Teacher Tips

Here are some little things that I do this year that I think are benefiting my students. Wish I would have thought of it last year. FYI I teach fourth grade.

1) I play instrumental music every morning when my kids arrive. If you are one of the first kids, you listen to it for a good 20 minutes before school officially starts. I play Bach, Mozart, Strauss, Chopin--all those guys. But I also play these CDs I got at the Dollar Tree. Magical Panpipes is my favorite, but I am also partial to Ocean Beaches. The music is soothing and it sets the mood for the classroom. One of my favorite comments from a parent was "Tyler said that the classroom doesn't have any windows, but that's okay because the teacher plays nice music in the morning." Yeah, it's true, no windows for us (am still trying to track down idiotic architect).

2) I make my kids work the moment they step in the door. Last year I attempted this with morning work, but found that some kids finished quite early and then raised hell until 9. So the expectation this year is that they start working when they come in, and they keep working until I tell them to stop.

This is our morning procedure
        1) check-in
        2) move breakfast card
        3) fill water bottle
        4) do word study job
        5) read

I have different word study jobs posted each day, and the expectation is that you quickly do your job and then start reading. At nine I set the timer for ten minutes, and students know they need to have their job done and a book out by the time it goes off. If they make it and are reading a book, then they earn points for their team. I really like that we do word study in the morning, because we used to do it in the afternoon and it took a half an hour. Now that I make kids do it as soon as they get to school, it only takes 15 minutes of actual school time.

3) My kids have toothbrushes in their desks and we have a tube of toothpaste by the sink. After we did our week long dental hygiene unit, one girl felt so strongly about it that she convinced her mother to buy enough toothbrushes for our class (thanks Dollar Tree). Students are encouraged to brush their teeth after lunch and/or during clean-up time at the end of the day. Did you know that plaque and acid does the most damage the first twenty minutes after eating? I feel good knowing my kids are brushing their teeth somewhere, if not at home.

         On the left is the timer that I use. I love it because it visually shows kids how much time is left (right now you have 25 minutes). The colored pockets is our job chart, the pink cup holds the toothpaste, and in the right corner is the CD player. We also listen to an audio book every day at lunch. The mustard counter top is complimentary of 1972.