The BEST Classroom Management Tip! {A FREEBIE!}

A free positive classroom management idea to keep your kids accountable and on task during centers!

 

Hey Friend!

Happy Back to School! So many of my friends are starting back this week. How did summer pass so quickly?! Summer is my favorite time of the year so I am just not ready to let it go….

Yes, I had a DOUBLE scoop!

I thought I would share a quick post on the BEST classroom management tip to get your year started off right!

Recently I linked up with Teachers Pay Teachers on Instagram and shared #FirstYearAdvice. If there is anything I think I do really, really well, it is classroom management. Maybe because I think like a 6 year old???

Model, Model, Model.
Be clear.
Be consistent.
Never assume what they know. (I teach my 1st graders the proper way to use a glue stick) #truestory

 

In my classroom, I make a note of “Star Students” during centers. I write down about 7 students each day who I see being a leader, making good choices, staying focused, solving problems….any of the desired behaviors I expect of my students while they are working independently for 1 hour.

Once I have clearly modeled, practiced, and taught my students A LOT of what we (my students and I) will see and hear during literacy centers I release them to work. It is a magical day. Rainbows and Lollipops all around!!

Star Students is such a powerful management tool for a few reasons.

Some students need the structure of knowing someone is keeping an eye on them to stay on task during independent time. They are motivated to adhere to the expectations because they may be a “Star Student” today.

In addition, students are reminded in a very positive manner of desired behaviors DAILY.

When center time is over, we meet at the carpet area to reveal the students on the Star Student list. All students on their SitSpots sitting up attentively just hoping they are called today!

I then call one child at a time specifically explaining the positive behavior I saw (out of the corner of my eye while teaching a small group).

It sounds something like this:

“Ella is on the star list. She couldn’t remember what to do at the word work center so she asked a smart friend to remind her.

Michael and Sam were such good partners today during Read to Someone, they were sitting EEKK, kept the book between them, and were enjoying reading together the whole time.

Jordan was distracted in her personal space while reading to herself by another student (other student knows I am talking about them without me calling them out and is reminded of undesirable behavior) so she turned her body so she could focus on her reading.”

I reward my “Star Students” with a mini cut out star and once they collect 10 they can choose a prize from my classroom treasure chest. Although I am sure they would be just as happy with a sticker. 🙂

The crazy thing is once spring rolls around it gets harder and harder to find those really stellar students because just about everyone’s a “Star Student” every day! #winning

I copy this template and make a notepad. I like the notepad because I can flip back to previous days to try to recognize students who haven’t been on the list in a few days. You can download the FREEBIE template {HERE} if you want to try this in your classroom.

I would love for you to leave a comment.  Do you have any management tricks you have that work wonders in your classroom?

Happy back to school, thanks for reading!

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