Classroom Organization & More

        

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

– Dr. Seuss

           Not all children learn the same, as not all teachers teach the same. Through the many different learning styles the teachers must adapt to this to reach the needs of all children. As I learn from different teachers through their blogs I have learned new and interesting things. 

           Through my searching I found one great way to start being organized is by having your own personal planner. KleinSpiration (http://kleinspiration.com/keep-organized-w-awesome-planners-from-erincondren-designs-built-w-teachers-in-mind/) lists many different ways of how this tool have helped her become a better teacher. Through a site http://erincondren.com/ you can build your own planner that would best fit your life style. So not only have you have a section for your professional life but you can also add space for your personal life. Another cool thing that you would be able to do is make enough room for each day so you can have your whole lesson broken down day by day for you. Through her blog the helpful video se offers about using this planner has another great helpful tip of using different color pens to keep track of certain things. For example, the more important things that are happening throughout the week can be written in red and the less important things can be written in black.  This great step to being organized it one that I look forward to using in my classroom.

            The next blog that I found was very helpful was by Meghan Everette on classroom management at https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/meghan-everette/3-classroom-management-tips-changed-my-life/. She offers three different tips that she says changed her life. The first tip is to number the class. By numbering the class, she gave each child a number by ordering them by last name. This can also help with organization by keeping all the children’s work in numerical order. As well as how the children line up or even how they sit on the carpet for some activities. Another way she uses the numbers is by pulling the numbers out of the bucket for volunteers who taking turns. All of these great ways that she uses the numbering system seems a lot easier than having the children write out their name and organizing the children’s work. The next tip she offers is having 5 rules in the classroom. These five rules are follow directions quickly, raise your hand to speak, listen when your teacher is talking, make smart choices, and respect others respect yourself, and respect your school. This rules are straight to the point and can easily understood by young children. Meghan mentions that once the children know the rules that are hung the classroom she can then just ask them what is number 4 rule and they can tell her. She recommends this technique so that you don’t have to lecture the child of what they are doing wrong all the time, if they aren’t following one of the rules she just simply has to say the rule number and they know what they are doing wrong. The last tip she offers is to have music transitioning in the classroom. She has certain music for certain things she wants the children to do. She mentions that she uses one song when the sidebar talking has reached to loud and once the children hear that song they know that they need to lower their voices. This can eliminate the teacher having to use a louder voice to talk over the children. There are also songs that she uses for lining up, moving from center to center, cleaning up and many more things. These 3 tips are all straight to the point and make a big difference in the classroom and seem to help the teacher in many different ways.

            The third blog that I found talks about the layout of the classroom and what fits best for the children. In the classroom there are many different centers for the children to go to, whether they are educational or social they are important factors in the classroom. Deborah at http://www.teachpreschool.org/in-the-classroom-2/classroom-set-up/#gs.q8m_Wyc makes points about how to change up the centers as the year goes on. In the beginning of the year children may show interest in a certain activity but as they grow they may lose interest. She makes sure to watch them as they are in these centers so that she knows what needs to be changed. Even sometimes rearrangement of the room may be needed for the children to have more space to play or even more space to sit in some centers. Deborah makes a very important fact by saying that “The classroom environment affects learning, behavior, skill development, and all things related to having a happy and healthy early learning experience for both the child and the teacher.”

            The final blog that I have read is about how to make the time spent with children meaningful. This one blogger Jamie White at http://playtolearnpreschool.us/calendar-time-2/ makes tips about how to work morning center time in the Pre-K classroom. She first starts off with simply having the children sit for a few minutes to play a good morning song then to learn their friends name. As you notice that the children have gained more of attention span then you can start adding more thing like calendar and attendance. Each week or every other week you can add one more activity to the activity.  By the middle of the year you should be able to have a full lesson during morning circle. The main point of this to make sure that you have the full focus of the children. If the children are not paying attention to the lesson, then the knowledge is not gained.

            Through all of these great blogs I have learned a lot as well as gained more knowledge on things I already knew. I have also learned that not all teachers teach the same but can still get the same results. It is all what works best for you and the children your classroom. I look forward to using all of these helpful tips in my classroom in the future and hope to have the same success each one of these bloggers have. I will always remember that it starts with the needs of the children and to be organized. With these two things everything else will fall into place with a structured loving environment.

 A very special thank you to KleinSpiration, Meghan Everette, Deborah and Jamie White for their great, amazing and inspirational blogs!