Getting Ready for Back to School and A Freebie

Well, it is that time again Back To School !!!!!  Are you ready??  Our first day is August 20th, and the planning has officially begun.  Yeah!!  Before I really start anything, I like to take some time to reflect.  I think about last year, the previous years, the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between.  lol

Two of the things I think that have worked really well in my classroom are our Line Up Song and our Quiet Signal.  (Classroom Management and Procedures)  I can't wait to share these with you.

This will be my 5th year teaching kindergarten, and I truly believe that we can learn something new every year.  Believe it or not, how to line up was one of the biggest changes/challenges I had when I moved from 6th to Kindergarten.  Wowwzers!!!  In kindergarten there is a line leader, a caboose, and a door holder.   So......... I figured out how to get everyone to the line, but now, how do I get them quiet and ready to walk in the hall.  Our kiddos walk with hips and lips - one finger on your lip and one hand on your hip!  This keeps our hands from touching others, the walls, or anything else.  So, with the help of a friend, we now have a fun little Line Up Song jingle to sing/say while we are getting ready to walk down the hall.   Click on the picture to download this great little freebie poster!!

Now, our Quite Signal!  How do I get the attention of 20 little 5 year olds who are busy at work??  Our principal uses a raised hand for our building wide quiet signal.  The entire building knows that when they see a teacher or administrator raise his/her hand, they need to raise their hand as well and get quite.  This can be a little difficult for 5 year olds with their attention going in every which direction.  So, I decided not only to give them the visual clue (my hand raised), but an auditory and kinesthetic clue as well.  It takes us a few days to really figure it out, and lots of praise, but when we do......it's great!!  I also made picture clue cards for our classroom wall.  (Which, once they learn all four letters in the word STOP, they are totally excited that they can actually read the word!  :)  I clap 5 times, say S...T...clap twice....say O...P  and we all end quiet with our hands in the air!!  YEAH!!!!!  (I had the blank cards up, but this year I decided to make them colored to match my classroom decorations.)  These STOP Signal cards are available on TpT in color and black and white. Click on the picture below to find them.

Click below to hear how our classroom Quiet Signal.  Click on the picture above to hear it on You Tube.  (Of course you could do any clapping rhythm, this is just what worked for us!)

And I am sure like almost all of us out there, there are areas that we really feel we want to change/improve.  One of the areas that I still need some help reorganizing/figuring out ...... is my 30 minute independent center time.  We are a Title 1 building, so this is also our Tier time.  I know what activities I want them to do, but it is the organization part I need a little help with.  Like how to rotate them, keeping track of who went where and who did what!!!  Help!!  If you have any great resources or ideas, please let me know!!  Thanks, and I hope you have a great year too.

"An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." Proverbs 18:15