Procedures are a part of life.  We follow procedures for eating in the cafeteria, getting off a bus, playing soccer, and attending a movie.  The reason we have procedures in life is so that people can function in society knowing the acceptable and efficient ways other people do things. There are procedures in my classroom as well.  These procedures establish our classroom culture and allow us to function as a learning, cohesive group. To help the students better remember these procedures, I have created a "Procedure Manual", which the student keep in their desk as all times.  This is our reading material the first two weeks of school  We practice each procedure, model it, act it out, and generally run through them constantly in those first 2 weeks.  Periodically throughout the year, we review this manual, so as to keep the procedures fresh in their minds. It is my hope that by using this Classroom Procedure Manua l......

One thing that I have always instituted in my classroom is a consistent routine when it comes to entering the room.  No matter the time of day, my students know that when they come into the room there is ALWAYS something to be done.  Never do the students come in and sit around, talk to their friends, or wander.  So I wanted to share with you what exactly my kids do when they come in to maybe give you some idea of what you can do (in case you need ideas :) ) In the morning: There is actually quite a lot going on during this time.  Students are moving into small remediation groups with my aide or myself, they are getting homework checked, they unpack their things, they are recording their daily attendance money from our classroom economy into their registers, and they are working on their morning work.  But through all of this, there is not a word to be heard.  Everyone knows where to go and what to do, so they are productively working within 5 minutes o......

Like many of you, I spend the first days of school talking about procedures, rituals, and routines in the classroom.  Within that spectrum, lies the rules of my room. I go into my year knowing the rules I want ahead of time.  I know there are some schools of thought that say you should come up with a class set that the students brainstorm.  Now, while I think that is a fabulous thing to do, it does not fit my control freak teaching style, so I don't actually do that.  What I do do is go through the brainstorming process with my students on the first day of school and guide them to my predetermined rules. Basically, it works like this.  We all get together on the rug and I ask the students what they think the rules of the room should be.  They tell me everything under the sun.  As they are doing that, if there are any lulls, I interject with a "suggestion" and add it to the Circle Map.  As time goes on, I discuss with them how we need "umbrella......

I am not sure about you, but throughout the week I have SO many student papers that get accumulated.  Some of them, like essays or projects, are things I need to keep.  Those get graded and filed into the students' portfolios.  Others, like math homework, foldables, workbook pages, thinking maps...you name it....need to be passed back to the students to take home.   If I were to pass these back each day, I fear it would become very unmanageable very quickly.  So I have come up with a solution that has worked for me and my class. We call it the "Paper Pass Back" (clever, I know.)  Basically, all the work for the week that needs to be returned gets put into the "Out Box".  On Fridays, the students line up at the Out Box, I hand them a stack of papers, and they get to work putting those papers on the desk of the rightful owner.  When the stack of papers is done, the student gets back in line and gets more to return.  It proceeds like this unti......

Harry Wong's First Days of School is my teaching bible.  I was given his book as a student teacher 14 years ago, and read it during the summer each year.  Every time I read it, I get a better understanding of classroom behavior and student expectation.  Harry Wong is a firm believer in procedure, and after the first 5 weeks of my very first year teaching, became a believer as well. Procedures are a part of life.  We follow procedures for eating in the cafeteria, getting off a bus, playing soccer, and attending a movie.  The reason we have procedures in life is so that people can function in society knowing the acceptable and efficient ways other people do things. There are procedures in my classroom as well.  These procedures establish our classroom culture and allow us to function as a learning, cohesive group. To help the students better remember these procedures, I have created a "Procedure Manual", which the st......