some classroom routines that I use to help run the class
students enter the classroom in the morning, they are expected to
do the following:
their chairs down and begin taking out the contents of their
2. Put bookbags and coats in the closet.
3. Place homework folders/notebooks in homework box or homework
managers collect homework.
4. When they head back to their seat, they must answer a question
that is posted on the dry erase board by placing their magnetic
piece under the answer. This is part of the attendance and
is used to reinforce graphs. The teacher helper looks at the
question/graph to see who is absent and marks it in the attendance
book. (This is also the time when classroom workers do their
5. Once they have done the poll, they go back to their seats and
take out their journals and monthly journal calendar. They
work on the journals for 15 minutes.
6. If they finish early, students must take a book out to read.
7. After a set time, students put away their journals and gather
for calendar time/morning message.
students go through the above tasks, I prepare for the day's
lessons, read parent letters, etc.
Routine for Reading Group Time:
Click here for information
on Reading Workshops
are expected to work quietly when I work with reading
groups. This is the system I use to keep students occupied:
Prepare a week's worth of assignments and write them on the
board/chart on Monday.
2. Review the assignments with students and explain how each one
must be completed.
3. When an assignment is completed, they must go to the assignment
chart posted on the wall and check off the assignment that has
been completed. Place finished assignment assignment folder
that is kept the group tray (my students sit in groups or teams).
4. Any unfinished assignments are placed in the desk folder.
5. Any cooperative projects are done together with the members of
the reading group.
***Click here to get ideas on
assignments that your students can do.
Transition into Language Arts
To transition into
language arts, I have the students do the following:
Play a game based the concept being taught that week.
2. Write sentences on the board with capitalization, spelling,
grammar, and punctuation mistakes.
3. Have students edit a paragraph.
4. Do Daily Language Review (based on the book by the same title).
Transition into Math
write two word problems that students must solve. Students have a
word problem notebook that the paper managers pass out at the
beginning of each math period. Students have 10-15 minutes
to copy and answer the problems. Then, they place their
notebooks in the Word Problem Basket. If students get both
problems correct, they receive a small sticker on the inside of
the front cover of their Word Problem Notebook. Students
look forward to getting their notebooks to see if they received a
sticker or not.
Students copy down their homework and take out what they need to
2. Homework helpers pass out homework folders.
3. Paper Managers pass out homework assignments, pamphlets,
4. Quiet reading time while classroom workers do their jobs.
5. When students line up for dismissal, they must put their
magnetic pieces back to their original spots so that they can
answer a new question the following day.
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