the two weeks on the Friday afternoon we would be playing a game of Routines and Procedures Jeopardy.  The students loved playing Jeopardy!  It did take me some time to make the first game the first year but then I had it to use for the next 13 years.  An answer under Procedures for 200 points, might be "The number of pencils that need to be sharpened for morning work" and then the student would say "What is 2?".  They would then get 200 points for their team.  

This year for my grade 2 students I wanted something to help students learn the rules so I decided to make a coloring booklet and some crowns for them to wear.  I am going to get them to wear their crowns everyday for the first week of school so that they can point to the visual on the crown and explain what it means for how to complete independent and group work in the classroom.  If you think it might help you in your class you can get it here.

School Rules

To my friends who are going back to school in the next few weeks, I wish you a great school year!