Throwback: Classroom Management Tools for K-1

When I taught kindergarten and 1st grade I'll admit that I tried to have an easy, tactile classroom management system. I developed a card flip system for my room, and popsicle stick pockets for students to earn rewards.

I used easy-to-read rules (BEST: Be polite, Effort, Share, Truthful) and placed them right above the chart. The stars hold exemplars of the positive behaviors for each category.

Positive Incentive
I always felt it was important to have a positive incentive for students to work toward. My simple way of doing this was carrying popsicle sticks in my pocket and handing them out when I saw students doing good work. During designated times students could come up and place their popsicle stick in their pocket. Once they got the designated number of sticks (the beginning of the year was 10, but I gradually increased it each month) they got to choose something from the prize bin. Simple and easy...

Consequences

Of course with every positive classroom management plan you want to have something in place for negative student behavior. The only true incentive I could take away was recess, and the kids either walked laps or stood on the wall. Every day the kiddos would start on blue, and each subsequent card flip was time off of recess. The kids were only allowed to flip back "up" one card if they could prove to me that their behavior significantly improved (this way I didn't have a kid that was a terror in the morning, but an angel in the afternoon because they knew they could flip their card all the way back to blue). You can see the consequences for each coordinating color below.

For my 3rd graders I use a tool called Class Dojo, so keep an eye out for a post on that in the future!

How do you manage your K-1 classroom?

Organizing Teacher Paperwork and Supplies

Back at the beginning of this blog I posted one method I used for organizing common teacher paperwork... here is my updated, more organized version!

I had these Sterlite containers in the 3-drawer version, and the 5-drawer version. I figured I could use these to organize my teacher paperwork and supplies. 

With the help of zebra duct tape (I swear this stuff is my absolutely favorite...) I decided to spruce up my current paperwork system, which consisted of file folders.

I carefully cut and measured the duct tape so it would fall along the front of each drawer. 

You can see the "before" (above) and "after" (below) with the duct tape

Again, the ones of the left are finished, and the ones on the right are the "before"

After adding the duct tape to the front of the bins I printed labels for each drawer.

My school runs on a 6-day cycle, so I labeled six of the drawers Day 1-6, then the bottom three are "grade," "file," and "extras."

The labels for supplies are as changeable as you like! My classroom theme is zebra, so I was able to get away with printing in black and white, but you can certainly adapt your labels however you like! I had a drawer for: paper clips, butterfly clips, pushpins, copy request forms, homework passes, nurse passes, etc. 

I stacked my massive collection of Sharpie markers on top of the bins to keep everything together. I keep this all directly behind my desk and within easy reach. 

Out of the Class Management

Kiddos are constantly getting pulled out for one thing or another: Speech, OT, Learning Support, Reading Support, Gifted Support, DIBELS testing, hearing tests, vision tests... You get the idea.

I needed a way to easily see and manage who was pulled out of the room, and who was just not in their seat at that particular time.

I'm Out Passes

This small set up is simply a cheap Dollar Store cup with a paw-print shaped Post-It note taped with packing tape. Kids know that when an adult comes to the room to pull them, particularly if I am working with a small group or another student, they don't have to let me know. They can simply walk up, grab one of these passes, and when I come back to the whole group to check on them I know they've been pulled by another teacher. They work very well, and the kids always remember because they enjoy getting to put the cup on their desk (go figure!)

Restroom Light

Our restroom situation is complicated to say the least. In 2nd grade the kids had bathrooms in the classroom, so there wasn't a huge need to manage restroom breaks, but now they are in the "big kid" 3-5 hallway, and we share a standard "stall" bathroom between 9 regular classrooms and the reading support rooms. It's hectic. 

In order to get the kiddos used to when they may be excused and when they may not be excused I ran a strand of white rope lighting across the front of my room by my Smart Board. When the light is off I am teaching and giving directions, so students may not be excused unless it is an extreme emergency. When I am finished and it is time for independent work I turn the light on and hand the hall pass to the first kid on the list. 

In order to turn the light on and off there is a lovely, fancy outlet strip (classy, right?) that I can simply flip with my foot. 

That brings me to...

Restroom Sign-Out Sheet and Hall Pass

Kids can sign their name on the sheet to be excused, and once I turn the light on I hand the pass to the first student on the list. The pass, which is a jazzed up bottle of hand sanitizer (I love fancy duct tape) sits on their desk - so I know they are out. When they return they use the hand sanitizer, highlight their name on the list, and pass the pass to the next student on the list.

Ideally the entire thing is silent and is managed by the kids. It greatly reduces the number of times I hear "Can I go to the bathroom?" each day, because the kids now know that I don't repeat directions for them if they're at the restroom, and they know when it is very important for them to stay in the room, and when they may be excused.

Organizing Common Paperwork

Paper organization is always a nightmare for me. By the end of the school day it always seems like my desk has become a ski slope of unfiled and ungraded things.

To solve that I invested in four magazine organizers and labeled them according to the four things I most need to organize: Grade, File, Copy, Hand Out

This covers most items that I encounter during the day. I had the same system last year, except I allotted myself horizontal bins, and the problem was that I could stack papers until they were nine inches high and it wouldn't be a problem.

(you can also get a glimpse into my ridiculous sharpie obsession... I know, I have a problem)

In order to curb my desire to keep stacking piles (particularly the "File" one) I got these very space-limiting magazine holders. I know once that particular sorter is full I must do something with the contents, so it forces me to keep on top of whatever it is intended for.

They were plain (and boring) black, but zebra duct tape to the rescue! I added labels in the form of my little black paw prints, and viola!

Happy organizing!

The Sharpened/Unsharpened Pencil Nightmare

This is absolutely not an original idea, and the blog I got the idea from can be found here.

It seems that my classroom pencils are just one headache after another. The kids know they aren't allowed to sharpen their pencil when I'm speaking, but sometimes that causes a backup at the sharpener, then I can't hear groups because of the noise... [insert additional problems here].

Anyway, I'm doing away with my old pencil system, which involved keeping a "Sharp and Ready To Work" bucket and an "I'm Broken and Need to be Sharpened" bucket. Why? Because I make the kids put the pencils in point down for safety, and that breaks the tip. I don't know if the kids slam them in there or not, but it's annoying.

So, I got a 3 drawer organizer from Wal-Mart and got smart and shelled out an extra few bucks at Staples for the pre-sharpened box of pencils (the extra $1.50 wasn't worth the hour I had to stand at the sharpener, or the ensuing blisters).

One drawer is for sharp pencils, one draw is for unsharpened pencils, and the bottom drawer is for bandages so the kids don't have to ask me. Yay for independence!