Classroom Management Tips

Class Lists and Phone Numbers

A great way for the children and their parents to keep in touch with their classmates is to send home the class phone numbers. To make this list take their thumbprints and ask them what animal or bug they would like. You can create ants, caterpillars, butterflies, beavers, and spiders out of their thumbprints, list their phone number and title the page, “Thumb-Buddies”.

Changes of Clothes

I highly recommend having each student bring in a change of clothes that they can leave at school. Even in Pre-K and Kindergarten accidents can happen and you don’t want the child to ever feel embarrassed. An easy way to store your change is to provide each child with a plastic shoe box. You can pick them up for less than a dollar. The children can decorate it and when they are finished, simply write their name on the box and place in their cubbies. If you don’t want to spend that kind of money, a Ziploc baggie works well too!!

Daily Attendance

For a quick way of checking roll which lets the children take responsibility for their environment, try this idea. Cut out a large school bus and have the children finger paint it the yellowish-orangish color. When it’s dry, draw windows on the bus and place a picture of each child on the windows using Velcro. Underneath, have a place for the children to move their picture to form a line or inside a school house. When the kids come to school each day, have them move their picture from the bus to the line/schoolhouse. When they leave to go home, move their pictures back to the school bus!

Unit/Theme Tub Storage

Keep all of you thematic units organized and ready for use with storage tubs. You can pick up these clear tubs at any store for a few dollars. Store everything in it from lesson plans, books, puzzles, manipulatives, story props, etc. It’s a great and easy way to stay organized!

Reproducible Storage

What teacher doesn’t have pages and pages of reproducibles that you want to use year after year but seem to have a hard time keeping organized? Using traditional file folders seems to get messy and unorganized quickly. Try using three ring binders and organizing your papers according to themes. This will make it much easier to find the following year. Simply purchase a large 3-ring binder (I would suggest at least a 2-3 inch binder.) and divide the themes using tabbed dividers.

Pocket Charts

Pocket Charts are a great way to keep things organized in your classroom. Carson Dellosa makes great pocket charts that will help keep you organized. You can use them to keep track of daily activities, substitute information, work for your classroom aide, etc.

Student Papers

Whenever I used to put my student’s papers in their cubbies they always ended up on the floor and half of them didn’t make it home. This nifty solution solved that problem and it became the responsibility of the parents to get their child’s work. Purchase a large Rubbermaid file container and make a hanging file folder for each student in your class. As you have work ready to send home or important notes, simply place it in the child’s file. Be sure to put a note on the front that reads “Please check your child’s folder daily!” The picture below will give you a general idea of what to look for.

Stickers

If you are like me and have a ton of stickers you will need to keep them organized. Use a three ring binder with page protectors to store and organize your stickers! Simply place a sheet of blank cardstock in to each page protector and write the type of sticker on the top of the page (ie. Stars, Christmas, happy faces, community helpers, etc.).