- Having labeled bins made it quick and easy to collect classroom supplies on the first day of school. Students and their parents were able to easily place items where they needed to go.
- Having the collective crayons and pencils in a basket on the students’ tables is great. They never have to get up to exchange a dull pencil for a sharpened one, it teaches the to share, it makes them take better care of their writing tools as others have to use them, and it gets them out of boxes that can be cumbersome.
- Using a mailbox for unfinished work helps students keep organized and also keeps me from having to keep track of their unfinished things.
- Having ONE box for finished work helps students know what to do with things when they are done.
- Table points help students get settled and motivated to pay attention.
- Bell work gives them something to do while I take roll and do the lunch count.
- Having the students turn their card themselves keeps them accountable for their own behavior.
What did NOT work:
- Giving out writing folders without teaching students how to use them made things hectic.
- Boom-shaka-laka without table points to keep them accountable gave them no reason to pay attention quickly.
· Make sure to have the students get ready for lunch earlier so that they have time to wash their hands, get lunch tickets and get in line.
· Have more copies made for students that finish their work early.
· Have a much more solid plan of attack for first week lessons. Pauses make students restless.
· Staple finished work and put it in the Thursday envelope to go home instead of in homework folders.
- How should I keep/sort their graded work? File it in a file box after it has been graded?
- Should I put a ziplock in their reading folder to hold on to their books instead of using the book box? I hate how they take up so much space on their desks and they always fall over.
- How am I going to launch the math program?
- What should I do with vocabulary lessons? Should I do them around reading time so that they may associate vocab with reading?
- How can I effectively conference and document during writers workshop?
1 comment:
This is such a great idea and thank you for sharing your posts!
*I avoided doing writing conferences for two years, and finally did it last year as the focus of my PEP-T. In order to keep myself accountable to it, and to make it work effectively, I had to make kind of a schedule for doing it. I divided the kids into groups, and then rotated each day which group got to conference with me. All the kids in the group (about 4) sat with me at a table and I worked/conferenced with them and took note of what we did in my composition book. The other kids in class had to work at their desks independently. I had to train them to work as best as they could, knowing that I would help them when it was their day. For the most part it seemed to be effective, and it kept me sane so I wasn't running all over the place!
Hope this helps!
Post a Comment