Other Tips and How To's 

Here are some more ideas for your classroom. This is where you can find tips submitted by other teachers.

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Extra Desk
Submitted by Brittney
Seal Beach, CA

I just finished my first year of teaching and have a great tip for my fellow new teachers. Always, always, always have an extra DESK with supplies and workbooks in it ready for new students. I was maxed out at 32 students when a new one showed up in the middle of teaching. I asked the student to sit at a back table while I got some things situated, but it would have been SOOOO much better if she could have just slipped right into a desk that was ready for her. Better for me, and better for her.

Checkbook System
Submitted by Jennifer Kerber
Council Bluffs, Iowa

For classroom management, I use a checkbook system that my students really get into. At the beginning of the year, I hand out a check register page and about 10 blank checks and we put them into a folded piece of construction paper. Students can earn deposits for good behavior, having homework completed, or by using life skills like responsibility. Students can be fined and must write a check to me for inappropriate behavior, incomplete assignments, etc. I start all of my students out with a deposit of $20.00. As they earn money, they add it into their check registers. Then they are able to spend their money to eat with a friend in the classroom, eat with the teacher, buy show and tell, buy a spelling word on a test. Not only does this enforce classroom behaviors, but it also teaches addition and subtraction skills and how to budget money. My students love it!

Organization Idea:
Submitted by D. Cox
Lubbock, TX

My class motto is to have HEART 
(Hard-Working, Expectations High, Attentive, Respectful, Trustworthy)
Submitted by: Hallie Rivera
Lousiana

I cut out a large heart on a poster (it must be big enough for the whole 
class to view). On it I wrote HEART and what each letter stands for.
 I then cut it into a giant puzzle. Throughout the year, if the whole class is 
showing heart we put up a puzzle piece.  When the last piece is in place
 they receive some sort of party. The students love it.  
This year I wrote the different parties they could win on the back of 
the pieces. Then when they finished it, I let the leader pick a piece. 
 Afterwards, we start the project all over again.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Submitted by: Valerie Young
Philadelphia, PA

Before the children arrive, I make up index cards in which I label animals on them. These animals live in certain areas: rainforest, desert, ocean, artic, pond, etc. I then have tables labeled accordingly so when a student selects an animal, they go to where the animal lives. This prevents students from sitting next to their friends. I've used this activity for the past five years and it works wonders to set up a new community!

Shoe Holder
Submitted by: Suzanne Austin
New York

You can use the shoe holders that hang up to store mittens/hats/scarves in the winter. Put the child's name or number on each space and the student can put their winter items inside. They are less likely to lose them or mix them up.

Bulletin Board Ideas
Submitted by: Lynn
Phoenix, Arizona

Add pizazz to your custom bulletin board letters by making them from either scrapbooking paper or wallpaper. (Wallpaper is really durable and short phrases can be made using a discarded wallpaper sample book.)  If allowed, use fabric on bulletin boards. They don't show staple holes, barely fade, and cover large areas. (My bulletin boards are so large, I use queen sized sheets.) Some are so universal you can just leave them up.

Homework Chart
Submitted by: Ramona Wilbun
Memphis, TN

I love, love, love, the interactive homework chart!!

IWhen I use it, I attach a few cute little pictures on my chart, then I make copies of the chart on my copy machine. The pictures often times are purely aesthetic, but can also be funtional. For instance, when I write an important reminder to my parents, I place a little finger with a bow near it, to catch their attention. Or when I'm sending home information about a hoilday party I would include a holiday or seasonal picture near it. For different messages I attach appropriately different pictures.
 

Submitted by: Terry Pearce
Auburn, Illinois

I label all my worksheet masters with my last name in neon yellow hightlighter marker. It won't show up when you photocopy it and you can even use it to fill in an answer key. Coworkers can return your labeled master to you if you forget it at the copier.

Spelling Using Memory Cues
Submitted by: Betsy B. Lee, Ed.S. in School Psychology
Grade level: all ages

Objective:
Students will learn memory strategies for spelling.

Teacher Preparation:
Review the many examples on this page of the Learning Abilities Books site.
http://www.learningbooks.net/LEM.html

Procedure:
The basic memory principle in this lesson plan is to associate, or link, something you need to remember to something you already know. It might be a silly association or a logical association. It just needs to be a memorable association. Cues need to be relevant, non-ambiguous associations. Do is in the word, does. Ear is in the word, hear, meaning to listen. Here is spelled like there as in here and there. Many helpful examples are on the website including how to remember there, their, and they're.

Variations/Options:
I've seen LD kids really relate to this strategy. It is a concrete method which works when other systems fail.

Once children are introduced to this concept, they can often contribute great ideas. Ask for their ideas but make sure to guide them to use cues which are relevant, non-ambiguous associations. They can come up with misleading cues.

Additional Web Resources:
http://www.gate.net/~labooks/LEM.html
This page of the Learning Abilities books site has plans for other memory strategies, vocabulary development, left and right, etc.
 

Rhyming with Pancakes

Check out this lesson from Paul Many from the University of Toledo (Ohio) for some rhyming activities.  

Click here:

How to Teach Parts of a Letter

If you would like to review the parts of a letter with your students in an exciting way, and teach them how to use drop-down menus at the same time, try this:  Go to www.pbs.org/arthur.  Click on the picture of Arthur and then click on fan mail.  You can show your students how to use drop-down menus to complete a letter written to Arthur.  After the letter is finished, click on “send to Arthur” and then “read Arthur’s letter” and you will be treated with a letter from Arthur addressed to you!  In Arthur’s letter, he responds to what you wrote in your letter to him.  You might want to start the lesson by reading one of your favorite Arthur books and then show the students how to write the letter and navigate the drop-down lists using a projector or connecting your computer to a TV.  Students can then go to computers in a lab or take turns on the classroom computer to write their own letter to Arthur.  Enjoy!
MaryEllen Hamalainen, Media Specialist K-5, Wayne, NJ

Bulletin Board Idea

Hey, at the beginning of the school year I try to have an idea of the bulletin boards I want to place outside my classroom door. Since this board is very large I enlist help from a friend and I cover it with layers of paper.  I start with the color for the last bb I will have in June, and I back track.  My top color is the one I need in Aug. This makes it really simple and quick to change, since we are required to change monthly.
Faith Clem, First Grade, Evarts, KY

The following two activities have been submitted by Ann Miani, a second grade teacher from Pittsburg, CA. Thanks Ann!!!

Clock Activity

• Place the 12 cut out hands round the perimeter of the cardboard round fingers facing out.
• Number the palms with large numbers 1-12
• Number the finger nail areas 1-5 per hand (for a total of 1-60 minutes when done.)
• Attach the hour and minute hands with the brad
• Now you have a wonderful visual clock face, that all kids can understand.

Pizza Fractions

1.Have the children brainstorm their favorite pizza combinations.  Each child designs a pizza on a white paper plate using crayons.
2. Show the children how to fold the plate into halves, quarters, eighths paying close attention making folds precise.  Stress that fractions are equal in size and shape and should be folded accordingly.
3. Cut 1/8 pizza slices on the folds. 
4. Teach the children to add and subtract fractions using their pizza slices.
For example:  If I eat 3/8 of my pie I should have 5/8 left to share. etc.

Submitted by Ann Miani

Word Towers

Use 2 litre juice cartons with the top cut off with a stanley knife and then attach on each of the four sides a sight/high frequency word list. The list can be typed or written on coloured paper and laminated before sticktaping onto juice carton. A further use would be to laminate on  coloured paper consonants and vowels, a different colour for vowels to consonants , then cut the letters out and put in the bottom of the juice carton for matching and word making activities of the words on the carton or laminated words from the carton and then join the words to make sentences. Viola!!! A sturdy word tower that will not collapse halfway through the year and doubling as a storage for letters and words...even pictures to go with the words letters and sentences contained inside the carton...I call them word towers and they could go on children's tables or at a word learning centre or writing centre.

Michelle, First Grade Teacher

Open House/Back to School Night

To have your parents participate in open house night, have them fill in a provided form that lists their child's favorite color, food, story, etc.  Then have them compare their lists to the one you had your students fill out earlier.  Parents will have a good time, and so will you!
Kelly Gray, Kindergarten

"Go" and "Stop" Folders

Students can easily lose their assignments if they haven't been completed or if the teacher has not collected them.  Here is a way to keep track of their papers. Have two folders, one green and labeled "Go" and the second one red labeled "Stop". If the assignment is complete, then it goes in the "Stop" folder. If the assignment is incomplete, then it goes in the "Go" folder and they can return to it later. This way, students don't lose their work and you don't lose your mind!
Lupe Velazquez, First Grade

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